Primarily self-taught, Varley played a significant role in the development of open-air drawing practice in 19thcentury England. He relished the opportunity to engage directly with natural phenomena and made numerous sketches of the English landscape. Raised by his uncle who was a watchmaker, Varley combined his artistic interests with his exposure to science, and in 1809 invented a "graphic telescope," a drawing instrument loosely derived from the camera obscura. Varley's drawings were more than mere transcriptions of nature, however. This drawing illustrates a stanza of Samuel Roger's popular poem "The Pleasures of Memory":

The adventuring boy that asks his little share And hies from home, with many a gossip's prayer Turns on a neighboring hill once more to see The dear abode of peace and privacy; And as he turns, the thatch among the trees The smoke's blue wreaths, ascending from the breeze, The Village Common scattered with white sheep All rouse reflection's sadly pleasing train