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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2496-h.zip b/2496-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a876e78 --- /dev/null +++ b/2496-h.zip diff --git a/2496-h/2496-h.htm b/2496-h/2496-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a011ad --- /dev/null +++ b/2496-h/2496-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5569 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Our Village + +Author: Mary Russell Mitford + +Commentator: Anne Thackeray Ritchie + +Release Date: January 8, 2009 [EBook #2496] +Last Updated: January 9, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR VILLAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Les Bowler, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + OUR VILLAGE + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Mary Russell Mitford + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + 1893 Macmillan and Co. edition. + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> COUNTRY PICTURES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> WALKS IN THE COUNTRY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE FIRST PRIMROSE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> VIOLETING. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> THE COPSE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE WOOD. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> THE DELL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> THE COWSLIP-BALL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> THE OLD HOUSE AT ABERLEIGH. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> THE HARD SUMMER. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> THE SHAW. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> NUTTING. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> THE VISIT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> HANNAH BINT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> THE FALL OF THE LEAF. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie + </h2> + <p> + I. + </p> + <p> + There is a great deal of admirable literature concerning Miss Mitford, so + much of it indeed, that the writer of this little notice feels as if she + almost owed an apology to those who remember, for having ventured to + write, on hearsay only, and without having ever known or ever seen the + author of 'Our Village.' And yet, so vivid is the homely friendly + presence, so clear the sound of that voice 'like a chime of bells,' with + its hospitable cheery greeting, that she can scarcely realise that this + acquaintance exists only in the world of the might-have-beens. + </p> + <p> + For people who are beginning to remember, rather than looking forward any + more, there certainly exists no more delightful reading than the memoirs + and stories of heroes and heroines, many of whom we ourselves may have + seen, and to whom we may have spoken. As we read on we are led into some + happy bygone region,—such as that one described by Mr. du Maurier in + 'Peter Ibbetson,'—a region in which we ourselves, together with all + our friends and acquaintances, grow young again;—very young, very + brisk, very hopeful. The people we love are there, along with the people + we remember. Music begins to play, we are dancing, laughing, scampering + over the country once more; our parents too are young and laughing + cheerily. Every now and then perhaps some old friend, also vigorous and + hopeful, bursts into the book, and begins to talk or to write a letter; + early sights and sounds return to us, we have NOW, and we have THEN, in a + pleasant harmony. To those of a certain literary generation who read Miss + Mitford's memoirs, how many such familiar presences and names must appear + and reappear. Not least among them that of her biographer, Mr. Harness + himself, who was so valued by his friends. Mrs. Kemble, Mrs. Sartoris, + Charles Allston Collins, always talked of him with a great respect and + tenderness. I used to think they had a special voice with which to speak + his name. He was never among our intimate friends, but how familiar to my + recollection are the two figures, that of Mr. Harness and Miss Harness, + his sister and housekeeper, coming together along the busy Kensington + roadway. The brother and sister were like characters out of some book, + with their kind faces, their simple spiritual ways; in touch with so much + that was interesting and romantic, and in heart with so much that + suffered. I remember him with grey hair and a smile. He was not tall; he + walked rather lame; Miss Harness too was little, looking up at all the + rest of the world with a kind round face and sparkling eyes fringed with + thick lashes. Mary Mitford was indeed happy in her friends, as happy as + she was unfortunate in her nearer relations. + </p> + <p> + With much that is sad, there is a great deal of beauty and enjoyment in + Miss Mitford's life. For her the absence of material happiness was made up + for by the presence of warm-hearted sensibility, of enthusiasm, by her + devotion to her parents. Her long endurance and filial piety are very + remarkable, her loving heart carried her safely to the end, and she found + comfort in her unreasoning life's devotion. She had none of the + restlessness which is so apt to spoil much that might be harmonious; all + the charm of a certain unity and simplicity of motive is hers, 'the single + eye,' of which Charles Kingsley wrote so sweetly. She loved her home, her + trees, her surrounding lanes and commons. She loved her friends. Her books + and flowers are real and important events in her life, soothing and + distracting her from the contemplation of its constant anxieties. 'I may + truly say,' she once writes to Miss Barrett, 'that ever since I was a very + young girl, I have never (although for some years living apparently in + affluence) been without pecuniary care,—the care that pressed upon + my thoughts the last thing at night, and woke in the morning with a dreary + sense of pain and pressure, of something which weighed me to the earth.' + </p> + <p> + Mary Russell Mitford was born on the 16th of December 1787. She was the + only child of her parents, who were well connected; her mother was an + heiress. Her father belonged to the Mitfords of the North. She describes + herself as 'a puny child, with an affluence of curls which made her look + as if she were twin sister to her own great doll.' She could read at three + years old; she learnt the Percy ballads by heart almost before she could + read. Long after, she used to describe how she first studied her beloved + ballads in the breakfast-room lined with books, warmly spread with its + Turkey carpet, with its bright fire, easy chairs, and the windows opening + to a garden full of flowers,—stocks, honeysuckles, and pinks. It is + touching to note how, all through her difficult life, her path was + (literally) lined with flowers, and how the love of them comforted and + cheered her from the first to the very last. In her saddest hours, the + passing fragrance and beauty of her favourite geraniums cheered and + revived her. Even when her mother died she found comfort in the plants + they had tended together, and at the very last breaks into delighted + descriptions of them. + </p> + <p> + She was sent to school in the year 1798 to No. 22 Hans Place, to a Mrs. + St. Quintin's. It seems to have been an excellent establishment. Mary + learnt the harp and astronomy; her taste for literature was encouraged. + The young ladies, attired as shepherdesses, were also taught to skip + through many mazy movements, but she never distinguished herself as a + shepherdess. She had greater success in her literary efforts, and her + composition 'on balloons' was much applauded. She returned to her home in + 1802. 'Plain in figure and in face, she was never common-looking,' says + Mr. Harness. He gives a pretty description of her as 'no ordinary child, + her sweet smiles, her animated conversation, her keen enjoyment of life, + and her gentle voice won the love and admiration of her friends, whether + young or old.' Mr. Harness has chiefly told Miss Mitford's story in her + own words by quotations from her letters, and, as one reads, one can + almost follow her moods as they succeed each other, and these moods are + her real history. The assiduity of childhood, the bright enthusiasm and + gaiety of her early days, the growing anxiety of her later life, the + maturer judgments, the occasional despairing terrors which came to try her + bright nature, but along with it all, that innocent and enduring + hopefulness which never really deserted her. Her elastic spirit she owed + to her father, that incorrigible old Skimpole. 'I am generally happy + everywhere,' she writes in her youth—and then later on: 'It is a + great pleasure to me to love and to admire, this is a faculty which has + survived many frosts and storms.' It is true that she adds a query + somewhere else, 'Did you ever remark how superior old gaiety is to new?' + she asks. + </p> + <p> + Her handsome father, her plain and long-enduring mother, are both + unconsciously described in her correspondence. 'The Doctor's manners were + easy, natural, cordial, and apparently extremely frank,' says Mr. Harness, + 'but he nevertheless met the world on its own terms, and was prepared to + allow himself any insincerity which seemed expedient. He was not only + recklessly extravagant, but addicted to high play. His wife's large + fortune, his daughter's, his own patrimony, all passed through his hands + in an incredibly short space of time, but his wife and daughter were never + heard to complain of his conduct, nor appeared to admire him less.' + </p> + <p> + The story of Miss Mitford's 20,000 pounds is unique among the adventures + of authoresses. Dr. Mitford, having spent all his wife's fortune, and + having brought his family from a comfortable home, with flowers and a + Turkey carpet, to a small lodging near Blackfriars Bridge, determined to + present his daughter with an expensive lottery ticket on the occasion of + her tenth birthday. She had a fancy for No. 2224, of which the added + numbers came to 10. This number actually came out the first prize of + 20,000 pounds, which money started the family once more in comparative + affluence. Dr. Mitford immediately built a new square house, which he + calls Bertram House, on the site of a pretty old farmhouse which he causes + to be pulled down. He also orders a dessert-service painted with the + Mitford arms; Mrs. Mitford is supplied with a carriage, and she subscribes + to a circulating library. + </p> + <p> + A list still exists of the books taken out by her for her daughter's use; + some fifty-five volumes a month, chiefly trash: 'Vicenza,' 'A Sailor's + Friendship and Soldier's Love,' 'Clarentina,' 'Robert and Adela,' 'The + Count de Valmont,' 'The Three Spaniards,' 'De Clifford' (in four volumes) + and so on. + </p> + <p> + The next two or three years were brilliant enough; for the family must + have lived at the rate of three or four thousand a year. Their hospitality + was profuse, they had servants, carriages, they bought pictures and + furniture, they entertained. Cobbett was among their intimate friends. The + Doctor naturally enough invested in a good many more lottery tickets, but + without any further return. + </p> + <p> + The ladies seem to take it as a matter of course that he should speculate + and gamble at cards, and indeed do anything and everything he fancied, but + they beg him at least to keep to respectable clubs. He is constantly away. + His daughter tries to tempt him home with the bloom of her hyacinths. 'How + they long to see him again!' she says, 'how greatly have they been + disappointed, when, every day, the journey to Reading has been fruitless. + The driver of the Reading coach is quite accustomed to being waylaid by + their carriage.' Then she tells him about the primroses, but neither + hyacinths nor primroses bring the Doctor away from his cards. Finally, the + rhododendrons and the azaleas are in bloom, but these also fail to attract + him. + </p> + <p> + Miss Mitford herself as she grows up is sent to London more than once, to + the St. Quintin's and elsewhere. She goes to the play and to Westminster + Hall, she sees her hero, Charles James Fox, and has the happiness of + watching him helped on to his horse. Mr. Romilly delights her, but her + greatest favourite of all is Mr. Whitbread. 'You know I am always an + enthusiast,' she writes, 'but at present it is impossible to describe the + admiration I feel for this exalted character.' She speaks of his voice + 'which she could listen to with transport even if he spoke in an unknown + language!' she writes a sonnet to him, 'an impromptu, on hearing Mr. + Whitbread declare in Westminster Hall that he fondly trusted his name + would descend to posterity.' + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'The hope of Fame thy noble bosom fires, + Nor vain the hope thy ardent mind inspires; + In British breasts whilst Purity remains, + Whilst Liberty her blessed abode retains, + Still shall the muse of History proclaim + To future ages thy immortal name!' +</pre> + <p> + There are many references to the celebrities of the time in her letters + home,—every one agrees as to the extreme folly of Sheridan's + entertainments, Mrs. Opie is spoken of as a rising authoress, etc. etc. + etc. + </p> + <p> + Miss Austen used to go to 23 Hans Place, and Miss Mitford used to stay at + No. 22, but not at the same time. Mrs. Mitford had known Miss Austen as a + child. She may perhaps be forgiven for some prejudice and maternal + jealousy, in her later impressions, but Mary Mitford admired Jane Austen + always with warmest enthusiasm. She writes to her mother at length from + London, describing everything, all the people and books and experiences + that she comes across,—the elegant suppers at Brompton, the Grecian + lamps, Mr. Barker's beauty, Mr. Plummer's plainness, and the destruction + of her purple gown. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Mitford writes back in return describing Reading festivities, 'an + agreeable dinner at Doctor Valpy's, where Mrs. Women and Miss Peacock are + present and Mr. J. Simpson, M.P.; the dinner very good, two full courses + and one remove, the soup giving place to one quarter of lamb.' Mrs. + Mitford sends a menu of every dinner she goes to. + </p> + <p> + In 1806 Dr. Mitford takes his daughter, who was then about nineteen, to + the North to visit his relations; they are entertained by the grandparents + of the Trevelyans and the Swinburnes, the Ogles and the Mitfords of the + present day. They fish in Sir John Swinburne's lake, they visit at Alnwick + Castle. Miss Mitford kept her front hair in papers till she reached + Alnwick, nor was her dress discomposed though she had travelled thirty + miles. They sat down, sixty-five to dinner, which was 'of course' (she + somewhat magnificently says) entirely served on plate. Poor Mary's + pleasure is very much dashed by the sudden disappearance of her father,—Dr. + Mitford was in the habit of doing anything he felt inclined to do at once + and on the spot, quite irrespectively of the convenience of others,—and + although a party had been arranged on purpose to meet him in the North, + and his daughter was counting on his escort to return home, (people posted + in those days, they did not take their tickets direct from Newcastle to + London), Dr. Mitford one morning leaves word that he has gone off to + attend the Reading election, where his presence was not in the least + required. For the first and apparently for the only time in her life his + daughter protests. 'Mr. Ogle is extremely offended; nothing but your + immediate return can ever excuse you to him! I IMPLORE you to return, I + call upon Mamma's sense of propriety to send you here directly. Little did + I suspect that my father, my beloved father, would desert me at this + distance from home! Every one is surprised.' Dr. Mitford was finally + persuaded to travel back to Northumberland to fetch his daughter. + </p> + <p> + The constant companionship of Dr. Mitford must have given a curious colour + to his good and upright daughter's views of life. Adoring her father as + she did, she must have soon accustomed herself to take his fine speeches + for fine actions, to accept his self-complacency in the place of a + conscience. She was a woman of warm impressions, with a strong sense of + right. But it was not within her daily experience, poor soul, that people + who did not make grand professions were ready to do their duty all the + same; nor did she always depend upon the uprightness, the courage, the + self-denial of those who made no protestations. At that time loud talking + was still the fashion, and loud living was considered romantic. They both + exist among us, but they are less admired, and there is a different + language spoken now to that of Dr. Mitford and his school. * This must + account for some of Miss Mitford's judgments of what she calls a 'cynical' + generation, to which she did little justice. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *People nowadays are more ready to laugh than to admire when + they hear the lions bray; for mewing and bleating, the + taste, I fear, is on the increase. +</pre> + <p> + II. + </p> + <p> + There is one penalty people pay for being authors, which is that from + cultivating vivid impressions and mental pictures they are apt to take + fancies too seriously and to mistake them for reality. In story-telling + this is well enough, and it interferes with nobody; but in real history, + and in one's own history most of all, this faculty is apt to raise up + bogies and nightmares along one's path; and while one is fighting + imaginary demons, the good things and true are passed by unnoticed, the + best realities of life are sometimes overlooked.... + </p> + <p> + But after all, Mary Russell Mitford, who spent most of her time gathering + figs off thistles and making the best of her difficult circumstances, + suffered less than many people do from the influence of imaginary things. + </p> + <p> + She was twenty-three years old when her first book of poems was published; + so we read in her letters, in which she entreats her father not to curtail + ANY of the verses addressed to him; there is no reason, she says, except + his EXTREME MODESTY why the verses should be suppressed,—she speaks + not only with the fondness of a daughter but with the sensibility of a + poet. Our young authoress is modest, although in print; she compares + herself to Crabbe (as Jane Austen might have done), and feels 'what she + supposes a farthing candle would experience when the sun rises in all its + glory.' Then comes the Publisher's bill for 59 pounds; she is quite + shocked at the bill, which is really exorbitant! In her next letter Miss + Mitford reminds her father that the taxes are still unpaid, and a + correspondence follows with somebody asking for a choice of the Doctor's + pictures in payment for the taxes. The Doctor is in London all the time, + dining out and generally amusing himself. Everybody is speculating whether + Sir Francis Burdett will go to the Tower.* 'Oh, my darling, how I envy you + at the fountain-head of intelligence in these interesting times! How I + envy Lady Burdett for the fine opportunity she has to show the heroism of + our sex!' writes the daughter, who is only encountering angry + tax-gatherers at home.... Somehow or other the bills are paid for the + time, and the family arrangements go on as before. + </p> + <p> + *Here, in our little suburban garden at Wimbledon, are the remains of an + old hedgerow which used to grow in the kitchen garden of the Grange where + Sir Francis Burdett then lived. The tradition is that he was walking in + the lane in his own kitchen garden when he was taken up and carried off to + honourable captivity.—A.T.R. + </p> + <p> + Besides writing to the members of her own home, Miss Mitford started + another correspondent very early in life; this was Sir William Elford, to + whom she describes her outings and adventures, her visits to Tavistock + House, where her kind friends the Perrys receive her. Mr. Perry was the + editor of the Morning Chronicle; he and his beautiful wife were the + friends of all the most interesting people of the day. Here again the + present writer's own experiences can interpret the printed page, for her + own first sight of London people and of London society came to her in a + little house in Chesham Place, where her father's old friends, Mrs. + Frederick Elliot and Miss Perry, the daughters of Miss Mitford's friends, + lived with a very notable and interesting set of people, making a social + centre, by that kindly unconscious art which cannot be defined; that quick + apprehension, that benevolent fastidiousness (I have to use rather + far-fetched words) which are so essential to good hosts and hostesses. A + different standard is looked for now, by the rising generations knocking + at the doors, behind which the dignified past is lying as stark as King + Duncan himself! + </p> + <p> + Among other entertainments Miss Mitford went to the fetes which celebrated + the battle of Vittoria; she had also the happiness of getting a good sight + of Mme. de Stael, who was a great friend of the Perrys. 'She is almost as + much followed in the gardens as the Princess,' she says, pouring out her + wonders, her pleasures, her raptures. She begins to read Burns with + youthful delight, dilates upon his exhaustless imagination, his + versatility, and then she suggests a very just criticism. 'Does it not + appear' she says, 'that versatility is the true and rare characteristic of + that rare thing called genius—versatility and playfulness;' then she + goes on to speak of two highly-reputed novels just come out and ascribed + to Lady Morley, 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility.' + </p> + <p> + She is still writing from Bertram House, but her pleasant gossip + continually alternates with more urgent and less agreeable letters + addressed to her father. Lawyers' clerks are again calling with notices + and warnings, tax-gatherers are troubling. Dr. Mitford has, as usual, left + no address, so that she can only write to the 'Star Office,' and trust to + chance. 'Mamma joins in tenderest love,' so the letters invariably + conclude. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding the adoration bestowed by the ladies of the family and + their endearing adjectives, Mr. Harness is very outspoken on the subject + of the handsome Doctor! He disliked his manners, his morals, his + self-sufficiency, his loud talk. 'The old brute never informed his friends + of anything; all they knew of him or his affairs, or whatever false or + true he intended them to believe, came out carelessly in his loose, + disjointed talk.' + </p> + <p> + In 1814 Miss Mitford is living on still with her parents at Bertram House, + but a change has come over their home; the servants are gone, the gravel + turned to moss, the turf into pasture, the shrubberies to thickets, the + house a sort of new 'ruin half inhabited, and a Chancery suit is hanging + over their heads.' Meantime some news comes to cheer her from America. Two + editions of her poems have been printed and sold. 'Narrative Poems on the + Female Character' proved a real success. 'All who have hearts to feel and + understandings to discriminate, must wish you health and leisure to + complete your plan,' so write publishers in those golden days, with + complimentary copies of the work.... + </p> + <p> + Great things are happening all this time; battles are being fought and + won, Napoleon is on his way to St. Helena; London is in a frenzy of + rejoicings, entertainings, illuminations. To Mary Mitford the appearance + of 'Waverley' seems as great an event as the return of the Bourbons; she + is certain that 'Waverley' is written by Sir Walter Scott, but 'Guy + Mannering,' she thinks, is by another hand: her mind is full of a genuine + romantic devotion to books and belles lettres, and she is also rejoicing, + even more, in the spring-time of 1816. Dr. Mitford may be impecunious and + their affairs may be threadbare, but the lovely seasons come out ever in + fresh beauty and abundance. The coppices are carpeted with primroses, with + pansies and wild strawberry blossom,—the woods are spangled with the + delicate flowers of the woodsorrel and wood anemone, the meadows enamelled + with cowslips.... Certainly few human beings were ever created more fit + for this present world, and more capable of admiring and enjoying its + beauties, than Miss Mitford, who only desired to be beautiful herself, she + somewhere says, to be perfectly contented. + </p> + <p> + III. + </p> + <p> + Most people's lives are divided into first, second and third volumes; and + as we read Miss Mitford's history it forms no exception to the rule. The + early enthusiastic volume is there, with its hopes and wild judgments, its + quaint old-fashioned dress and phraseology; then comes the second volume, + full of actual work and serious responsibility, with those childish + parents to provide for, whose lives, though so protracted, never seem to + reach beyond their nurseries. Miss Mitford's third volume is + retrospective; her growing infirmities are courageously endured, there is + the certainty of success well earned and well deserved; we realise her + legitimate hold upon the outer world of readers and writers, besides the + reputation which she won upon the stage by her tragedies. + </p> + <p> + The literary ladies of the early part of the century in some ways had a + very good time of it. A copy of verses, a small volume of travels, a few + tea-parties, a harp in one corner of the room, and a hat and feathers worn + rather on one side, seemed to be all that was wanted to establish a claim + to fashion and inspiration. They had footstools to rest their satin shoes + upon, they had admirers and panegyrists to their heart's content, and + above all they possessed that peculiar complacency in which (with a few + notable exceptions) our age is singularly deficient. We are earnest, we + are audacious, we are original, but we are not complacent. THEY were dolls + perhaps, and lived in dolls' houses; WE are ghosts without houses at all; + we come and go wrapped in sheets of newspaper, holding flickering lights + in our hands, paraffin lamps, by the light of which we are seeking our + proper sphere. Poor vexed spirits! We do not belong to the old world any + more! The new world is not yet ready for us. Even Mr. Gladstone will not + let us into the House of Commons; the Geographical Society rejects us, so + does the Royal Academy; and yet who could say that any of their standards + rise too high! Some one or two are happily safe, carried by the angels of + the Press to little altars and pinnacles all their own; but the majority + of hard-working, intelligent women, 'contented with little, yet ready for + more,' may they not in moments of depression be allowed to picture to + themselves what their chances might have been had they only been born half + a century earlier? + </p> + <p> + Miss Mitford, notwithstanding all her troubles (she has been known to say + she had rather be a washerwoman than a literary lady), had opportunities + such as few women can now obtain. One is lost in admiration at the + solidity of one's grandparents' taste, when one attempts to read the + tragedies they delighted in, and yet 'Rienzi' sold four thousand copies + and was acted forty-five times; and at one time Miss Mitford had two + tragedies rehearsed upon the boards together; one at Covent Garden and one + at Drury Lane, with Charles Kemble and Macready disputing for her work. + Has not one also read similar descriptions of the triumphs of Hannah More, + or of Johanna Baillie; cheered by enthusiastic audiences, while men shed + tears.* + </p> + <p> + *Mem. Hannah More, v.i. p.124. + </p> + <p> + 'Julian' was the first of Miss Mitford's acted plays. It was brought out + at Covent Garden in 1823, when she was thirty-six years old; Macready + played the principal part. 'If the play do reach the ninth night,' Miss + Mitford writes to Macready, 'it will be a very complete refutation of Mr. + Kemble's axiom that no single performer can fill the theatre; for except + our pretty Alfonso (Miss Foote) there is only Julian, one and only one. + Let him imagine how deeply we feel his exertions and his kindness.*...' + </p> + <p> + *In Macready's diary we find an entry which is not over gracious. + '"Julian" acted March the 15th. Had but moderate success. The C. G. + company was no longer equal to the support of plays containing moral + characters. The authoress in her dedication to me was profuse in her + acknowledgments and compliments, but the performance made little + impression, and was soon forgotten.' + </p> + <p> + 'Julian' was stopped on the eighth night, to her great disappointment, but + she is already engaged on another—on several more—-tragedies; + she wants the money badly; for the editor of her magazine has absconded, + owing her 50 pounds. Some trying and bewildering quarrel then ensues + between Charles Kemble and Macready, which puts off her tragedies, and + sadly affects poor Miss Mitford's nerves and profits. She has one solace. + Her father, partly instigated, she says, by the effect which the terrible + feeling of responsibility and want of power has had upon her health and + spirits, at last resolves to try if he can HIMSELF obtain any employment + that may lighten the burthen of the home. It is a good thing that Dr. + Mitford has braced himself to this heroic determination. 'The addition of + two or even one hundred a year to our little income, joined to what I am, + in a manner, sure of gaining by mere industry, would take a load from my + heart of which I can scarcely give you an idea... even "Julian" was + written under a pressure of anxiety which left me not a moment's rest....' + So she fondly dwells upon the delightful prospects. Then comes the next + letter to Sir William Elford, and we read that her dear father, 'relying + with a blessed sanguineness on my poor endeavours, has not, I believe, + even inquired for a situation, and I do not press the matter, though I + anxiously wish it; being willing to give one more trial to the theatre.' + </p> + <p> + On one of the many occasions when Miss Mitford writes to her trustee + imploring him to sell out the small remaining fragment of her fortune, she + says, 'My dear father has, years ago, been improvident, is still irritable + and difficult to live with, but he is a person of a thousand virtues... + there are very few half so good in this mixed world; it is my fault that + this money is needed, entirely my fault, and if it be withheld, my dear + father will be overthrown, mind and body, and I shall never know another + happy hour.' + </p> + <p> + No wonder Mr. Harness, who was behind the scenes, remonstrated against the + filial infatuation which sacrificed health, sleep, peace of mind, to + gratify every passing whim of the Doctor's. At a time when she was sitting + up at night and slaving, hour after hour, to earn the necessary means of + living, Dr. Mitford must needs have a cow, a stable, and dairy implements + procured for his amusement, and when he died he left 1,000 pounds of debts + for the scrupulous woman to pay off. She is determined to pay, if she + sells her clothes to do so. Meanwhile, the Doctor is still alive, and Miss + Mitford is straining every nerve to keep him so. She is engaged (in strict + confidence) on a grand historical subject, Charles and Cromwell, the + finest episode in English history, she says. Here, too, fresh obstacles + arise. This time it is the theatrical censor who interferes. It would be + dangerous for the country to touch upon such topics; Mr. George Colman + dwells upon this theme, although he gives the lady full credit for no evil + intentions; but for the present all her work is again thrown away. While + Miss Mitford is struggling on as best she can against this confusion of + worries and difficulty (she eventually received 200 pounds for 'Julian' + from a Surrey theatre), a new firm 'Whittaker' undertakes to republish the + 'village sketches' which had been written for the absconding editor. The + book is to be published under the title of 'Our Village.' + </p> + <p> + IV. + </p> + <p> + 'Are your characters and descriptions true?' somebody once asked our + authoress. 'Yes, yes, yes, as true, as true as is well possible,' she + answers. 'You, as a great landscape painter, know that in painting a + favourite scene you do a little embellish and can't help it; you avail + yourself of happy accidents of atmosphere; if anything be ugly you strike + it out, or if anything be wanting, you put it in. But still the picture is + a likeness.' + </p> + <p> + So wrote Miss Mitford, but with all due respect for her and for Sir + William Elford, the great landscape painter, I cannot help thinking that + what is admirable in her book, are not her actual descriptions and + pictures of intelligent villagers and greyhounds, but the more imaginative + things; the sense of space and nature and progress which she knows how to + convey; the sweet and emotional chord she strikes with so true a touch. + Take at hazard her description of the sunset. How simple and yet how + finely felt it is. Her genuine delight reaches us and carries us along; it + is not any embellishing of effects, or exaggeration of facts, but the + reality of a true and very present feeling... 'The narrow line of clouds + which a few minutes ago lay like long vapouring streaks along the horizon, + now lighted with a golden splendour, that the eye can scarcely endure; + those still softer clouds which floated above, wreathing and curling into + a thousand fantastic forms as thin and changeful as summer smoke, defined + and deepened into grandeur, and hedged with ineffable, insufferable light. + Another minute and the brilliant orb totally disappears and the sky above + grows, every moment, more varied and more beautiful, as the dazzling + golden lines are mixed with glowing red and gorgeous purple, dappled with + small dark specks, and mingled with such a blue as the egg of the + hedge-sparrow.... To look up at that glorious sky, and then to see that + magnificent picture reflected in the clear and lovely Loddon water, is a + pleasure never to be described, and never to be forgotten. My heart + swells, and my eyes fill as I write of it, and think of the immeasurable + majesty of nature and the unspeakable goodness of God, who has spread an + enjoyment so pure, so peaceful, and so intense before the meanest and + lowliest of His creatures.' + </p> + <p> + But it is needless now to go on praising 'Our Village,' or to recount what + a success was in store for the little book. Certain books hold their own + by individual right and might; they are part of everybody's life as a + matter of course. They are not always read, but they tacitly take their + place among us. The editions succeeded editions here and in America; + artists came down to illustrate the scenes. Miss Mitford, who was so + delighted with the drawings by Mr. Baxter, should have lived to see the + charming glimpses of rural life we owe to Mr. Thomson. 'I don't mind 'em,' + says Lizzy to the cows, as they stand with spirited bovine grace behind + the stable door. 'Don't mind them indeed!' + </p> + <p> + I think the author would assuredly have enjoyed the picture of the baker, + the wheelwright and the shoemaker, each following his special Alderney + along the road to the village, or of the farmer driving his old wife in + the gig.... One design, that of the lady in her pattens, comes home to the + writer of these notes, who has perhaps the distinction of being the only + authoress now alive who has ever walked out in pattens. At the age of + seven years she was provided with a pair by a great-great-aunt, a kind old + lady living at Fareham, in Hampshire, where they were still in use. How + interesting the little circles looked stamped upon the muddy road, and how + nearly down upon one's nose one was at every other step! + </p> + <p> + But even with all her success, Miss Mitford was not out of her troubles. + She writes to Mr. Harness saying: 'You cannot imagine how perplexed I am. + There are points in my domestic situation too long and too painful to + write about; the terrible improvidence of one dear parent, the failure of + memory and decay of faculty in that other who is still dearer, cast on me + a weight of care and fear that I can hardly bear up against.' Her + difficulties were unending. The new publisher now stopped payment, so that + even 'Our Village' brought in no return for the moment; Charles Kemble was + unable to make any offer for 'Foscari.' She went up to town in the + greatest hurry to try and collect some of the money owing to her from her + various publishers, but, as Mr. Harness says, received little from her + debtors beyond invitations and compliments. She meditates a novel, she + plans an opera, 'Cupid and Psyche.' + </p> + <p> + At last, better times began to dawn, and she receives 150 pounds down for + a new novel and ten guineas from Blackwood as a retaining fee. Then comes + a letter from Charles Kemble giving her new hope, for her tragedy, which + was soon afterwards produced at Covent Garden. + </p> + <p> + The tragedies are in tragic English, of course that language of the + boards, but not without a simplicity and music of their own. In the + introduction to them, in some volumes published by Hurst and Blacket in + 1854, Miss Mitford describes 'the scene of indescribable chaos preceding + the performance, the vague sense of obscurity and confusion; tragedians, + hatted and coated, skipping about, chatting and joking; the only very + grave person being Liston himself. Ballet-girls walking through their + quadrilles to the sound of a solitary fiddle, striking up as if of its own + accord, from amid the tall stools and music-desks of the orchestra, and + piercing, one hardly knew how, through the din that was going on + incessantly. Oh, that din! Voices from every part; above, below, around, + and in every key. Heavy weights rolling here and falling there. Bells + ringing, one could not tell why, and the ubiquitous call-boy everywhere.' + </p> + <p> + She describes her astonishment when the play succeeds. 'Not that I had + nerve enough to attend the first representation of my tragedies. I sat + still and trembling in some quiet apartment near, and thither some friend + flew to set my heart at ease. Generally the messenger of good tidings was + poor Haydon, whose quick and ardent spirit lent him wings on such an + occasion.' + </p> + <p> + We have the letter to her mother about 'Foscari,' from which I have + quoted; and on the occasion of the production of 'Rienzi' at Drury Lane + (two years later in October 1828), the letter to Sir William Elford when + the poor old mother was no longer here to rejoice in her daughter's + success. + </p> + <p> + Miss Mitford gratefully records the sympathy of her friends, the + warm-hearted muses of the day. Mrs. Trollope, Miss Landon, Miss Edgeworth, + Miss Porden, Mrs. Hofland, Mrs. Opie, who all appear with their + congratulations. + </p> + <p> + Miss Mitford says that Haydon, above all, sympathised with her love for a + large canvas. The Classics, Spain, Italy, Mediaeval Rome, these are her + favourite scenes and periods. Dukes and tribunes were her heroes; daggers, + dungeons, and executioners her means of effects. + </p> + <p> + She moralises very sensibly upon Dramatic success. 'It is not,' she says, + 'so delicious, so glorious, so complete a gratification as, in our secret + longings, we all expect. It does not fill the heart,—it is an + intoxication followed by a dismal reaction.' She tells a friend that never + in all her life was she so depressed and out of spirits as after 'Rienzi,' + her first really successful venture. But there is also a passing allusion + to her father's state of mind, to his mingled irritation and sulkiness, + which partly explains things. Could it be that the Doctor added petty + jealousy and envy to his other inconvenient qualities? His intolerance for + any author or actor, in short, for any one not belonging to a county + family, his violent annoyance at any acquaintances such as those which she + now necessarily made, would naturally account for some want of spirits on + the daughter's part; overwrought, over-taxed, for ever on the strain, her + work was exhausting indeed. The small pension she afterwards obtained from + the Civil List must have been an unspeakable boon to the poor harassed + woman. + </p> + <p> + Tragedy seems to have resulted in a substantial pony and a basket carriage + for Miss Mitford, and in various invitations (from the Talfourds, among + the rest) during which she is lionised right and left. It must have been + on this occasion that Serjeant Talfourd complained so bitterly of a review + of 'Ion' which appeared about that time. His guest, to soothe him, + unwarily said, 'she should not have minded such a review of HER Tragedy.' + </p> + <p> + 'YOUR "Rienzi," indeed! I should think not,' says the serjeant. '"Ion" is + very different.' The Talfourd household, as it is described by Mr. + Lestrange, is a droll mixture of poetry and prose, of hospitality, of + untidiness, of petulance, of most genuine kindness and most genuine human + nature. + </p> + <p> + There are also many mentions of Miss Mitford in the 'Life of Macready' by + Sir F. Pollock. The great tragedian seems not to have liked her with any + cordiality; but he gives a pleasant account of a certain supper-party in + honour of 'Ion' at which she is present, and during which she asks + Macready if he will not now bring out her tragedy. The tragedian does not + answer, but Wordsworth, sitting by, says, 'Ay, keep him to it.' + </p> + <p> + V. + </p> + <p> + Besides the 'Life of Miss Mitford' by Messrs. Harness and Lestrange, there + is also a book of the 'Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford,' consisting of + the letters she received rather than of those which she wrote. It + certainly occurs to one, as one looks through the printed correspondence + of celebrated people, how different are written from printed letters. Your + friend's voice sounds, your friend's eyes look out, of the written page, + even its blots and erasures remind you of your human being. But the + magnetism is gone out of these printer's lines with their even margins; in + which everybody's handwriting is exactly alike; in which everybody uses + the same type, the same expressions; in which the eye roams from page to + page untouched, unconvinced. I can imagine the pleasure each one of these + letters may have given to Miss Mitford to receive in turn. They come from + well-known ladies, accustomed to be considered. Mrs. Trollope, Mrs. + Hofland, Mrs. Howitt, Mrs. S. C. Hall, Miss Strickland, Mrs. Opie; there, + too, are Miss Barrett and Mrs. Jamieson and Miss Sedgwick who writes from + America; they are all interesting people, but it must be confessed that + the correspondence is not very enlivening. Miss Barrett's is an exception, + that is almost as good as handwriting to read. But there is no doubt that + compliments to OTHER authoresses are much less amusing, than those one + writes or receives oneself; apologies also for not writing sooner, CAN + pall upon one in print, however soothing they may be to the justly + offended recipient, or to the conscience-stricken correspondent. + </p> + <p> + 'I must have seemed a thankless wretch, my dear Miss Mitford,' etc. etc. + 'You, my dear friend, know too well what it is to have to finish a book, + to blame my not attempting,' etc. etc. 'This is the thirty-ninth letter I + have written since yesterday morning,' says Harriet Martineau. 'Oh, I can + scarcely hold the pen! I will not allow my shame for not having written, + to prevent me from writing now.' All these people seem to have been just + as busy as people are now, as amusing, as tiresome. They had the + additional difficulty of having to procure franks, and of having to cover + four pages instead of a post-card. OUR letters may be dull, but at all + events they are not nearly so long. We come sooner to the point and avoid + elegant circumlocutions. But one is struck, among other things, by the + keener literary zest of those days, and by the immense numbers of MSS. and + tragedies in circulation, all of which their authors confidingly send from + one to another. There are also whole flights of travelling poems flapping + their wings and uttering their cries as they go. + </p> + <p> + An enthusiastic American critic who comes over to England emphasises the + situation. Mr. Willis's 'superlative admiration' seems to give point to + everything, and to all the enthusiasm. Miss Austen's Collins himself could + not have been more appreciative, not even if Miss de Burgh had tried her + hand at a MS.... Could he—Mr. Willis—choose, he would have + tragedy once a year from Miss Mitford's pen. 'WHAT an intoxicating life it + is,' he cries; 'I met Jane Porter and Miss Aikin and Tom Moore and a troop + more beaux esprits at dinner yesterday! I never shall be content + elsewhere.' + </p> + <p> + Miss Mitford's own letters speak in a much more natural voice. + </p> + <p> + 'I never could understand what people could find to like in my letters,' + Miss Mitford writes, 'unless it be that they have a ROOT to them.' The + root was in her own kind heart. Miss Mitford may have been wanting a + little in discrimination, but she was never wanting in sympathy. She seems + to have loved people for kindness's sake indiscriminately as if they were + creations of her own brain: but to friendliness or to trouble of any sort + she responds with fullest measure. Who shall complain if some rosy veil + coloured the aspects of life for her? + </p> + <p> + 'Among the many blessings I enjoy,—my dear father, my admirable + mother, my tried and excellent friends,—there is nothing for which I + ought to thank God so earnestly as for the constitutional buoyancy of + spirits, the aptness to hope, the will to be happy WHICH I INHERIT FROM MY + FATHER,' she writes. Was ever filial piety so irritating as hers? It is + difficult to bear, with any patience, her praises of Dr. Mitford. His + illusions were no less a part of his nature than his daughter's, the one a + self-centred absolutely selfish existence, the other generous, humble, + beautiful. She is hardly ever really angry except when some reports get + about concerning her marriage. There was an announcement that she was + engaged to one of her own clan, and the news spread among her friends. The + romantic Mrs. Hofland had conjured up the suggestion, to Miss Mitford's + extreme annoyance. It is said Mrs. Hofland also married off Miss Edgeworth + in the same manner. + </p> + <p> + Mary Mitford found her true romance in friendship, not in love. One day + Mr. Kenyon came to see her while she was staying in London, and offered to + show her the Zoological Gardens, and on the way he proposed calling in + Gloucester Place to take up a young lady, a connection of his own, Miss + Barrett by name. It was thus that Miss Mitford first made the acquaintance + of Mrs. Browning, whose friendship was one of the happiest events of her + whole life. A happy romance indeed, with that added reality which must + have given it endurance. And indeed to make a new friend is like learning + a new language. I myself have a friend who says that we have each one of + us a chosen audience of our own to whom we turn instinctively, and before + whom we rehearse that which is in our minds; whose opinion influences us, + whose approval is our secret aim. All this Mrs. Browning seems to have + been to Miss Mitford. + </p> + <p> + 'I sit and think of you and of the poems that you will write, and of that + strange rainbow crown called fame, until the vision is before me.... My + pride and my hopes seem altogether merged in you. At my time of life and + with so few to love, and with a tendency to body forth images of gladness, + you cannot think what joy it is to anticipate....' So wrote the elder + woman to the younger with romantic devotion. What Miss Mitford once said + of herself was true, hers was the instinct of the bee sucking honey from + the hedge flower. Whatever sweetness and happiness there was to find she + turned to with unerring directness. + </p> + <p> + It is to Miss Barrett that she sometimes complains. 'It will help you to + understand how impossible it is for me to earn money as I ought to do, + when I tell you that this very day I received your dear letter and sixteen + others; then my father brought into my room the newspaper to hear the ten + or twelve columns of news from India; then I dined and breakfasted in one; + then I got up, and by that time there were three parties of people in the + garden; eight others arrived soon after.... I was forced to leave, being + engaged to call on Lady Madeline Palmer. She took me some six miles on + foot in Mr. Palmer's beautiful plantations, in search of that exquisite + wild-flower the bog-bean, do you know it? most beautiful of flowers, + either wild—or, as K. puts it,—"tame." After long search we + found the plant not yet in bloom.' + </p> + <p> + Dr. Mitford weeps over his daughters exhaustion, telling everybody that + she is killing herself by her walks and drives. He would like her never to + go beyond the garden and beyond reach of the columns of his newspaper. She + declares that it is only by getting out and afield that she can bear the + strain and the constant alternation of enforced work and anxiety. Nature + was, indeed, a second nature to her. Charles Kingsley himself could + scarcely write better of the East wind.... + </p> + <p> + 'We have had nine weeks of drought and east wind, scarcely a flower to be + seen, no verdure in the meadows, no leaves in the hedgerows; if a poor + violet or primrose did make its appearance it was scentless. I have not + once heard my aversion the cuckoo... and in this place, so evidently the + rendezvous of swallows, that it takes its name from them, not a swallow + has yet appeared. The only time that I have heard the nightingale, I + drove, the one mild day we have had, to a wood where I used to find the + woodsorrel in beds; only two blossoms of that could be found, but a whole + chorus of nightingales saluted me the moment I drove into the wood.' + </p> + <p> + There is something of Madame de Sevigne in her vivid realisation of + natural things. + </p> + <p> + She nursed her father through a long and trying illness, and when he died + found herself alone in the world with impaired health and very little + besides her pension from the Civil List to live upon. Dr. Mitford left + 1000 pounds worth of debts, which this honourable woman then and there set + to work to try and pay. So much courage and devotion touched the hearts of + her many friends and readers, and this sum was actually subscribed by + them. Queens, archbishops, dukes, and marquises subscribe to the + testimonial, so do the literary ladies, Mesdames Bailey, Edgeworth, + Trollope; Mrs. Opie is determined to collect twenty pounds at least, + although she justly says she wishes it were for anything but to pay the + Doctor's debts. + </p> + <p> + In 1844 it is delightful to read of a little ease at last in this harassed + life; of a school-feast with buns and flags organised by the kind lady, + the children riding in waggons decked with laurel, Miss Mitford leading + the way, followed by eight or ten neighbouring carriages, and the whole + party waiting in Swallowfield Lane to see the Queen and Prince Albert + returning from their visit to the Duke of Wellington. 'Our Duke went to no + great expense,' says Miss Mitford. (Dr. Mitford would have certainly + disapproved had he been still alive.) One strip of carpet the Duke did + buy, the rest of the furniture he hired in Reading for the week. The + ringers, after being hard at work for four hours, sent a can to the house + to ask for some beer, and the can was sent back empty. + </p> + <p> + It was towards the end of her life that Miss Mitford left Three Mile Cross + and came to Swallowfield to stay altogether. 'The poor cottage was + tumbling around us, and if we had stayed much longer we should have been + buried in the ruins,' she says; 'there I had toiled and striven and tasted + as bitterly of bitter anxiety, of fear and hope, as often falls to the lot + of women.' Then comes a charming description of the three miles of + straight and dusty road. 'I walked from one cottage to the other on an + autumn evening when the vagrant birds, whose habit of assembling there for + their annual departure, gives, I suppose, its name of Swallowfield to the + village, were circling over my head, and I repeated to myself the pathetic + lines of Hayley as he saw those same birds gathering upon his roof during + his last illness:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + '"Ye gentle birds, that perch aloof, + And smooth your pinions on my roof... + + '"Prepare for your departure hence + Ere winter's angry threats commence; + Like you my soul would smooth her plume + For longer flights beyond the tomb. + + '"May God by whom is seen and heard + Departing men and wandering bird, + In mercy mark us for His own + And guide us to the land unknown!"' +</pre> + <p> + Thoughts soothing and tender came with those touching lines, and gayer + images followed.... + </p> + <p> + It is from Swallowfield that she writes: 'I have fell this blessing of + being able to respond to new friendships very strongly lately, for I have + lost many old and valued connections during this trying spring. I thank + God far more earnestly for such blessings than for my daily bread, for + friendship is the bread of the heart.' + </p> + <p> + It was late in life to make such warm new ties as those which followed her + removal from Three Mile Cross; but some of the most cordial friendships of + her life date from this time. Mr. James Payn and Mr. Fields she loved with + some real motherly feeling, and Lady Russell who lived at the Hall became + her tender and devoted friend. + </p> + <p> + VI. + </p> + <p> + We went down to Reading the other day, as so many of Miss Mitford's + friends have done before, to look at 'our village' with our own eyes, and + at the cottage in which she lived for so long. A phaeton with a + fast-stepping horse met us at the station and whirled us through the busy + town and along the straight dusty road beyond it. As we drove along in the + soft clouded sunshine I looked over the hedges on either side, and I could + see fields and hedgerows and red roofs clustering here and there, while + the low background of blue hills spread towards the horizon. It was an + unpretentious homely prospect intercepted each minute by the detestable + advertisement hoardings recommending this or that rival pill. 'Tongues in + trees' indeed, in a very different sense from the exiled duke's + experience! Then we come within sight of the running brook, uncontaminated + as yet; the river flowing cool and swift, without quack medicines stamped + upon its waters: we reach Whitley presently, with its pretty gabled hostel + (Mrs. Mitford used to drive to Whitley and back for her airing), the dust + rises on the fresh keen wind, the scent of the ripe corn is in the air, + the cows stoop under the elm trees, looking exactly as they do in Mr. + Thomson's pretty pictures, dappled and brown, with delicate legs and + horns. We pass very few people, a baby lugged along in its cart, and + accompanied by its brothers and sisters; a fox-terrier comes barking at + our wheels; at last the phaeton stops abruptly between two or three + roadside houses, and the coachman, pointing with his whip, says, 'That is + "The Mitford," ma'am.—That's where Miss Mitford used to live!' + </p> + <p> + Was that all? I saw two or three commonplace houses skirting the dusty + road, I saw a comfortable public-house with an elm tree, and beside it + another grey unpretentious little house, with a slate roof and square + walls, and an inscription, 'The Mitford,' painted over the doorway.... + </p> + <p> + I had been expecting I knew not what; a spire, a pump, a green, a winding + street: my preconceived village in the air had immediately to be swept + into space, and in its stead, behold the inn with its sign-post, and these + half-dozen brick tenements, more or less cut to one square pattern! So + this was all! this was 'our village' of which the author had written so + charmingly! These were the sights the kind eyes had dwelt upon, seeing in + them all, the soul of hidden things, rather than dull bricks and slates. + Except for one memory, Three Mile Cross would seem to be one of the + dullest and most uninteresting of country places.... + </p> + <p> + But we have Miss Mitford's own description. 'The Cross is not a borough, + thank Heaven, either rotten or independent. The inhabitants are quiet, + peaceable people who would not think of visiting us, even if we had a + knocker to knock at. Our residence is a cottage' (she is writing to her + correspondent, Sir William Elford), 'no, not a cottage, it does not + deserve the name—a messuage or tenement such as a little farmer who + had made 1400 pounds might retire to when he left off business to live on + his means. It consists of a series of closets, the largest of which may be + about eight feet square, which they call parlours and kitchens and + pantries, some of them minus a corner, which has been unnaturally filched + for a chimney, others deficient in half a side, which has been truncated + by a shelving roof. Behind is a garden about the size of a good + drawing-room, with an arbour, which is a complete sentry-box of privet. On + one side a public-house, on the other a village shop, and right opposite a + cobbler's stall. Notwithstanding all this "the cabin," as Boabdil says, + "is convenient." It is within reach of my dear old walks, the banks where + I find my violets, the meadows full of cowslips, and the woods where the + woodsorrel blows.... Papa has already had the satisfaction of setting the + neighbourhood to rights and committing a disorderly person who was the + pest of "The Cross" to Bridewell.... Mamma has furbished up an old dairy; + I have lost my only key and stuffed the garden with flowers....' So writes + the contented young woman. + </p> + <p> + How much more delightful is all this than any commonplace stagey effect of + lattice and gable; and with what pleasant unconscious art the writer of + this letter describes what is NOT there and brings in her banks of violets + to perfume the dull rooms. The postscript to this letter is Miss Mitford + all over. 'Pray excuse my blots and interlineations. They have been caused + by my attention being distracted by a nightingale in full song who is + pouring a world of music through my window.' + </p> + <p> + 'Do you not like to meet with good company in your friends' hearts?' Miss + Mitford says somewhere,—to no one better than to herself does this + apply. Her heart was full of gracious things, and the best of company was + ever hers, 'La fleur de la hotte,' as Madame de Sevigne says. + </p> + <p> + We walked into the small square hall where Dr. Mitford's bed was + established after his illness, whilst visitors and all the rest of the + household came and went through the kitchen door. In the parlour, once + kept for his private use, now sat a party of homely friends from Reading, + resting and drinking tea: we too were served with smoking cups, and poured + our libation to her who once presided in the quiet place; and then the + landlady took us round and about, showed us the kitchen with its + comfortable corners and low window-frames—'I suppose this is + scarcely changed at all?' said one of us. + </p> + <p> + 'Oh yes, ma'am,' says the housekeeper—'WE uses a Kitchener, Miss + Mitford always kept an open range.' + </p> + <p> + The garden, with its sentry-box of privet, exists no longer; an iron + mission-room stands in its place, with the harmonium, the rows of straw + chairs, the table and the candlesticks de circonstance. Miss Mitford's + picture hangs on the wall, a hand-coloured copy of one of her portraits. + The kindly homely features smile from the oils, in good humour and + attentive intelligence. The sentiment of to-day is assuredly to be found + in the spirit of things rather than in their outward signs.... Any one of + us can feel the romance of a wayside shrine put up to the memory of some + mediaeval well-dressed saint with a nimbus at the back of her head, and a + trailing cloak and veil.... Here, after all, is the same sentiment, only + translated into nineteenth-century language; uses corrogated iron sheds, + and cups of tea, and oakum matting. 'Mr. Palmer, he bought the place,' + says the landlady, 'he made it into a Temperance Hotel, and built the + Temperance Hall in the garden.'.... + </p> + <p> + No romantic marble shrine, but a square meeting-house of good intent, a + tribute not less sincere because it is square, than if it were drawn into + Gothic arch and curve. It speaks, not of a holy and mythical saint, but of + a good and warm-hearted woman; of a life-long penance borne with charity + and cheerfulness; of sweet fancies and blessings which have given innocent + pleasure to many generations! + </p> + <p> + VII. + </p> + <p> + There is a note, written in a close and pretty writing, something between + Sir Walter Scott's and Mrs. Browning's, which the present writer has + possessed for years, fastened in a book among other early treasures:— + </p> + <p> + Thank you, dearest Miss Priscilla, for your great kindness. I return the + ninth volume of [illegible], with the four succeeding ones, all that I + have; probably all that are yet published. You shall have the rest when I + get them. Tell dear Mr. George (I must not call him Vert-Vert) that I have + recollected the name of the author of the clever novel 'Le Rouge et le + Noir' (that is the right title of the book, which has nothing to do with + the name); the author's name is Stendhal, or so he calls himself. I think + that he was either a musician or a musical critic, and that he is dead.... + My visitor has not yet arrived (6 o'clock, p.m.), frightened no doubt by + the abruptness of the two notes which I wrote in reply to hers yesterday + morning; and indeed nobody could fancy the hurry in which one is forced to + write by this walking post.... + </p> + <p> + Tell my visitors of yesterday with my kind love that they did me all the + good in the world, as indeed everybody of your house does. + </p> + <p> + —Ever, dear Miss Priscilla, very affectionately yours, + </p> + <p> + M. R. MITFORD. + </p> + <p> + In the present writer's own early days, when the now owner of Swallowfield + was a very young, younger son, she used to hear him and his sister, Mrs. + Brackenbury (the Miss Priscilla of the note), speaking with affectionate + remembrance of the old friend lately gone, who had dwelt at their very + gates; through which friendly gates one is glad, indeed, to realise what + delightful companionship and loving help came to cheer the end of that + long and toilsome life; and when Messrs. Macmillan suggested this preface + the writer looked for her old autograph-book, and at its suggestion wrote + (wondering whether any links existed still) to ask for information + concerning Miss Mitford, and so it happened that she found herself also + kindly entertained at Swallowfield, and invited to visit the scenes of + which the author of 'Our Village' had written with so much delight. + </p> + <p> + I think I should like to reverse the old proverb about letting those who + run read, my own particular fancy being for reading first and running + afterwards. There are few greater pleasures than to meet with an + Individuality, to listen to it speaking from a printed page, recounting, + suggesting, growing upon you every hour, gaining in life and presence, and + then, while still under its influence, to find oneself suddenly + transported into the very scene of that life, to stand among its familiar + impressions and experiences, realising another distinct existence by some + odd metempsychosis, and what may—or rather, what MUST have been. It + is existing a book rather than reading it when this happens to one. + </p> + <p> + The house in Swallowfield Park is an old English country home, a fastness + still piled up against time; whose stately walls and halls within, and + beautiful century-old trees in the park without, record great times and + striking figures. The manor was a part of the dowry of Henry the VIII.'s + luckless queens. The modern house was built by Clarendon, and the old + church among the elms dates from 1200, with carved signs and symbols and + brasses of knights and burgesses, and names of strange sound and bygone + fashion. + </p> + <p> + Lady Russell, who had sent the phaeton with the fast-stepping horse to + meet us, was walking in the park as we drove up, and instead of taking us + back to the house, she first led the way across the grass and by the + stream to the old church, standing in its trim sweet garden, where Death + itself seems smiling and fearless; where kind Mary Mitford's warm heart + rests quiet, and 'her busy hand,' as she says herself, 'is lying in peace + there, where the sun glances through the great elm trees in the beautiful + churchyard of Swallowfield.' + </p> + <p> + The last baronet, Sir Charles, who fought in the Crimea, and who succeeded + his father, Sir Henry, moved the dividing rail so that his old friend + should be well within the shadow of these elm trees. Lady Russell showed + us the tranquil green place, and told us its story, and how the old church + had once been doomed to destruction when Kingsley came over by chance, and + pleaded that it should be spared; and how, when rubbish and outward signs + of decay had been cleared away, the restorers were rewarded for their + piety, by coming upon noble beams of oak, untouched by time, upon some + fine old buried monuments and brasses and inscriptions, among which the + people still say their prayers in the shrine where their fathers knelt, + and of which the tradition is not yet swept away. The present Lady of the + Manor, who loves old traditions, has done her part to preserve the records + for her children. + </p> + <p> + So Miss Mitford walked from Three Mile Cross to Swallowfield to end her + days, with these kind friends to cheer and to comfort her. Sir Henry + Russell was alive when she first established herself, but he was already + suffering from some sudden seizure, which she, with her usual impetuosity, + describes in her letters as a chronic state of things. After his death, + his widow, the Lady Russell of those days, was her kindest friend and + comforter. + </p> + <p> + The little Swallowfield cottage at the meeting of the three roads, to + which Mary Mitford came when she left Three Mile Cross, has thrown out a + room or two, as cottages do, but otherwise I think it can be little + changed. It was here Miss Mitford was visited by so many interesting + people, here she used to sit writing at her big table under the 'tassels + of her acacia tree.' When the present Lady of the Manor brought us to the + gate, the acacia flowers were over, but a balmy breath of summer was + everywhere; a beautiful rose was hanging upon the wall beneath the window + (it must have taken many years to grow to such a height), and beyond the + palings of the garden spread the fields, ripening in the late July, and + turning to gold. The farmer and his son were at work with their scythes; + the birds were still flying, the sweet scents were in the air. + </p> + <p> + From a lady who had known her, 'my own Miss Anne' of the letters, we heard + something more that day of the author of 'Our Village'; of her charming + intellect, her gift of talk, her impulsiveness, her essential sociability, + and rapid grace of mind. She had the faults of her qualities; she jumped + too easily to conclusions; she was too much under the influence of those + with whom she lived. She was born to be a victim,—even after her old + tyrant father's death, she was more or less over-ridden by her servants. + Neighbours looked somewhat doubtfully on K. and Ben, but they were good to + her, on the whole, and tended her carefully. Miss Russell said that when + she and her brother took refuge in the cottage, one morning from a storm, + while they dried themselves by the fire, they saw the careful meal carried + up to the old lady, the kidneys, the custard, for her dejeuner a la + fourchette. + </p> + <p> + When Miss Mitford died, she left everything she had to her beloved K. and + to Ben, except that she said she wished that one book from her + well-stocked library should be given to each of her friends. The old + Doctor, with all his faults, had loved books, and bought handsome and + valuable first editions of good authors. K. and Ben also seem to have + loved books and first editions. To the Russells, who had nursed Miss + Mitford, comforted her, by whose gates she dwelt, in whose arms she died, + Ben brought, as a token of remembrance, an old shilling volume of one of + G. P. R. James's novels, which was all he could bear to part with. A + prettier incident was told me by Miss Russell, who once went to visit Miss + Mitford's grave. She found a young man standing there whom she did not + know. 'Don't you know me?' said he; 'I am Henry, ma'am. I have just come + back from Australia.' He was one of the children of the couple who had + lived in the cottage, and his first visit on his return from abroad had + been to the tomb of his old protectress. + </p> + <p> + I also heard a friend who knew Miss Mitford in her latest days, describe + going to see her within a very few months of her death; she was still + bright and responding as ever, though very ill. The young visitor had + herself been laid up and absent from the invalid's bedside for some time. + They talked over many things,—an authoress among the rest, + concerning whose power of writing a book Miss Mitford seems to have been + very doubtful. After her visitor was gone, the sick woman wrote one of her + delicate pretty little notes and despatched it with its tiny seal (there + it is still unbroken, with its M. R. M. just as she stamped it), and this + is the little letter:— + </p> + <p> + Thank you, dearest Miss... for once again showing me your fair face by the + side of the dear, dear friend [Lady Russell] for whose goodness I have + neither thanks nor words. To the end of my life I shall go on sinning and + repenting. Heartily sorry have I been ever since you went away to have + spoken so unkindly to Mrs.... Heaven forgive me for it, and send her a + happier conclusion to her life than the beginning might warrant. If you + have an idle lover, my dear, present over to him my sermon, for those were + words of worth. + </p> + <p> + God bless you all! Ever, most faithfully and affectionately yours, + </p> + <p> + M. R. MITFORD. + </p> + <p> + Sunday Evening. + </p> + <p> + VIII. + </p> + <p> + When one turns from Miss Mitford's works to the notices in the + biographical dictionary (in which Miss Mitford and Mithridates occupy the + same page), one finds how firmly her reputation is established. 'Dame + auteur,' says my faithful mentor, the Biographic Generale, 'consideree + comme le peintre le plus fidele de la vie rurale en Angleterre.' 'Author + of a remarkable tragedy, "Julian," in which Macready played a principal + part, followed by "Foscari," "Rienzi," and others,' says the English + Biographical Dictionary. + </p> + <p> + 'I am charmed with my new cottage,' she writes soon after her last + installation; 'the neighbours are most kind.' Kingsley was one of the + first to call upon her. 'He took me quite by surprise in his extraordinary + fascination,' says the old lady. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Fields, the American publisher, also went to see Miss Mitford at + Swallowfield, and immediately became a very great ally of hers. It was to + him that she gave her own portrait, by Lucas. Mr. Fields has left an + interesting account of her in his 'Yesterdays with Authors'—'Her + dogs and her geraniums,' he says, 'were her great glories! She used to + write me long letters about Fanchon, a dog whose personal acquaintance I + had made some time before, while on a visit to her cottage. Every virtue + under heaven she attributed to that canine individual; and I was obliged + to allow in my return letters that since our planet began to spin, nothing + comparable to Fanchon had ever run on four legs. I had also known Flush, + the ancestor of Fanchon, intimately, and had been accustomed to hear + wonderful things of that dog, but Fanchon had graces and genius unique. + Miss Mitford would have joined with Hamerton, when he says, 'I humbly + thank Divine Providence for having invented dogs, and I regard that man + with wondering pity who can lead a dogless life.' + </p> + <p> + Another of Miss Mitford's great friends was John Ruskin,* and one can well + imagine how much they must have had in common. Of Miss Mitford's writings + Ruskin says, 'They have the playfulness and purity of the "Vicar of + Wakefield" without the naughtiness of its occasional wit, or the dust of + the world's great road on the other side of the hedge.... ' + </p> + <p> + *It is Mr. Harness who says, writing of Ruskin and Miss Mitford, 'His + kindness cheered her closing days. He sent her every book that would + interest, every delicacy that would strengthen her.' + </p> + <p> + Neither the dust nor the ethics of the world of men quite belonged to Miss + Mitford's genius. It is always a sort of relief to turn from her criticism + of people, her praise of Louis Napoleon, her facts about Mr. Dickens, whom + she describes as a dull companion, or about my father, whom she looked + upon as an utter heartless worldling, to the natural spontaneous sweet + flow of nature in which she lived and moved instinctively. + </p> + <p> + Mr. James Payn gives, perhaps, the most charming of all the descriptions + of the author of 'Our Village.' He has many letters from her to quote + from. 'The paper is all odds and ends,' he says, 'and not a scrap of it + but is covered and crossed. The very flaps of the envelopes and the + outsides of them have their message.' + </p> + <p> + Mr. Payn went to see her at Swallowfield, and describes the small + apartment lined with books from floor to ceiling and fragrant with + flowers. 'Its tenant rose from her arm-chair with difficulty, but with a + sunny smile and a charming manner bade me welcome. My father had been an + old friend of hers, and she spoke of my home and belongings as only a + woman can speak of such things, then we plunged into medea res, into men + and books. She seemed to me to have known everybody worth knowing from the + Duke of Wellington to the last new verse-maker. And she talked like an + angel, but her views upon poetry as a calling in life, shocked me not a + little. She said she preferred a mariage de convenance to a love match, + because it generally turned out better. "This surprises you," she said, + smiling, "but then I suppose I am the least romantic person that ever + wrote plays." She was much more proud of her plays, even then well-nigh + forgotten, than of the works by which she was well known, and which at + that time brought people from the ends of the earth to see her.... + </p> + <p> + 'Nothing ever destroyed her faith in those she loved. If I had not known + all about him from my own folk I should have thought her father had been a + patriot and a martyr. She spoke of him as if there had never been such a + father—which in a sense was true.' + </p> + <p> + Mr. Payn quotes Miss Mitford's charming description of K., 'for whom she + had the highest admiration.' 'K. is a great curiosity, by far the + cleverest woman in these parts, not in a literary way [this was not to + disappoint me], but in everything that is useful. She could make a Court + dress for a duchess or cook a dinner for a Lord Mayor, but her principal + talent is shown in managing everybody whom she comes near. Especially her + husband and myself; she keeps the money of both and never allows either of + us to spend sixpence without her knowledge.... You should see the manner + in which she makes Ben reckon with her, and her contempt for all women who + do not manage their husbands.' + </p> + <p> + Another delightful quotation is from one of Charles Kingsley's letters to + Mr. Payn. It brings the past before us from another point of view. + </p> + <p> + 'I can never forget the little figure rolled up in two chairs in the + little Swallowfield room, packed round with books up to the ceiling—the + little figure with clothes on of no recognised or recognisable pattern; + and somewhere, out of the upper end of the heap, gleaming under a great + deep globular brow, two such eyes as I never perhaps saw in any other + Englishwoman—though I believe she must have had French blood in her + veins to breed such eyes and such a tongue, the beautiful speech which + came out of that ugly (it was that) face, and the glitter and depth too of + the eyes, like live coals—perfectly honest the while....' One would + like to go on quoting and copying, but here my preface must cease, for it + is but a preface after all, one of those many prefaces written out of the + past and when everything is over. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + COUNTRY PICTURES. + </h2> + <p> + Of all situations for a constant residence, that which appears to me most + delightful is a little village far in the country; a small neighbourhood, + not of fine mansions finely peopled, but of cottages and cottage-like + houses, 'messuages or tenements,' as a friend of mine calls such ignoble + and nondescript dwellings, with inhabitants whose faces are as familiar to + us as the flowers in our garden; a little world of our own, close-packed + and insulated like ants in an ant-hill, or bees in a hive, or sheep in a + fold, or nuns in a convent, or sailors in a ship; where we know every one, + are known to every one, interested in every one, and authorised to hope + that every one feels an interest in us. How pleasant it is to slide into + these true-hearted feelings from the kindly and unconscious influence of + habit, and to learn to know and to love the people about us, with all + their peculiarities, just as we learn to know and to love the nooks and + turns of the shady lanes and sunny commons that we pass every day. Even in + books I like a confined locality, and so do the critics when they talk of + the unities. Nothing is so tiresome as to be whirled half over Europe at + the chariot-wheels of a hero, to go to sleep at Vienna, and awaken at + Madrid; it produces a real fatigue, a weariness of spirit. On the other + hand, nothing is so delightful as to sit down in a country village in one + of Miss Austen's delicious novels, quite sure before we leave it to become + intimate with every spot and every person it contains; or to ramble with + Mr. White* over his own parish of Selborne, and form a friendship with the + fields and coppices, as well as with the birds, mice, and squirrels, who + inhabit them; or to sail with Robinson Crusoe to his island, and live + there with him and his goats and his man Friday;—how much we dread + any new comers, any fresh importation of savage or sailor! we never + sympathise for a moment in our hero's want of company, and are quite + grieved when he gets away;—or to be shipwrecked with Ferdinand on + that other lovelier island—the island of Prospero, and Miranda, and + Caliban, and Ariel, and nobody else, none of Dryden's exotic inventions:—that + is best of all. And a small neighbourhood is as good in sober waking + reality as in poetry or prose; a village neighbourhood, such as this + Berkshire hamlet in which I write, a long, straggling, winding street at + the bottom of a fine eminence, with a road through it, always abounding in + carts, horsemen, and carriages, and lately enlivened by a stage-coach from + B—— to S——, which passed through about ten days + ago, and will I suppose return some time or other. There are coaches of + all varieties nowadays; perhaps this may be intended for a monthly + diligence, or a fortnight fly. Will you walk with me through our village, + courteous reader? The journey is not long. We will begin at the lower end, + and proceed up the hill. + </p> + <p> + *White's 'Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne;' one of the most + fascinating books ever written. I wonder that no naturalist has adopted + the same plan. + </p> + <p> + The tidy, square, red cottage on the right hand, with the long + well-stocked garden by the side of the road, belongs to a retired publican + from a neighbouring town; a substantial person with a comely wife; one who + piques himself on independence and idleness, talks politics, reads + newspapers, hates the minister, and cries out for reform. He introduced + into our peaceful vicinage the rebellious innovation of an illumination on + the Queen's acquittal. Remonstrance and persuasion were in vain; he talked + of liberty and broken windows—so we all lighted up. Oh! how he shone + that night with candles, and laurel, and white bows, and gold paper, and a + transparency (originally designed for a pocket-handkerchief) with a + flaming portrait of her Majesty, hatted and feathered, in red ochre. He + had no rival in the village, that we all acknowledged; the very bonfire + was less splendid; the little boys reserved their best crackers to be + expended in his honour, and he gave them full sixpence more than any one + else. He would like an illumination once a month; for it must not be + concealed that, in spite of gardening, of newspaper reading, of jaunting + about in his little cart, and frequenting both church and meeting, our + worthy neighbour begins to feel the weariness of idleness. He hangs over + his gate, and tries to entice passengers to stop and chat; he volunteers + little jobs all round, smokes cherry trees to cure the blight, and traces + and blows up all the wasps'-nests in the parish. I have seen a great many + wasps in our garden to-day, and shall enchant him with the intelligence. + He even assists his wife in her sweepings and dustings. Poor man! he is a + very respectable person, and would be a very happy one, if he would add a + little employment to his dignity. It would be the salt of life to him. + </p> + <p> + Next to his house, though parted from it by another long garden with a yew + arbour at the end, is the pretty dwelling of the shoemaker, a pale, + sickly-looking, black-haired man, the very model of sober industry. There + he sits in his little shop from early morning till late at night. An + earthquake would hardly stir him: the illumination did not. He stuck + immovably to his last, from the first lighting up, through the long blaze + and the slow decay, till his large solitary candle was the only light in + the place. One cannot conceive anything more perfect than the contempt + which the man of transparencies and the man of shoes must have felt for + each other on that evening. There was at least as much vanity in the + sturdy industry as in the strenuous idleness, for our shoemaker is a man + of substance; he employs three journeymen, two lame, and one a dwarf, so + that his shop looks like an hospital; he has purchased the lease of his + commodious dwelling, some even say that he has bought it out and out; and + he has only one pretty daughter, a light, delicate, fair-haired girl of + fourteen, the champion, protectress, and playfellow of every brat under + three years old, whom she jumps, dances, dandles, and feeds all day long. + A very attractive person is that child-loving girl. I have never seen any + one in her station who possessed so thoroughly that undefinable charm, the + lady-look. See her on a Sunday in her simplicity and her white frock, and + she might pass for an earl's daughter. She likes flowers too, and has a + profusion of white stocks under her window, as pure and delicate as + herself. + </p> + <p> + The first house on the opposite side of the way is the blacksmith's; a + gloomy dwelling, where the sun never seems to shine; dark and smoky within + and without, like a forge. The blacksmith is a high officer in our little + state, nothing less than a constable; but, alas! alas! when tumults arise, + and the constable is called for, he will commonly be found in the thickest + of the fray. Lucky would it be for his wife and her eight children if + there were no public-house in the land: an inveterate inclination to enter + those bewitching doors is Mr. Constable's only fault. + </p> + <p> + Next to this official dwelling is a spruce brick tenement, red, high, and + narrow, boasting, one above another, three sash-windows, the only + sash-windows in the village, with a clematis on one side and a rose on the + other, tall and narrow like itself. That slender mansion has a fine, + genteel look. The little parlour seems made for Hogarth's old maid and her + stunted footboy; for tea and card parties,—it would just hold one + table; for the rustle of faded silks, and the splendour of old china; for + the delight of four by honours, and a little snug, quiet scandal between + the deals; for affected gentility and real starvation. This should have + been its destiny; but fate has been unpropitious: it belongs to a plump, + merry, bustling dame, with four fat, rosy, noisy children, the very + essence of vulgarity and plenty. + </p> + <p> + Then comes the village shop, like other village shops, multifarious as a + bazaar; a repository for bread, shoes, tea, cheese, tape, ribands, and + bacon; for everything, in short, except the one particular thing which you + happen to want at the moment, and will be sure not to find. The people are + civil and thriving, and frugal withal; they have let the upper part of + their house to two young women (one of them is a pretty blue-eyed girl) + who teach little children their A B C, and make caps and gowns for their + mammas,—parcel schoolmistress, parcel mantua-maker. I believe they + find adorning the body a more profitable vocation than adorning the mind. + </p> + <p> + Divided from the shop by a narrow yard, and opposite the shoemaker's, is a + habitation of whose inmates I shall say nothing. A cottage—no—a + miniature house, with many additions, little odds and ends of places, + pantries, and what not; all angles, and of a charming in-and-outness; a + little bricked court before one half, and a little flower-yard before the + other; the walls, old and weather-stained, covered with hollyhocks, roses, + honeysuckles, and a great apricot-tree; the casements full of geraniums + (ah! there is our superb white cat peeping out from among them); the + closets (our landlord has the assurance to call them rooms) full of + contrivances and corner-cupboards; and the little garden behind full of + common flowers, tulips, pinks, larkspurs, peonies, stocks, and carnations, + with an arbour of privet, not unlike a sentry-box, where one lives in a + delicious green light, and looks out on the gayest of all gay flower-beds. + That house was built on purpose to show in what an exceeding small compass + comfort may be packed. Well, I will loiter there no longer. + </p> + <p> + The next tenement is a place of importance, the Rose Inn: a white-washed + building, retired from the road behind its fine swinging sign, with a + little bow-window room coming out on one side, and forming, with our + stable on the other, a sort of open square, which is the constant resort + of carts, waggons, and return chaises. There are two carts there now, and + mine host is serving them with beer in his eternal red waistcoat. He is a + thriving man and a portly, as his waistcoat attests, which has been twice + let out within this twelvemonth. Our landlord has a stirring wife, a + hopeful son, and a daughter, the belle of the village; not so pretty as + the fair nymph of the shoe-shop, and far less elegant, but ten times as + fine; all curl-papers in the morning, like a porcupine, all curls in the + afternoon, like a poodle, with more flounces than curl-papers, and more + lovers than curls. Miss Phoebe is fitter for town than country; and to do + her justice, she has a consciousness of that fitness, and turns her steps + townward as often as she can. She is gone to B—— to-day with + her last and principal lover, a recruiting sergeant—a man as tall as + Sergeant Kite, and as impudent. Some day or other he will carry off Miss + Phoebe. + </p> + <p> + In a line with the bow-window room is a low garden-wall, belonging to a + house under repair:—the white house opposite the collar-maker's + shop, with four lime-trees before it, and a waggon-load of bricks at the + door. That house is the plaything of a wealthy, well-meaning, whimsical + person who lives about a mile off. He has a passion for brick and mortar, + and, being too wise to meddle with his own residence, diverts himself with + altering and re-altering, improving and re-improving, doing and undoing + here. It is a perfect Penelope's web. Carpenters and bricklayers have been + at work for these eighteen months, and yet I sometimes stand and wonder + whether anything has really been done. One exploit in last June was, + however, by no means equivocal. Our good neighbour fancied that the limes + shaded the rooms, and made them dark (there was not a creature in the + house but the workmen), so he had all the leaves stripped from every tree. + There they stood, poor miserable skeletons, as bare as Christmas under the + glowing midsummer sun. Nature revenged herself, in her own sweet and + gracious manner; fresh leaves sprang out, and at nearly Christmas the + foliage was as brilliant as when the outrage was committed. + </p> + <p> + Next door lives a carpenter, 'famed ten miles round, and worthy all his + fame,'—few cabinet-makers surpass him, with his excellent wife, and + their little daughter Lizzy, the plaything and queen of the village, a + child three years old according to the register, but six in size and + strength and intellect, in power and in self-will. She manages everybody + in the place, her schoolmistress included; turns the wheeler's children + out of their own little cart, and makes them draw her; seduces cakes and + lollypops from the very shop window; makes the lazy carry her, the silent + talk to her, the grave romp with her; does anything she pleases; is + absolutely irresistible. Her chief attraction lies in her exceeding power + of loving, and her firm reliance on the love and indulgence of others. How + impossible it would be to disappoint the dear little girl when she runs to + meet you, slides her pretty hand into yours, looks up gladly in your face, + and says 'Come!' You must go: you cannot help it. Another part of her + charm is her singular beauty. Together with a good deal of the character + of Napoleon, she has something of his square, sturdy, upright form, with + the finest limbs in the world, a complexion purely English, a round + laughing face, sunburnt and rosy, large merry blue eyes, curling brown + hair, and a wonderful play of countenance. She has the imperial attitudes + too, and loves to stand with her hands behind her, or folded over her + bosom; and sometimes, when she has a little touch of shyness, she clasps + them together on the top of her head, pressing down her shining curls, and + looking so exquisitely pretty! Yes, Lizzy is queen of the village! She has + but one rival in her dominions, a certain white greyhound called + Mayflower, much her friend, who resembles her in beauty and strength, in + playfulness, and almost in sagacity, and reigns over the animal world as + she over the human. They are both coming with me, Lizzy and Lizzy's + 'pretty May.' We are now at the end of the street; a cross-lane, a + rope-walk shaded with limes and oaks, and a cool clear pond overhung with + elms, lead us to the bottom of the hill. There is still one house round + the corner, ending in a picturesque wheeler's shop. The dwelling-house is + more ambitious. Look at the fine flowered window-blinds, the green door + with the brass knocker, and the somewhat prim but very civil person, who + is sending off a labouring man with sirs and curtsies enough for a prince + of the blood. Those are the curate's lodgings—apartments his + landlady would call them; he lives with his own family four miles off, but + once or twice a week he comes to his neat little parlour to write sermons, + to marry, or to bury, as the case may require. Never were better or kinder + people than his host and hostess; and there is a reflection of clerical + importance about them since their connection with the Church, which is + quite edifying—a decorum, a gravity, a solemn politeness. Oh, to see + the worthy wheeler carry the gown after his lodger on a Sunday, nicely + pinned up in his wife's best handkerchief!—or to hear him rebuke a + squalling child or a squabbling woman! The curate is nothing to him. He is + fit to be perpetual churchwarden. + </p> + <p> + We must now cross the lane into the shady rope-walk. That pretty white + cottage opposite, which stands straggling at the end of the village in a + garden full of flowers, belongs to our mason, the shortest of men, and his + handsome, tall wife: he, a dwarf, with the voice of a giant; one starts + when he begins to talk as if he were shouting through a speaking trumpet; + she, the sister, daughter, and grand-daughter, of a long line of + gardeners, and no contemptible one herself. It is very magnanimous in me + not to hate her; for she beats me in my own way, in chrysanthemums, and + dahlias, and the like gauds. Her plants are sure to live; mine have a sad + trick of dying, perhaps because I love them, 'not wisely, but too well,' + and kill them with over-kindness. Half-way up the hill is another detached + cottage, the residence of an officer, and his beautiful family. That + eldest boy, who is hanging over the gate, and looking with such intense + childish admiration at my Lizzy, might be a model for a Cupid. + </p> + <p> + How pleasantly the road winds up the hill, with its broad green borders + and hedgerows so thickly timbered! How finely the evening sun falls on + that sandy excavated bank, and touches the farmhouse on the top of the + eminence! and how clearly defined and relieved is the figure of the man + who is just coming down! It is poor John Evans, the gardener—an + excellent gardener till about ten years ago, when he lost his wife, and + became insane. He was sent to St. Luke's, and dismissed as cured; but his + power was gone and his strength; he could no longer manage a garden, nor + submit to the restraint, nor encounter the fatigue of regular employment: + so he retreated to the workhouse, the pensioner and factotum of the + village, amongst whom he divides his services. His mind often wanders, + intent on some fantastic and impracticable plan, and lost to present + objects; but he is perfectly harmless, and full of a childlike simplicity, + a smiling contentedness, a most touching gratitude. Every one is kind to + John Evans, for there is that about him which must be loved; and his + unprotectedness, his utter defencelessness, have an irresistible claim on + every better feeling. I know nobody who inspires so deep and tender a + pity; he improves all around him. He is useful, too, to the extent of his + little power; will do anything, but loves gardening best, and still piques + himself on his old arts of pruning fruit-trees, and raising cucumbers. He + is the happiest of men just now, for he has the management of a melon bed—a + melon bed!—fie! What a grand pompous name was that for three melon + plants under a hand-light! John Evans is sure that they will succeed. We + shall see: as the chancellor said, 'I doubt.' + </p> + <p> + We are now on the very brow of the eminence, close to the Hill-house and + its beautiful garden. On the outer edge of the paling, hanging over the + bank that skirts the road, is an old thorn—such a thorn! The long + sprays covered with snowy blossoms, so graceful, so elegant, so lightsome, + and yet so rich! There only wants a pool under the thorn to give a still + lovelier reflection, quivering and trembling, like a tuft of feathers, + whiter and greener than the life, and more prettily mixed with the bright + blue sky. There should indeed be a pool; but on the dark grass-plat, under + the high bank, which is crowned by that magnificent plume, there is + something that does almost as well,—Lizzy and Mayflower in the midst + of a game at romps, 'making a sunshine in the shady place;' Lizzy rolling, + laughing, clapping her hands, and glowing like a rose; Mayflower playing + about her like summer lightning, dazzling the eyes with her sudden turns, + her leaps, her bounds, her attacks, and her escapes. She darts round the + lovely little girl, with the same momentary touch that the swallow skims + over the water, and has exactly the same power of flight, the same + matchless ease and strength and grace. What a pretty picture they would + make; what a pretty foreground they do make to the real landscape! The + road winding down the hill with a slight bend, like that in the High + Street at Oxford; a waggon slowly ascending, and a horseman passing it at + a full trot—(ah! Lizzy, Mayflower will certainly desert you to have + a gambol with that blood-horse!) half-way down, just at the turn, the red + cottage of the lieutenant, covered with vines, the very image of comfort + and content; farther down, on the opposite side, the small white dwelling + of the little mason; then the limes and the rope-walk; then the village + street, peeping through the trees, whose clustering tops hide all but the + chimneys, and various roofs of the houses, and here and there some angle + of a wall; farther on, the elegant town of B——, with its fine + old church-towers and spires; the whole view shut in by a range of chalky + hills and over every part of the picture, trees so profusely scattered, + that it appears like a woodland scene, with glades and villages + intermixed. The trees are of all kinds and all hues, chiefly the + finely-shaped elm, of so bright and deep a green, the tips of whose high + outer branches drop down with such a crisp and garland-like richness, and + the oak, whose stately form is just now so splendidly adorned by the sunny + colouring of the young leaves. Turning again up the hill, we find + ourselves on that peculiar charm of English scenery, a green common, + divided by the road; the right side fringed by hedgerows and trees, with + cottages and farmhouses irregularly placed, and terminated by a double + avenue of noble oaks; the left, prettier still, dappled by bright pools of + water, and islands of cottages and cottage-gardens, and sinking gradually + down to cornfields and meadows, and an old farmhouse, with pointed roofs + and clustered chimneys, looking out from its blooming orchard, and backed + by woody hills. The common is itself the prettiest part of the prospect; + half covered with low furze, whose golden blossoms reflect so intensely + the last beams of the setting sun, and alive with cows and sheep, and two + sets of cricketers; one of young men, surrounded by spectators, some + standing, some sitting, some stretched on the grass, all taking a + delighted interest in the game; the other, a merry group of little boys, + at a humble distance, for whom even cricket is scarcely lively enough, + shouting, leaping, and enjoying themselves to their hearts' content. But + cricketers and country boys are too important persons in our village to be + talked of merely as figures in the landscape. They deserve an individual + introduction—an essay to themselves—and they shall have it. No + fear of forgetting the good-humoured faces that meet us in our walks every + day. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WALKS IN THE COUNTRY. + </h2> + <h3> + Frost. + </h3> + <p> + January 23rd.—At noon to-day I and my white greyhound, Mayflower, + set out for a walk into a very beautiful world,—a sort of silent + fairyland,—a creation of that matchless magician the hoar-frost. + There had been just snow enough to cover the earth and all its covers with + one sheet of pure and uniform white, and just time enough since the snow + had fallen to allow the hedges to be freed of their fleecy load, and + clothed with a delicate coating of rime. The atmosphere was deliciously + calm; soft, even mild, in spite of the thermometer; no perceptible air, + but a stillness that might almost be felt, the sky, rather gray than blue, + throwing out in bold relief the snow-covered roofs of our village, and the + rimy trees that rise above them, and the sun shining dimly as through a + veil, giving a pale fair light, like the moon, only brighter. There was a + silence, too, that might become the moon, as we stood at our little gate + looking up the quiet street; a Sabbath-like pause of work and play, rare + on a work-day; nothing was audible but the pleasant hum of frost, that low + monotonous sound, which is perhaps the nearest approach that life and + nature can make to absolute silence. The very waggons as they come down + the hill along the beaten track of crisp yellowish frost-dust, glide along + like shadows; even May's bounding footsteps, at her height of glee and of + speed, fall like snow upon snow. + </p> + <p> + But we shall have noise enough presently: May has stopped at Lizzy's door; + and Lizzy, as she sat on the window-sill with her bright rosy face + laughing through the casement, has seen her and disappeared. She is + coming. No! The key is turning in the door, and sounds of evil omen issue + through the keyhole—sturdy 'let me outs,' and 'I will goes,' mixed + with shrill cries on May and on me from Lizzy, piercing through a low + continuous harangue, of which the prominent parts are apologies, + chilblains, sliding, broken bones, lollypops, rods, and gingerbread, from + Lizzy's careful mother. 'Don't scratch the door, May! Don't roar so, my + Lizzy! We'll call for you as we come back.' 'I'll go now! Let me out! I + will go!' are the last words of Miss Lizzy. Mem. Not to spoil that child—if + I can help it. But I do think her mother might have let the poor little + soul walk with us to-day. Nothing worse for children than coddling. + Nothing better for chilblains than exercise. Besides, I don't believe she + has any—and as to breaking her bones in sliding, I don't suppose + there's a slide on the common. These murmuring cogitations have brought us + up the hill, and half-way across the light and airy common, with its + bright expanse of snow and its clusters of cottages, whose turf fires send + such wreaths of smoke sailing up the air, and diffuse such aromatic + fragrance around. And now comes the delightful sound of childish voices, + ringing with glee and merriment almost from beneath our feet. Ah, Lizzy, + your mother was right! They are shouting from that deep irregular pool, + all glass now, where, on two long, smooth, liny slides, half a dozen + ragged urchins are slipping along in tottering triumph. Half a dozen steps + bring us to the bank right above them. May can hardly resist the + temptation of joining her friends, for most of the varlets are of her + acquaintance, especially the rogue who leads the slide,—he with the + brimless hat, whose bronzed complexion and white flaxen hair, reversing + the usual lights and shadows of the human countenance, give so strange and + foreign a look to his flat and comic features. This hobgoblin, Jack Rapley + by name, is May's great crony; and she stands on the brink of the steep, + irregular descent, her black eyes fixed full upon him, as if she intended + him the favour of jumping on his head. She does: she is down, and upon + him; but Jack Rapley is not easily to be knocked off his feet. He saw her + coming, and in the moment of her leap sprung dexterously off the slide on + the rough ice, steadying himself by the shoulder of the next in the file, + which unlucky follower, thus unexpectedly checked in his career, fell + plump backwards, knocking down the rest of the line like a nest of + card-houses. There is no harm done; but there they lie, roaring, kicking, + sprawling, in every attitude of comic distress, whilst Jack Rapley and + Mayflower, sole authors of this calamity, stand apart from the throng, + fondling, and coquetting, and complimenting each other, and very visibly + laughing, May in her black eyes, Jack in his wide, close-shut mouth, and + his whole monkey-face, at their comrades' mischances. I think, Miss May, + you may as well come up again, and leave Master Rapley to fight your + battles. He'll get out of the scrape. He is a rustic wit—a sort of + Robin Goodfellow—the sauciest, idlest, cleverest, best-natured boy + in the parish; always foremost in mischief, and always ready to do a good + turn. The sages of our village predict sad things of Jack Rapley, so that + I am sometimes a little ashamed to confess, before wise people, that I + have a lurking predilection for him (in common with other naughty ones), + and that I like to hear him talk to May almost as well as she does. 'Come, + May!' and up she springs, as light as a bird. The road is gay now; carts + and post-chaises, and girls in red cloaks, and, afar off, looking almost + like a toy, the coach. It meets us fast and soon. How much happier the + walkers look than the riders—especially the frost-bitten gentleman, + and the shivering lady with the invisible face, sole passengers of that + commodious machine! Hooded, veiled, and bonneted, as she is, one sees from + her attitude how miserable she would look uncovered. + </p> + <p> + Another pond, and another noise of children. More sliding? Oh no! This is + a sport of higher pretension. Our good neighbour, the lieutenant, skating, + and his own pretty little boys, and two or three other four-year-old + elves, standing on the brink in an ecstasy of joy and wonder! Oh what + happy spectators! And what a happy performer! They admiring, he admired, + with an ardour and sincerity never excited by all the quadrilles and the + spread-eagles of the Seine and the Serpentine. He really skates well + though, and I am glad I came this way; for, with all the father's feelings + sitting gaily at his heart, it must still gratify the pride of skill to + have one spectator at that solitary pond who has seen skating before. + </p> + <p> + Now we have reached the trees,—the beautiful trees! never so + beautiful as to-day. Imagine the effect of a straight and regular double + avenue of oaks, nearly a mile long, arching overhead, and closing into + perspective like the roof and columns of a cathedral, every tree and + branch incrusted with the bright and delicate congelation of hoar-frost, + white and pure as snow, delicate and defined as carved ivory. How + beautiful it is, how uniform, how various, how filling, how satiating to + the eye and to the mind—above all, how melancholy! There is a + thrilling awfulness, an intense feeling of simple power in that naked and + colourless beauty, which falls on the earth like the thoughts of death—death + pure, and glorious, and smiling,—but still death. Sculpture has + always the same effect on my imagination, and painting never. Colour is + life.—We are now at the end of this magnificent avenue, and at the + top of a steep eminence commanding a wide view over four counties—a + landscape of snow. A deep lane leads abruptly down the hill; a mere narrow + cart-track, sinking between high banks clothed with fern and furze and low + broom, crowned with luxuriant hedgerows, and famous for their summer smell + of thyme. How lovely these banks are now—the tall weeds and the + gorse fixed and stiffened in the hoar-frost, which fringes round the + bright prickly holly, the pendent foliage of the bramble, and the deep + orange leaves of the pollard oaks! Oh, this is rime in its loveliest form! + And there is still a berry here and there on the holly, 'blushing in its + natural coral' through the delicate tracery, still a stray hip or haw for + the birds, who abound here always. The poor birds, how tame they are, how + sadly tame! There is the beautiful and rare crested wren, 'that shadow of + a bird,' as White of Selborne calls it, perched in the middle of the + hedge, nestling as it were amongst the cold bare boughs, seeking, poor + pretty thing, for the warmth it will not find. And there, farther on, just + under the bank, by the slender runlet, which still trickles between its + transparent fantastic margin of thin ice, as if it were a thing of life,—there, + with a swift, scudding motion, flits, in short low flights, the gorgeous + kingfisher, its magnificent plumage of scarlet and blue flashing in the + sun, like the glories of some tropical bird. He is come for water to this + little spring by the hillside,—water which even his long bill and + slender head can hardly reach, so nearly do the fantastic forms of those + garland-like icy margins meet over the tiny stream beneath. It is rarely + that one sees the shy beauty so close or so long; and it is pleasant to + see him in the grace and beauty of his natural liberty, the only way to + look at a bird. We used, before we lived in a street, to fix a little + board outside the parlour window, and cover it with bread crumbs in the + hard weather. It was quite delightful to see the pretty things come and + feed, to conquer their shyness, and do away their mistrust. First came the + more social tribes, 'the robin red-breast and the wren,' cautiously, + suspiciously, picking up a crumb on the wing, with the little keen bright + eye fixed on the window; then they would stop for two pecks; then stay + till they were satisfied. The shyer birds, tamed by their example, came + next; and at last one saucy fellow of a blackbird—a sad glutton, he + would clear the board in two minutes,—used to tap his yellow bill + against the window for more. How we loved the fearless confidence of that + fine, frank-hearted creature! And surely he loved us. I wonder the + practice is not more general. 'May! May! naughty May!' She has frightened + away the kingfisher; and now, in her coaxing penitence, she is covering me + with snow. 'Come, pretty May! it is time to go home.' + </p> + <p> + Thaw. + </p> + <p> + January 28th.—We have had rain, and snow, and frost, and rain again + four days of absolute confinement. Now it is a thaw and a flood; but our + light gravelly soil, and country boots, and country hardihood, will carry + us through. What a dripping, comfortless day it is! just like the last + days of November: no sun, no sky, gray or blue; one low, overhanging, + dark, dismal cloud, like London smoke; Mayflower is out coursing too, and + Lizzy gone to school. Never mind. Up the hill again! Walk we must. Oh what + a watery world to look back upon! Thames, Kennet, Loddon—all + overflowed; our famous town, inland once, turned into a sort of Venice; C. + park converted into an island; and the long range of meadows from B. to W. + one huge unnatural lake, with trees growing out of it. Oh what a watery + world!—I will look at it no longer. I will walk on. The road is + alive again. Noise is reborn. Waggons creak, horses splash, carts rattle, + and pattens paddle through the dirt with more than their usual clink. The + common has its old fine tints of green and brown, and its old variety of + inhabitants, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, and donkeys. The ponds are + unfrozen, except where some melancholy piece of melting ice floats + sullenly on the water; and cackling geese and gabbling ducks have replaced + the lieutenant and Jack Rapley. The avenue is chill and dark, the hedges + are dripping, the lanes knee-deep, and all nature is in a state of + 'dissolution and thaw.' + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE FIRST PRIMROSE. + </h2> + <p> + March 6th.—Fine March weather: boisterous, blustering, much wind and + squalls of rain; and yet the sky, where the clouds are swept away, + deliciously blue, with snatches of sunshine, bright, and clear, and + healthful, and the roads, in spite of the slight glittering showers, + crisply dry. Altogether the day is tempting, very tempting. It will not do + for the dear common, that windmill of a walk; but the close sheltered + lanes at the bottom of the hill, which keep out just enough of the stormy + air, and let in all the sun, will be delightful. Past our old house, and + round by the winding lanes, and the workhouse, and across the lea, and so + into the turnpike-road again,—that is our route for to-day. Forth we + set, Mayflower and I, rejoicing in the sunshine, and still more in the + wind, which gives such an intense feeling of existence, and, co-operating + with brisk motion, sets our blood and our spirits in a glow. For mere + physical pleasure, there is nothing perhaps equal to the enjoyment of + being drawn, in a light carriage, against such a wind as this, by a + blood-horse at his height of speed. Walking comes next to it; but walking + is not quite so luxurious or so spiritual, not quite so much what one + fancies of flying, or being carried above the clouds in a balloon. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, a walk is a good thing; especially under this southern + hedgerow, where nature is just beginning to live again; the periwinkles, + with their starry blue flowers, and their shining myrtle-like leaves, + garlanding the bushes; woodbines and elder-trees pushing out their small + swelling buds; and grasses and mosses springing forth in every variety of + brown and green. Here we are at the corner where four lanes meet, or + rather where a passable road of stones and gravel crosses an impassable + one of beautiful but treacherous turf, and where the small white + farmhouse, scarcely larger than a cottage, and the well-stocked rick-yard + behind, tell of comfort and order, but leave all unguessed the great + riches of the master. How he became so rich is almost a puzzle; for, + though the farm be his own, it is not large; and though prudent and frugal + on ordinary occasions, Farmer Barnard is no miser. His horses, dogs, and + pigs are the best kept in the parish,—May herself, although her + beauty be injured by her fatness, half envies the plight of his bitch Fly: + his wife's gowns and shawls cost as much again as any shawls or gowns in + the village; his dinner parties (to be sure they are not frequent) display + twice the ordinary quantity of good things—two couples of ducks, two + dishes of green peas, two turkey poults, two gammons of bacon, two + plum-puddings; moreover, he keeps a single-horse chaise, and has built and + endowed a Methodist chapel. Yet is he the richest man in these parts. + Everything prospers with him. Money drifts about him like snow. He looks + like a rich man. There is a sturdy squareness of face and figure; a + good-humoured obstinacy; a civil importance. He never boasts of his + wealth, or gives himself undue airs; but nobody can meet him at market or + vestry without finding out immediately that he is the richest man there. + They have no child to all this money; but there is an adopted nephew, a + fine spirited lad, who may, perhaps, some day or other, play the part of a + fountain to the reservoir. + </p> + <p> + Now turn up the wide road till we come to the open common, with its + park-like trees, its beautiful stream, wandering and twisting along, and + its rural bridge. Here we turn again, past that other white farmhouse, + half hidden by the magnificent elms which stand before it. Ah! riches + dwell not there, but there is found the next best thing—an + industrious and light-hearted poverty. Twenty years ago Rachel Hilton was + the prettiest and merriest lass in the country. Her father, an old + gamekeeper, had retired to a village alehouse, where his good beer, his + social humour, and his black-eyed daughter, brought much custom. She had + lovers by the score; but Joseph White, the dashing and lively son of an + opulent farmer, carried off the fair Rachel. They married and settled + here, and here they live still, as merrily as ever, with fourteen children + of all ages and sizes, from nineteen years to nineteen months, working + harder than any people in the parish, and enjoying themselves more. I + would match them for labour and laughter against any family in England. + She is a blithe, jolly dame, whose beauty has amplified into comeliness; + he is tall, and thin, and bony, with sinews like whipcord, a strong lively + voice, a sharp weather-beaten face, and eyes and lips that smile and + brighten when he speaks into a most contagious hilarity. They are very + poor, and I often wish them richer; but I don't know—perhaps it + might put them out. + </p> + <p> + Quite close to Farmer White's is a little ruinous cottage, white-washed + once, and now in a sad state of betweenity, where dangling stockings and + shirts, swelled by the wind, drying in a neglected garden, give signal of + a washerwoman. There dwells, at present in single blessedness, Betty + Adams, the wife of our sometimes gardener. I never saw any one who so much + reminded me in person of that lady whom everybody knows, Mistress Meg + Merrilies;—as tall, as grizzled, as stately, as dark, as + gipsy-looking, bonneted and gowned like her prototype, and almost as + oracular. Here the resemblance ceases. Mrs. Adams is a perfectly honest, + industrious, painstaking person, who earns a good deal of money by washing + and charing, and spends it in other luxuries than tidiness,—in green + tea, and gin, and snuff. Her husband lives in a great family, ten miles + off. He is a capital gardener—or rather he would be so, if he were + not too ambitious. He undertakes all things, and finishes none. But a + smooth tongue, a knowing look, and a great capacity of labour, carry him + through. Let him but like his ale and his master and he will do work + enough for four. Give him his own way, and his full quantum, and nothing + comes amiss to him. + </p> + <p> + Ah, May is bounding forward! Her silly heart leaps at the sight of the old + place—and so in good truth does mine. What a pretty place it was—or + rather, how pretty I thought it! I suppose I should have thought any place + so where I had spent eighteen happy years. But it was really pretty. A + large, heavy, white house, in the simplest style, surrounded by fine oaks + and elms, and tall massy plantations shaded down into a beautiful lawn by + wild overgrown shrubs, bowery acacias, ragged sweet-briers, promontories + of dogwood, and Portugal laurel, and bays, over-hung by laburnum and + bird-cherry; a long piece of water letting light into the picture, and + looking just like a natural stream, the banks as rude and wild as the + shrubbery, interspersed with broom, and furze, and bramble, and pollard + oaks covered with ivy and honeysuckle; the whole enclosed by an old mossy + park paling, and terminating in a series of rich meadows, richly planted. + This is an exact description of the home which, three years ago, it nearly + broke my heart to leave. What a tearing up by the root it was! I have + pitied cabbage-plants and celery, and all transplantable things, ever + since; though, in common with them, and with other vegetables, the first + agony of the transportation being over, I have taken such firm and + tenacious hold of my new soil, that I would not for the world be pulled up + again, even to be restored to the old beloved ground;—not even if + its beauty were undiminished, which is by no means the case; for in those + three years it has thrice changed masters, and every successive possessor + has brought the curse of improvement upon the place; so that between + filling up the water to cure dampness, cutting down trees to let in + prospects, planting to keep them out, shutting up windows to darken the + inside of the house (by which means one end looks precisely as an eight of + spades would do that should have the misfortune to lose one of his corner + pips), and building colonnades to lighten the out, added to a general + clearance of pollards, and brambles, and ivy, and honeysuckles, and park + palings, and irregular shrubs, the poor place is so transmogrified, that + if it had its old looking-glass, the water, back again, it would not know + its own face. And yet I love to haunt round about it: so does May. Her + particular attraction is a certain broken bank full of rabbit burrows, + into which she insinuates her long pliant head and neck, and tears her + pretty feet by vain scratchings: mine is a warm sunny hedgerow, in the + same remote field, famous for early flowers. Never was a spot more + variously flowery: primroses yellow, lilac white, violets of either hue, + cowslips, oxslips, arums, orchises, wild hyacinths, ground ivy, pansies, + strawberries, heart's-ease, formed a small part of the Flora of that wild + hedgerow. How profusely they covered the sunny open slope under the + weeping birch, 'the lady of the woods'—and how often have I started + to see the early innocent brown snake, who loved the spot as well as I + did, winding along the young blossoms, or rustling amongst the fallen + leaves! There are primrose leaves already, and short green buds, but no + flowers; not even in that furze cradle so full of roots, where they used + to blow as in a basket. No, my May, no rabbits! no primroses! We may as + well get over the gate into the woody winding lane, which will bring us + home again. + </p> + <p> + Here we are making the best of our way between the old elms that arch so + solemnly over head, dark and sheltered even now. They say that a spirit + haunts this deep pool—a white lady without a head. I cannot say that + I have seen her, often as I have paced this lane at deep midnight, to hear + the nightingales, and look at the glow-worms;—but there, better and + rarer than a thousand ghosts, dearer even than nightingales or glow-worms, + there is a primrose, the first of the year; a tuft of primroses, springing + in yonder sheltered nook, from the mossy roots of an old willow, and + living again in the clear bright pool. Oh, how beautiful they are—three + fully blown, and two bursting buds! How glad I am I came this way! They + are not to be reached. Even Jack Rapley's love of the difficult and the + unattainable would fail him here: May herself could not stand on that + steep bank. So much the better. Who would wish to disturb them? There they + live in their innocent and fragrant beauty, sheltered from the storms, and + rejoicing in the sunshine, and looking as if they could feel their + happiness. Who would disturb them? Oh, how glad I am I came this way home! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIOLETING. + </h2> + <p> + March 27th.—It is a dull gray morning, with a dewy feeling in the + air; fresh, but not windy; cool, but not cold;—the very day for a + person newly arrived from the heat, the glare, the noise, and the fever of + London, to plunge into the remotest labyrinths of the country, and regain + the repose of mind, the calmness of heart, which has been lost in that + great Babel. I must go violeting—it is a necessity—and I must + go alone: the sound of a voice, even my Lizzy's, the touch of Mayflower's + head, even the bounding of her elastic foot, would disturb the serenity of + feeling which I am trying to recover. I shall go quite alone, with my + little basket, twisted like a bee-hive, which I love so well, because SHE + gave it to me, and kept sacred to violets and to those whom I love; and I + shall get out of the high-road the moment I can. I would not meet any one + just now, even of those whom I best like to meet. + </p> + <p> + Ha!—Is not that group—a gentleman on a blood-horse, a lady + keeping pace with him so gracefully and easily—see how prettily her + veil waves in the wind created by her own rapid motion!—and that + gay, gallant boy, on the gallant white Arabian, curveting at their side, + but ready to spring before them every instant—is not that + chivalrous-looking party Mr. and Mrs. M. and dear R? No! the servant is in + a different livery. It is some of the ducal family, and one of their young + Etonians. I may go on. I shall meet no one now; for I have fairly left the + road, and am crossing the lea by one of those wandering paths, amidst the + gorse, and the heath, and the low broom, which the sheep and lambs have + made—a path turfy, elastic, thymy, and sweet, even at this season. + </p> + <p> + We have the good fortune to live in an unenclosed parish, and may thank + the wise obstinacy of two or three sturdy farmers, and the lucky + unpopularity of a ranting madcap lord of the manor, for preserving the + delicious green patches, the islets of wilderness amidst cultivation, + which form, perhaps, the peculiar beauty of English scenery. The common + that I am passing now—the lea, as it is called—is one of the + loveliest of these favoured spots. It is a little sheltered scene, + retiring, as it were, from the village; sunk amidst higher lands, hills + would be almost too grand a word; edged on one side by one gay high-road, + and intersected by another; and surrounded by a most picturesque confusion + of meadows, cottages, farms, and orchards; with a great pond in one + corner, unusually bright and clear, giving a delightful cheerfulness and + daylight to the picture. The swallows haunt that pond; so do the children. + There is a merry group round it now; I have seldom seen it without one. + Children love water, clear, bright, sparkling water; it excites and feeds + their curiosity; it is motion and life. + </p> + <p> + The path that I am treading leads to a less lively spot, to that large + heavy building on one side of the common, whose solid wings, jutting out + far beyond the main body, occupy three sides of a square, and give a cold, + shadowy look to the court. On one side is a gloomy garden, with an old man + digging in it, laid out in straight dark beds of vegetables, potatoes, + cabbages, onions, beans; all earthy and mouldy as a newly-dug grave. Not a + flower or flowering shrub! Not a rose-tree or currant-bush! Nothing but + for sober, melancholy use. Oh, different from the long irregular slips of + the cottage-gardens, with their gay bunches of polyanthuses and crocuses, + their wallflowers sending sweet odours through the narrow casement, and + their gooseberry-trees bursting into a brilliancy of leaf, whose vivid + greenness has the effect of a blossom on the eye! Oh, how different! On + the other side of this gloomy abode is a meadow of that deep, intense + emerald hue, which denotes the presence of stagnant water, surrounded by + willows at regular distances, and like the garden, separated from the + common by a wide, moat-like ditch. That is the parish workhouse. All about + it is solid, substantial, useful;—but so dreary! so cold! so dark! + There are children in the court, and yet all is silent. I always hurry + past that place as if it were a prison. Restraint, sickness, age, extreme + poverty, misery, which I have no power to remove or alleviate,—these + are the ideas, the feelings, which the sight of those walls excites; yet, + perhaps, if not certainly, they contain less of that extreme desolation + than the morbid fancy is apt to paint. There will be found order, + cleanliness, food, clothing, warmth, refuge for the homeless, medicine and + attendance for the sick, rest and sufficiency for old age, and sympathy, + the true and active sympathy which the poor show to the poor, for the + unhappy. There may be worse places than a parish workhouse—and yet I + hurry past it. The feeling, the prejudice, will not be controlled. + </p> + <p> + The end of the dreary garden edges off into a close-sheltered lane, + wandering and winding, like a rivulet, in gentle 'sinuosities' (to use a + word once applied by Mr. Wilberforce to the Thames at Henley), amidst + green meadows, all alive with cattle, sheep, and beautiful lambs, in the + very spring and pride of their tottering prettiness; or fields of arable + land, more lively still with troops of stooping bean-setters, women and + children, in all varieties of costume and colour; and ploughs and harrows, + with their whistling boys and steady carters, going through, with a slow + and plodding industry, the main business of this busy season. What work + beansetting is! What a reverse of the position assigned to man to + distinguish him from the beasts of the field! Only think of stooping for + six, eight, ten hours a day, drilling holes in the earth with a little + stick, and then dropping in the beans one by one. They are paid according + to the quantity they plant; and some of the poor women used to be accused + of clumping them—that is to say, of dropping more than one bean into + a hole. It seems to me, considering the temptation, that not to clump is + to be at the very pinnacle of human virtue. + </p> + <p> + Another turn in the lane, and we come to the old house standing amongst + the high elms—the old farm-house, which always, I don't know why, + carries back my imagination to Shakspeare's days. It is a long, low, + irregular building, with one room, at an angle from the house, covered + with ivy, fine white-veined ivy; the first floor of the main building + projecting and supported by oaken beams, and one of the windows below, + with its old casement and long narrow panes, forming the half of a shallow + hexagon. A porch, with seats in it, surmounted by a pinnacle, pointed + roofs, and clustered chimneys, complete the picture! Alas! it is little + else but a picture! The very walls are crumbling to decay under a careless + landlord and ruined tenant. + </p> + <p> + Now a few yards farther, and I reach the bank. Ah! I smell them already—their + exquisite perfume steams and lingers in this moist, heavy air. Through + this little gate, and along the green south bank of this green + wheat-field, and they burst upon me, the lovely violets, in tenfold + loveliness. The ground is covered with them, white and purple, enamelling + the short dewy grass, looking but the more vividly coloured under the + dull, leaden sky. There they lie by hundreds, by thousands. In former + years I have been used to watch them from the tiny green bud, till one or + two stole into bloom. They never came on me before in such a sudden and + luxuriant glory of simple beauty,—and I do really owe one pure and + genuine pleasure to feverish London! How beautifully they are placed too, + on this sloping bank, with the palm branches waving over them, full of + early bees, and mixing their honeyed scent with the more delicate violet + odour! How transparent and smooth and lusty are the branches, full of sap + and life! And there, just by the old mossy root, is a superb tuft of + primroses, with a yellow butterfly hovering over them, like a flower + floating on the air. What happiness to sit on this tufty knoll, and fill + my basket with the blossoms! What a renewal of heart and mind! To inhabit + such a scene of peace and sweetness is again to be fearless, gay, and + gentle as a child. Then it is that thought becomes poetry, and feeling + religion. Then it is that we are happy and good. Oh, that my whole life + could pass so, floating on blissful and innocent sensation, enjoying in + peace and gratitude the common blessings of Nature, thankful above all for + the simple habits, the healthful temperament, which render them so dear! + Alas! who may dare expect a life of such happiness? But I can at least + snatch and prolong the fleeting pleasure, can fill my basket with pure + flowers, and my heart with pure thoughts; can gladden my little home with + their sweetness; can divide my treasures with one, a dear one, who cannot + seek them; can see them when I shut my eyes and dream of them when I fall + asleep. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE COPSE. + </h2> + <p> + April 18th.—Sad wintry weather; a northeast wind; a sun that puts + out one's eyes, without affording the slightest warmth; dryness that chaps + lips and hands like a frost in December; rain that comes chilly and arrowy + like hail in January; nature at a dead pause; no seeds up in the garden; + no leaves out in the hedgerows; no cowslips swinging their pretty bells in + the fields; no nightingales in the dingles; no swallows skimming round the + great pond; no cuckoos (that ever I should miss that rascally sonneteer!) + in any part. Nevertheless there is something of a charm in this wintry + spring, this putting-back of the seasons. If the flower-clock must stand + still for a month or two, could it choose a better time than that of the + primroses and violets? I never remember (and for such gauds my memory, if + not very good for aught of wise or useful, may be trusted) such an + affluence of the one or such a duration of the other. Primrosy is the + epithet which this year will retain in my recollection. Hedge, ditch, + meadow, field, even the very paths and highways, are set with them; but + their chief habitat is a certain copse, about a mile off, where they are + spread like a carpet, and where I go to visit them rather oftener than + quite comports with the dignity of a lady of mature age. I am going + thither this very afternoon, and May and her company are going too. + </p> + <p> + This Mayflower of mine is a strange animal. Instinct and imitation make in + her an approach to reason which is sometimes almost startling. She mimics + all that she sees us do, with the dexterity of a monkey, and far more of + gravity and apparent purpose; cracks nuts and eats them; gathers currants + and severs them from the stalk with the most delicate nicety; filches and + munches apples and pears; is as dangerous in an orchard as a schoolboy; + smells to flowers; smiles at meeting; answers in a pretty lively voice + when spoken to (sad pity that the language should be unknown!) and has + greatly the advantage of us in a conversation, inasmuch as our meaning is + certainly clear to her;—all this and a thousand amusing prettinesses + (to say nothing of her canine feat of bringing her game straight to her + master's feet, and refusing to resign it to any hand but his), does my + beautiful greyhound perform untaught, by the mere effect of imitation and + sagacity. Well, May, at the end of the coursing season, having lost Brush, + our old spaniel, her great friend, and the blue greyhound, Mariette, her + comrade and rival, both of which four-footed worthies were sent out to + keep for the summer, began to find solitude a weary condition, and to look + abroad for company. Now it so happened that the same suspension of sport + which had reduced our little establishment from three dogs to one, had + also dispersed the splendid kennel of a celebrated courser in our + neighbourhood, three of whose finest young dogs came home to 'their walk' + (as the sporting phrase goes) at the collarmaker's in our village. May, + accordingly, on the first morning of her solitude (she had never taken the + slightest notice of her neighbours before, although they had sojourned in + our street upwards of a fortnight), bethought herself of the timely + resource offered to her by the vicinity of these canine beaux, and went up + boldly and knocked at their stable door, which was already very + commodiously on the half-latch. The three dogs came out with much + alertness and gallantry, and May, declining apparently to enter their + territories, brought them off to her own. This manoeuvre has been repeated + every day, with one variation; of the three dogs, the first a brindle, the + second a yellow, and the third a black, the two first only are now allowed + to walk or consort with her, and the last, poor fellow, for no fault that + I can discover except May's caprice, is driven away not only by the fair + lady, but even by his old companions—is, so to say, sent to + Coventry. Of her two permitted followers, the yellow gentleman, Saladin by + name, is decidedly the favourite. He is, indeed, May's shadow, and will + walk with me whether I choose or not. It is quite impossible to get rid of + him unless by discarding Miss May also;—and to accomplish a walk in + the country without her, would be like an adventure of Don Quixote without + his faithful 'squire Sancho. + </p> + <p> + So forth we set, May and I, and Saladin and the brindle; May and myself + walking with the sedateness and decorum befitting our sex and age (she is + five years old this grass, rising six)—the young things, for the + soldan and the brindle are (not meaning any disrespect) little better than + puppies, frisking and frolicking as best pleased them. + </p> + <p> + Our route lay for the first part along the sheltered quiet lanes which + lead to our old habitation; a way never trodden by me without peculiar and + homelike feelings, full of the recollections, the pains and pleasures, of + other days. But we are not to talk sentiment now;—even May would not + understand that maudlin language. We must get on. What a wintry hedgerow + this is for the eighteenth of April! Primrosy to be sure, abundantly + spangled with those stars of the earth,—but so bare, so leafless, so + cold! The wind whistles through the brown boughs as in winter. Even the + early elder shoots, which do make an approach to springiness, look brown, + and the small leaves of the woodbine, which have also ventured to peep + forth, are of a sad purple, frost-bitten, like a dairymaid's elbows on a + snowy morning. The very birds, in this season of pairing and building, + look chilly and uncomfortable, and their nests!—'Oh, Saladin! come + away from the hedge! Don't you see that what puzzles you and makes you + leap up in the air is a redbreast's nest? Don't you see the pretty + speckled eggs? Don't you hear the poor hen calling as it were for help? + Come here this moment, sir!' And by good luck Saladin (who for a paynim + has tolerable qualities) comes, before he has touched the nest, or before + his playmate the brindle, the less manageable of the two, has espied it. + </p> + <p> + Now we go round the corner and cross the bridge, where the common, with + its clear stream winding between clumps of elms, assumes so park-like an + appearance. Who is this approaching so slowly and majestically, this + square bundle of petticoat and cloak, this road-waggon of a woman? It is, + it must be Mrs. Sally Mearing, the completest specimen within my knowledge + of farmeresses (may I be allowed that innovation in language?) as they + were. It can be nobody else. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Sally Mearing, when I first became acquainted with her, occupied, + together with her father (a superannuated man of ninety), a large farm + very near our former habitation. It had been anciently a great manor-farm + or court-house, and was still a stately, substantial building, whose lofty + halls and spacious chambers gave an air of grandeur to the common offices + to which they were applied. Traces of gilding might yet be seen on the + panels which covered the walls, and on the huge carved chimney-pieces + which rose almost to the ceilings; and the marble tables and the inlaid + oak staircase still spoke of the former grandeur of the court. Mrs. Sally + corresponded well with the date of her mansion, although she troubled + herself little with its dignity. She was thoroughly of the old school, and + had a most comfortable contempt for the new: rose at four in winter and + summer, breakfasted at six, dined at eleven in the forenoon, supped at + five, and was regularly in bed before eight, except when the hay-time or + the harvest imperiously required her to sit up till sunset, a necessity to + which she submitted with no very good grace. To a deviation from these + hours, and to the modern iniquities of white aprons, cotton stockings, and + muslin handkerchiefs (Mrs. Sally herself always wore check, black worsted, + and a sort of yellow compound which she was wont to call 'susy'), together + with the invention of drill plough and thrashing-machines, and other + agricultural novelties, she failed not to attribute all the mishaps or + misdoings of the whole parish. The last-mentioned discovery especially + aroused her indignation. Oh to hear her descant on the merits of the + flail, wielded by a stout right arm, such as she had known in her youth + (for by her account there was as great a deterioration in bones and sinews + as in the other implements of husbandry), was enough to make the very + inventor break his machine. She would even take up her favourite + instrument, and thrash the air herself by way of illustrating her + argument, and, to say truth, few men in these degenerate days could have + matched the stout, brawny, muscular limb which Mrs. Sally displayed at + sixty-five. + </p> + <p> + In spite of this contumacious rejection of agricultural improvements, the + world went well with her at Court Farm. A good landlord, an easy rent, + incessant labour, unremitting frugality, and excellent times, insured a + regular though moderate profit; and she lived on, grumbling and + prospering, flourishing and complaining, till two misfortunes befell her + at once—her father died, and her lease expired. The loss of her + father although a bedridden man, turned of ninety, who could not in the + course of nature have been expected to live long, was a terrible shock to + a daughter, who was not so much younger as to be without fears for her own + life, and who had besides been so used to nursing the good old man, and + looking to his little comforts, that she missed him as a mother would miss + an ailing child. The expiration of the lease was a grievance and a puzzle + of a different nature. Her landlord would have willingly retained his + excellent tenant, but not on the terms on which she then held the land, + which had not varied for fifty years; so that poor Mrs. Sally had the + misfortune to find rent rising and prices sinking both at the same moment—a + terrible solecism in political economy. Even this, however, I believe she + would have endured, rather than have quitted the house where she was born, + and to which all her ways and notions were adapted, had not a priggish + steward, as much addicted to improvement and reform as she was to + precedent and established usages, insisted on binding her by lease to + spread a certain number of loads of chalk on every field. This tremendous + innovation, for never had that novelty in manure whitened the crofts and + pightles of Court Farm, decided her at once. She threw the proposals into + the fire, and left the place in a week. + </p> + <p> + Her choice of a habitation occasioned some wonder, and much amusement in + our village world. To be sure, upon the verge of seventy, an old maid may + be permitted to dispense with the more rigid punctilio of her class, but + Mrs. Sally had always been so tenacious on the score of character, so very + a prude, so determined an avoider of the 'men folk' (as she was wont + contemptuously to call them), that we all were conscious of something like + astonishment, on finding that she and her little handmaid had taken up + their abode in one end of a spacious farmhouse belonging to the bluff old + bachelor, George Robinson, of the Lea. Now Farmer Robinson was quite as + notorious for his aversion to petticoated things, as Mrs. Sally for her + hatred to the unfeathered bipeds who wear doublet and hose, so that there + was a little astonishment in that quarter too, and plenty of jests, which + the honest farmer speedily silenced, by telling all who joked on the + subject that he had given his lodger fair warning, that, let people say + what they would, he was quite determined not to marry her: so that if she + had any views that way, it would be better for her to go elsewhere. This + declaration, which must be admitted to have been more remarkable for + frankness than civility, made, however, no ill impression on Mrs. Sally. + To the farmer's she went, and at his house she lives still, with her + little maid, her tabby cat, a decrepit sheep-dog, and much of the lumber + of Court Farm, which she could not find in her heart to part from. There + she follows her old ways and her old hours, untempted by matrimony, and + unassailed (as far as I hear) by love or by scandal, with no other + grievance than an occasional dearth of employment for herself and her + young lass (even pewter dishes do not always want scouring), and now and + then a twinge of the rheumatism. + </p> + <p> + Here she is, that good relique of the olden time—for, in spite of + her whims and prejudices, a better and a kinder woman never lived—here + she is, with the hood of her red cloak pulled over her close black bonnet, + of that silk which once (it may be presumed) was fashionable, since it is + still called mode, and her whole stout figure huddled up in a + miscellaneous and most substantial covering of thick petticoats, gowns, + aprons, shawls, and cloaks—a weight which it requires the strength + of a thrasher to walk under—here she is, with her square honest + visage, and her loud frank voice;—and we hold a pleasant disjointed + chat of rheumatisms and early chickens, bad weather, and hats with + feathers in them;—the last exceedingly sore subject being introduced + by poor Jane Davis (a cousin of Mrs. Sally), who, passing us in a beaver + bonnet, on her road from school, stopped to drop her little curtsy, and + was soundly scolded for her civility. Jane, who is a gentle, humble, + smiling lass, about twelve years old, receives so many rebukes from her + worthy relative, and bears them so meekly, that I should not wonder if + they were to be followed by a legacy: I sincerely wish they may. Well, at + last we said good-bye; when, on inquiring my destination, and hearing that + I was bent to the ten-acre copse (part of the farm which she ruled so + long), she stopped me to tell a dismal story of two sheep-stealers who, + sixty years ago, were found hidden in that copse, and only taken after + great difficulty and resistance, and the maiming of a peace-officer.—'Pray + don't go there, Miss! For mercy's sake don't be so venturesome! Think if + they should kill you!' were the last words of Mrs. Sally. + </p> + <p> + Many thanks for her care and kindness! But, without being at all foolhardy + in general, I have no great fear of the sheep-stealers of sixty years ago. + Even if they escaped hanging for that exploit, I should greatly doubt + their being in case to attempt another. So on we go: down the short shady + lane, and out on the pretty retired green, shut in by fields and + hedgerows, which we must cross to reach the copse. How lively this green + nook is to-day, half covered with cows, and horses, and sheep! And how + glad these frolicsome greyhounds are to exchange the hard gravel of the + high road for this pleasant short turf, which seems made for their + gambols! How beautifully they are at play, chasing each other round and + round in lessening circles, darting off at all kinds of angles, crossing + and recrossing May, and trying to win her sedateness into a game at romps, + turning round on each other with gay defiance, pursuing the cows and the + colts, leaping up as if to catch the crows in their flight;—all in + their harmless and innocent—'Ah, wretches! villains! rascals! + four-footed mischiefs! canine plagues! Saladin! Brindle!'—They are + after the sheep—'Saladin, I say!'—They have actually singled + out that pretty spotted lamb—'Brutes, if I catch you! Saladin! + Brindle!' We shall be taken up for sheep-stealing presently ourselves. + They have chased the poor little lamb into a ditch, and are mounting guard + over it, standing at bay.—'Ah, wretches, I have you now! for shame, + Saladin! Get away, Brindle! See how good May is. Off with you, brutes! For + shame! For shame!' and brandishing a handkerchief, which could hardly be + an efficient instrument of correction, I succeeded in driving away the two + puppies, who after all meant nothing more than play, although it was + somewhat rough, and rather too much in the style of the old fable of the + boys and the frogs. May is gone after them, perhaps to scold them: for she + has been as grave as a judge during the whole proceeding, keeping + ostentatiously close to me, and taking no part whatever in the mischief. + </p> + <p> + The poor little pretty lamb! here it lies on the bank quite motionless, + frightened I believe to death, for certainly those villains never touched + it. It does not stir. Does it breathe? Oh yes, it does! It is alive, safe + enough. Look, it opens its eyes, and, finding the coast clear and its + enemies far away, it springs up in a moment and gallops to its dam, who + has stood bleating the whole time at a most respectful distance. Who would + suspect a lamb of so much simple cunning? I really thought the pretty + thing was dead—and now how glad the ewe is to recover her curling + spotted little one! How fluttered they look! Well! this adventure has + flurried me too; between fright and running, I warrant you my heart beats + as fast as the lamb's. + </p> + <p> + Ah! here is the shameless villain Saladin, the cause of the commotion, + thrusting his slender nose into my hand to beg pardon and make up! 'Oh + wickedest of soldans! Most iniquitous pagan! Soul of a Turk!'—but + there is no resisting the good-humoured creature's penitence. I must pat + him. 'There! there! Now we will go to the copse; I am sure we shall find + no worse malefactors than ourselves—shall we, May?—and the + sooner we get out of sight of the sheep the better; for Brindle seems + meditating another attack. Allons, messieurs, over this gate, across this + meadow, and here is the copse.' + </p> + <p> + How boldly that superb ash-tree with its fine silver bark rises from the + bank, and what a fine entrance it makes with the holly beside it, which + also deserves to be called a tree! But here we are in the copse. Ah! only + one half of the underwood was cut last year, and the other is at its full + growth: hazel, brier, woodbine, bramble, forming one impenetrable thicket, + and almost uniting with the lower branches of the elms, and oaks, and + beeches, which rise at regular distances overhead. No foot can penetrate + that dense and thorny entanglement; but there is a walk all round by the + side of the wide sloping bank, walk and bank and copse carpeted with + primroses, whose fresh and balmy odour impregnates the very air. Oh how + exquisitely beautiful! and it is not the primroses only, those gems of + flowers, but the natural mosaic of which they form a part; that network of + ground-ivy, with its lilac blossoms and the subdued tint of its purplish + leaves, those rich mosses, those enamelled wild hyacinths, those spotted + arums, and above all those wreaths of ivy linking all those flowers + together with chains of leaves more beautiful than blossoms, whose white + veins seem swelling amidst the deep green or splendid brown;—it is + the whole earth that is so beautiful! Never surely were primroses so + richly set, and never did primroses better deserve such a setting. There + they are of their own lovely yellow, the hue to which they have given a + name, the exact tint of the butterfly that overhangs them (the first I + have seen this year! can spring really be coming at last?)—sprinkled + here and there with tufts of a reddish purple, and others of the purest + white, as some accident of soil affects that strange and inscrutable + operation of nature, the colouring of flowers. Oh how fragrant they are, + and how pleasant it is to sit in this sheltered copse, listening to the + fine creaking of the wind amongst the branches, the most unearthly of + sounds, with this gay tapestry under our feet, and the wood-pigeons + flitting from tree to tree, and mixing the deep note of love with the + elemental music. + </p> + <p> + Yes! spring is coming. Wood-pigeons, butterflies, and sweet flowers, all + give token of the sweetest of the seasons. Spring is coming. The hazel + stalks are swelling and putting forth their pale tassels, the satin palms + with their honeyed odours are out on the willow, and the last lingering + winter berries are dropping from the hawthorn, and making way for the + bright and blossomy leaves. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE WOOD. + </h2> + <p> + April 20th.—Spring is actually come now, with the fulness and almost + the suddenness of a northern summer. To-day is completely April;—clouds + and sunshine, wind and showers; blossoms on the trees, grass in the + fields, swallows by the ponds, snakes in the hedgerows, nightingales in + the thickets, and cuckoos everywhere. My young friend Ellen G. is going + with me this evening to gather wood-sorrel. She never saw that most + elegant plant, and is so delicate an artist that the introduction will be + a mutual benefit; Ellen will gain a subject worthy of her pencil, and the + pretty weed will live;—no small favour to a flower almost as + transitory as the gum cistus: duration is the only charm which it wants, + and that Ellen will give it. The weather is, to be sure, a little + threatening, but we are not people to mind the weather when we have an + object in view; we shall certainly go in quest of the wood-sorrel, and + will take May, provided we can escape May's followers; for since the + adventure of the lamb, Saladin has had an affair with a gander, furious in + defence of his goslings, in which rencontre the gander came off conqueror; + and as geese abound in the wood to which we are going (called by the + country people the Pinge), and the victory may not always incline to the + right side, I should be very sorry to lead the Soldan to fight his battles + over again. We will take nobody but May. + </p> + <p> + So saying, we proceeded on our way through winding lanes, between + hedgerows tenderly green, till we reached the hatch-gate, with the white + cottage beside it embosomed in fruit-trees, which forms the entrance to + the Pinge, and in a moment the whole scene was before our eyes. + </p> + <p> + 'Is not this beautiful, Ellen?' The answer could hardly be other than a + glowing rapid 'Yes!'—A wood is generally a pretty place; but this + wood—Imagine a smaller forest, full of glades and sheep-walks, + surrounded by irregular cottages with their blooming orchards, a clear + stream winding about the brakes, and a road intersecting it, and giving + life and light to the picture; and you will have a faint idea of the + Pinge. Every step was opening a new point of view, a fresh combination of + glade and path and thicket. The accessories too were changing every + moment. Ducks, geese, pigs, and children, giving way, as we advanced into + the wood, to sheep and forest ponies; and they again disappearing as we + became more entangled in its mazes, till we heard nothing but the song of + the nightingale, and saw only the silent flowers. + </p> + <p> + What a piece of fairy land! The tall elms overhead just bursting into + tender vivid leaf, with here and there a hoary oak or a silver-barked + beech, every twig swelling with the brown buds, and yet not quite stripped + of the tawny foliage of autumn; tall hollies and hawthorn beneath, with + their crisp brilliant leaves mixed with the white blossoms of the sloe, + and woven together with garlands of woodbines and wild-briers;—what + a fairy land! + </p> + <p> + Primroses, cowslips, pansies, and the regular open-eyed white blossom of + the wood anemone (or, to use the more elegant Hampshire name, the + windflower), were set under our feet as thick as daisies in a meadow; but + the pretty weed that we came to seek was coyer; and Ellen began to fear + that we had mistaken the place or the season.—At last she had + herself the pleasure of finding it under a brake of holly—'Oh, look! + look! I am sure that this is the wood-sorrel! Look at the pendent white + flower, shaped like a snowdrop and veined with purple streaks, and the + beautiful trefoil leaves folded like a heart,—some, the young ones, + so vividly yet tenderly green that the foliage of the elm and the hawthorn + would show dully at their side,—others of a deeper tint, and lined, + as it were, with a rich and changeful purple!—Don't you see them?' + pursued my dear young friend, who is a delightful piece of life and + sunshine, and was half inclined to scold me for the calmness with which, + amused by her enthusiasm, I stood listening to her ardent exclamations—'Don't + you see them? Oh how beautiful! and in what quantity! what profusion! See + how the dark shade of the holly sets off the light and delicate colouring + of the flower!—And see that other bed of them springing from the + rich moss in the roots of that old beech-tree! Pray, let us gather some. + Here are baskets.' So, quickly and carefully we began gathering, leaves, + blossoms, roots and all, for the plant is so fragile that it will not + brook separation;—quickly and carefully we gathered, encountering + divers petty misfortunes in spite of all our care, now caught by the veil + in a holly bush, now hitching our shawls in a bramble, still gathering on, + in spite of scratched fingers, till we had nearly filled our baskets and + began to talk of our departure:— + </p> + <p> + 'But where is May? May! May! No going home without her. May! Here she + comes galloping, the beauty!'—(Ellen is almost as fond of May as I + am.)—'What has she got in her mouth? that rough, round, brown + substance which she touches so tenderly? What can it be? A bird's nest? + Naughty May!' + </p> + <p> + 'No! as I live, a hedgehog! Look, Ellen, how it has coiled itself into a + thorny ball! Off with it, May! Don't bring it to me!'—And May, + somewhat reluctant to part with her prickly prize, however troublesome of + carriage, whose change of shape seemed to me to have puzzled her sagacity + more than any event I ever witnessed, for in general she has perfectly the + air of understanding all that is going forward—May at last dropt the + hedgehog; continuing, however, to pat it with her delicate cat-like paw, + cautiously and daintily applied, and caught back suddenly and rapidly + after every touch, as if her poor captive had been a red-hot coal. Finding + that these pats entirely failed in solving the riddle (for the hedgehog + shammed dead, like the lamb the other day, and appeared entirely + motionless), she gave him so spirited a nudge with her pretty black nose, + that she not only turned him over, but sent him rolling some little way + along the turfy path,—an operation which that sagacious quadruped + endured with the most perfect passiveness, the most admirable + non-resistance. No wonder that May's discernment was at fault, I myself, + if I had not been aware of the trick, should have said that the ugly rough + thing which she was trundling along, like a bowl or a cricket-ball, was an + inanimate substance, something devoid of sensation and of will. At last my + poor pet, thoroughly perplexed and tired out, fairly relinquished the + contest, and came slowly away, turning back once or twice to look at the + object of her curiosity, as if half inclined to return and try the event + of another shove. The sudden flight of a wood-pigeon effectually diverted + her attention; and Ellen amused herself by fancying how the hedgehog was + scuttling away, till our notice was also attracted by a very different + object. + </p> + <p> + We had nearly threaded the wood, and were approaching an open grove of + magnificent oaks on the other side, when sounds other than of nightingales + burst on our ear, the deep and frequent strokes of the woodman's axe, and + emerging from the Pinge we discovered the havoc which that axe had + committed. Above twenty of the finest trees lay stretched on the velvet + turf. There they lay in every shape and form of devastation: some, bare + trunks stripped ready for the timber carriage, with the bark built up in + long piles at the side; some with the spoilers busy about them, stripping, + hacking, hewing; others with their noble branches, their brown and + fragrant shoots all fresh as if they were alive—majestic corses, the + slain of to-day! The grove was like a field of battle. The young lads who + were stripping the bark, the very children who were picking up the chips, + seemed awed and silent, as if conscious that death was around them. The + nightingales sang faintly and interruptedly—a few low frightened + notes like a requiem. + </p> + <p> + Ah! here we are at the very scene of murder, the very tree that they are + felling; they have just hewn round the trunk with those slaughtering axes, + and are about to saw it asunder. After all, it is a fine and thrilling + operation, as the work of death usually is. Into how grand an attitude was + that young man thrown as he gave the final strokes round the root; and how + wonderful is the effect of that supple and apparently powerless saw, + bending like a riband, and yet overmastering that giant of the woods, + conquering and overthrowing that thing of life! Now it has passed half + through the trunk, and the woodman has begun to calculate which way the + tree will fall; he drives a wedge to direct its course;—now a few + more movements of the noiseless saw; and then a larger wedge. See how the + branches tremble! Hark how the trunk begins to crack! Another stroke of + the huge hammer on the wedge, and the tree quivers, as with a mortal + agony, shakes, reels, and falls. How slow, and solemn, and awful it is! + How like to death, to human death in its grandest form! Caesar in the + Capitol, Seneca in the bath, could not fall more sublimely than that oak. + </p> + <p> + Even the heavens seem to sympathise with the devastation. The clouds have + gathered into one thick low canopy, dark and vapoury as the smoke which + overhangs London; the setting sun is just gleaming underneath with a dim + and bloody glare, and the crimson rays spreading upward with a lurid and + portentous grandeur, a subdued and dusky glow, like the light reflected on + the sky from some vast conflagration. The deep flush fades away, and the + rain begins to descend; and we hurry homeward rapidly, yet sadly, + forgetful alike of the flowers, the hedgehog, and the wetting, thinking + and talking only of the fallen tree. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE DELL. + </h2> + <p> + May 2nd.—A delicious evening;—bright sunshine; light summer + air; a sky almost cloudless; and a fresh yet delicate verdure on the + hedges and in the fields;—an evening that seems made for a visit to + my newly-discovered haunt, the mossy dell, one of the most beautiful spots + in the neighbourhood, which after passing, times out of number, the field + which it terminates, we found out about two months ago from the accident + of May's killing a rabbit there. May has had a fancy for the place ever + since; and so have I. + </p> + <p> + Thither accordingly we bend our way;—through the village;—up + the hill;—along the common;—past the avenue;—across the + bridge; and by the hill. How deserted the road is to-night! We have not + seen a single acquaintance, except poor blind Robert, laden with his sack + of grass plucked from the hedges, and the little boy that leads him. A + singular division of labour! Little Jem guides Robert to the spots where + the long grass grows, and tells him where it is most plentiful; and then + the old man cuts it close to the roots, and between them they fill the + sack, and sell the contents in the village. Half the cows in the street—for + our baker, our wheelwright, and our shoemaker has each his Alderney—owe + the best part of their maintenance to blind Robert's industry. + </p> + <p> + Here we are at the entrance of the cornfield which leads to the dell, and + which commands so fine a view of the Loddon, the mill, the great farm, + with its picturesque outbuildings, and the range of woody hills beyond. It + is impossible not to pause a moment at that gate, the landscape, always + beautiful, is so suited to the season and the hour,—so bright, and + gay, and spring-like. But May, who has the chance of another rabbit in her + pretty head, has galloped forward to the dingle, and poor May, who follows + me so faithfully in all my wanderings, has a right to a little indulgence + in hers. So to the dingle we go. + </p> + <p> + At the end of the field, which when seen from the road seems terminated by + a thick dark coppice, we come suddenly to the edge of a ravine, on one + side fringed with a low growth of alder, birch, and willow, on the other + mossy, turfy, and bare, or only broken by bright tufts of blossomed broom. + One or two old pollards almost conceal the winding road that leads down + the descent, by the side of which a spring as bright as crystal runs + gurgling along. The dell itself is an irregular piece of broken ground, in + some parts very deep, intersected by two or three high banks of equal + irregularity, now abrupt and bare, and rocklike, now crowned with tufts of + the feathery willow or magnificent old thorns. Everywhere the earth is + covered by short, fine turf, mixed with mosses, soft, beautiful, and + various, and embossed with the speckled leaves and lilac flowers of the + arum, the paler blossoms of the common orchis, the enamelled blue of the + wild hyacinth, so splendid in this evening light, and large tufts of + oxslips and cowslips rising like nosegays from the short turf. + </p> + <p> + The ground on the other side of the dell is much lower than the field + through which we came, so that it is mainly to the labyrinthine intricacy + of these high banks that it owes its singular character of wildness and + variety. Now we seem hemmed in by those green cliffs, shut out from all + the world, with nothing visible but those verdant mounds and the deep blue + sky; now by some sudden turn we get a peep at an adjoining meadow, where + the sheep are lying, dappling its sloping surface like the small clouds on + the summer heaven. Poor harmless, quiet creatures, how still they are! + Some socially lying side by side; some grouped in threes and fours; some + quite apart. Ah! there are lambs amongst them—pretty, pretty lambs—nestled + in by their mothers. Soft, quiet, sleepy things! Not all so quiet, though! + There is a party of these young lambs as wide awake as heart can desire; + half a dozen of them playing together, frisking, dancing, leaping, + butting, and crying in the young voice, which is so pretty a diminutive of + the full-grown bleat. How beautiful they are with their innocent spotted + faces, their mottled feet, their long curly tails, and their light + flexible forms, frolicking like so many kittens, but with a gentleness, an + assurance of sweetness and innocence, which no kitten, nothing that ever + is to be a cat, can have. How complete and perfect is their enjoyment of + existence! Ah! little rogues! your play has been too noisy; you have + awakened your mammas; and two or three of the old ewes are getting up; and + one of them marching gravely to the troop of lambs has selected her own, + given her a gentle butt, and trotted off; the poor rebuked lamb following + meekly, but every now and then stopping and casting a longing look at its + playmates; who, after a moment's awed pause, had resumed their gambols; + whilst the stately dame every now and then looked back in her turn, to see + that her little one was following. At last she lay down, and the lamb by + her side. I never saw so pretty a pastoral scene in my life.* + </p> + <p> + *I have seen one which affected me much more. Walking in the Church-lane + with one of the young ladies of the vicarage, we met a large flock of + sheep, with the usual retinue of shepherds and dogs. Lingering after them + and almost out of sight, we encountered a straggling ewe, now trotting + along, now walking, and every now and then stopping to look back, and + bleating. A little behind her came a lame lamb, bleating occasionally, as + if in answer to its dam, and doing its very best to keep up with her. It + was a lameness of both the fore-feet; the knees were bent, and it seemed + to walk on the very edge of the hoof—on tip-toe, if I may venture + such an expression. My young friend thought that the lameness proceeded + from original malformation, I am rather of opinion that it was accidental, + and that the poor creature was wretchedly foot-sore. However that might + be, the pain and difficulty with which it took every step were not to be + mistaken; and the distress and fondness of the mother, her perplexity as + the flock passed gradually out of sight, the effort with which the poor + lamb contrived to keep up a sort of trot, and their mutual calls and + lamentations were really so affecting, that Ellen and I, although not at + all lachrymose sort of people, had much ado not to cry. We could not find + a boy to carry the lamb, which was too big for us to manage;—but I + was quite sure that the ewe would not desert it, and as the dark was + coming on, we both trusted that the shepherds on folding their flock would + miss them and return for them;—and so I am happy to say it proved. + </p> + <p> + Another turning of the dell gives a glimpse of the dark coppice by which + it is backed, and from which we are separated by some marshy, rushy + ground, where the springs have formed into a pool, and where the moor-hen + loves to build her nest. Ay, there is one scudding away now;—I can + hear her plash into the water, and the rustling of her wings amongst the + rushes. This is the deepest part of the wild dingle. How uneven the ground + is! Surely these excavations, now so thoroughly clothed with vegetation, + must originally have been huge gravel pits; there is no other way of + accounting for the labyrinth, for they do dig gravel in such capricious + meanders; but the quantity seems incredible. Well! there is no end of + guessing! We are getting amongst the springs, and must turn back. Round + this corner, where on ledges like fairy terraces the orchises and arums + grow, and we emerge suddenly on a new side of the dell, just fronting the + small homestead of our good neighbour Farmer Allen. + </p> + <p> + This rustic dwelling belongs to what used to be called in this part of the + country 'a little bargain': thirty or forty acres, perhaps, of arable + land, which the owner and his sons cultivated themselves, whilst the wife + and daughters assisted in the husbandry, and eked out the slender earnings + by the produce of the dairy, the poultry yard, and the orchard;—an + order of cultivators now passing rapidly away, but in which much of the + best part of the English character, its industry, its frugality, its sound + sense, and its kindness might be found. Farmer Allen himself is an + excellent specimen, the cheerful venerable old man with his long white + hair, and his bright grey eye, and his wife is a still finer. They have + had a hard struggle to win through the world and keep their little + property undivided; but good management and good principles, and the + assistance afforded them by an admirable son, who left our village a poor + 'prentice boy, and is now a partner in a great house in London have + enabled them to overcome all the difficulties of these trying times, and + they are now enjoying the peaceful evenings of a well-spent life as free + from care and anxiety as their best friends could desire. + </p> + <p> + Ah! there is Mr. Allen in the orchard, the beautiful orchard, with its + glorious gardens of pink and white, its pearly pear-blossoms and coral + apple-buds. What a flush of bloom it is! How brightly delicate it appears, + thrown into strong relief by the dark house and the weather-stained barn, + in this soft evening light! The very grass is strewed with the snowy + petals of the pear and the cherry. And there sits Mrs. Allen, feeding her + poultry, with her three little grand-daughters from London, pretty fairies + from three years old to five (only two-and-twenty months elapsed between + the birth of the eldest and the youngest) playing round her feet. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Allen, my dear Mrs. Allen, has been that rare thing a beauty, and + although she be now an old woman I had almost said that she is so still. + Why should I not say so? Nobleness of feature and sweetness of expression + are surely as delightful in age as in youth. Her face and figure are much + like those which are stamped indelibly on the memory of every one who ever + saw that grand specimen of woman—Mrs. Siddons. The outline of Mrs. + Allen's face is exactly the same; but there is more softness, more + gentleness, a more feminine composure in the eye and in the smile. Mrs. + Allen never played Lady Macbeth. Her hair, almost as black as at twenty, + is parted on her large fair forehead, and combed under her exquisitely + neat and snowy cap; a muslin neckerchief, a grey stuff gown and a white + apron complete the picture. + </p> + <p> + There she sits under an old elder-tree which flings its branches over her + like a canopy, whilst the setting sun illumines her venerable figure and + touches the leaves with an emerald light; there she sits, placid and + smiling, with her spectacles in her hand and a measure of barley on her + lap, into which the little girls are dipping their chubby hands and + scattering the corn amongst the ducks and chickens with unspeakable glee. + But those ingrates the poultry don't seem so pleased and thankful as they + ought to be; they mistrust their young feeders. All domestic animals + dislike children, partly from an instinctive fear of their tricks and + their thoughtlessness; partly, I suspect, from jealousy. Jealousy seems a + strange tragic passion to attribute to the inmates of the basse cour,—but + only look at that strutting fellow of a bantam cock (evidently a + favourite), who sidles up to his old mistress with an air half affronted + and half tender, turning so scornfully from the barley-corns which Annie + is flinging towards him, and say if he be not as jealous as Othello? + Nothing can pacify him but Mrs. Allen's notice and a dole from her hand. + See, she is calling to him and feeding him, and now how he swells out his + feathers, and flutters his wings, and erects his glossy neck, and struts + and crows and pecks, proudest and happiest of bantams, the pet and glory + of the poultry yard! + </p> + <p> + In the meantime my own pet May, who has all this while been peeping into + every hole, and penetrating every nook and winding of the dell, in hopes + to find another rabbit, has returned to my side, and is sliding her + snake-like head into my hand, at once to invite the caress which she likes + so well, and to intimate, with all due respect, that it is time to go + home. The setting sun gives the same warning; and in a moment we are + through the dell, the field, and the gate, past the farm and the mill, and + hanging over the bridge that crosses the Loddon river. + </p> + <p> + What a sunset! how golden! how beautiful! The sun just disappearing, and + the narrow liny clouds, which a few minutes ago lay like soft vapoury + streaks along the horizon, lighted up with a golden splendour that the eye + can scarcely endure, and those still softer clouds which floated above + them wreathing and curling into a thousand fantastic forms, as thin and + changeful as summer smoke, now defined and deepened into grandeur, and + edged with ineffable, insufferable light! Another minute and the brilliant + orb totally disappears, and the sky above grows every moment more varied + and more beautiful as the dazzling golden lines are mixed with glowing red + and gorgeous purple, dappled with small dark specks, and mingled with such + a blue as the egg of the hedge-sparrow. To look up at that glorious sky, + and then to see that magnificent picture reflected in the clear and lovely + Loddon water, is a pleasure never to be described and never forgotten. My + heart swells and my eyes fill as I write of it, and think of the + immeasurable majesty of nature, and the unspeakable goodness of God, who + has spread an enjoyment so pure, so peaceful, and so intense before the + meanest and the lowliest of His creatures. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE COWSLIP-BALL. + </h2> + <p> + May 16th.—There are moments in life when, without any visible or + immediate cause, the spirits sink and fail, as it were, under the mere + pressure of existence: moments of unaccountable depression, when one is + weary of one's very thoughts, haunted by images that will not depart—images + many and various, but all painful; friends lost, or changed, or dead; + hopes disappointed even in their accomplishment; fruitless regrets, + powerless wishes, doubt and fear, and self-distrust, and + self-disapprobation. They who have known these feelings (and who is there + so happy as not to have known some of them?) will understand why Alfieri + became powerless, and Froissart dull; and why even needle-work, the most + effectual sedative, that grand soother and composer of woman's distress, + fails to comfort me to-day. I will go out into the air this cool, pleasant + afternoon, and try what that will do. I fancy that exercise or exertion of + any kind, is the true specific for nervousness. 'Fling but a stone, the + giant dies.' I will go to the meadows, the beautiful meadows! and I will + have my materials of happiness, Lizzy and May, and a basket for flowers, + and we will make a cowslip-ball. 'Did you ever see a cowslip-ball, my + Lizzy?'—'No.'—'Come away, then; make haste! run, Lizzy!' + </p> + <p> + And on we go, fast, fast! down the road, across the lea, past the + workhouse, along by the great pond, till we slide into the deep narrow + lane, whose hedges seem to meet over the water, and win our way to the + little farmhouse at the end. 'Through the farmyard, Lizzy; over the gate; + never mind the cows; they are quiet enough.'—'I don't mind 'em,' + said Miss Lizzy, boldly and truly, and with a proud affronted air, + displeased at being thought to mind anything, and showing by her attitude + and manner some design of proving her courage by an attack on the largest + of the herd, in the shape of a pull by the tail. 'I don't mind 'em.'—'I + know you don't, Lizzy; but let them alone, and don't chase the + turkey-cock. Come to me, my dear!' and, for a wonder, Lizzy came. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime, my other pet, Mayflower, had also gotten into a scrape. + She had driven about a huge unwieldy sow, till the animal's grunting had + disturbed the repose of a still more enormous Newfoundland dog, the + guardian of the yard. Out he sallied, growling, from the depth of his + kennel, erecting his tail, and shaking his long chain. May's attention was + instantly diverted from the sow to this new playmate, friend or foe, she + cared not which; and he of the kennel, seeing his charge unhurt, and out + of danger, was at leisure to observe the charms of his fair enemy, as she + frolicked round him, always beyond the reach of his chain, yet always, + with the natural instinctive coquetry of her sex, alluring him to the + pursuit which she knew to be vain. I never saw a prettier flirtation. At + last the noble animal, wearied out, retired to the inmost recesses of his + habitation, and would not even approach her when she stood right before + the entrance. 'You are properly served, May. Come along, Lizzy. Across + this wheatfield, and now over the gate. Stop! let me lift you down. No + jumping, no breaking of necks, Lizzy!' And here we are in the meadows, and + out of the world. Robinson Crusoe, in his lonely island, had scarcely a + more complete, or a more beautiful solitude. + </p> + <p> + These meadows consist of a double row of small enclosures of rich + grass-land, a mile or two in length, sloping down from high arable grounds + on either side, to a little nameless brook that winds between them with a + course which, in its infinite variety, clearness, and rapidity, seems to + emulate the bold rivers of the north, of whom, far more than of our lazy + southern streams, our rivulet presents a miniature likeness. Never was + water more exquisitely tricksy:—now darting over the bright pebbles, + sparkling and flashing in the light with a bubbling music, as sweet and + wild as the song of the woodlark; now stretching quietly along, giving + back the rich tufts of the golden marsh-marigolds which grow on its + margin; now sweeping round a fine reach of green grass, rising steeply + into a high mound, a mimic promontory, whilst the other side sinks softly + away, like some tiny bay, and the water flows between, so clear, so wide, + so shallow, that Lizzy, longing for adventure, is sure she could cross + unwetted; now dashing through two sand-banks, a torrent deep and narrow, + which May clears at a bound; now sleeping, half hidden, beneath the + alders, and hawthorns, and wild roses, with which the banks are so + profusely and variously fringed, whilst flags,* lilies, and other aquatic + plants, almost cover the surface of the stream. In good truth, it is a + beautiful brook, and one that Walton himself might have sitten by and + loved, for trout are there; we see them as they dart up the stream, and + hear and start at the sudden plunge when they spring to the surface for + the summer flies. Izaak Walton would have loved our brook and our quiet + meadows; they breathe the very spirit of his own peacefulness, a soothing + quietude that sinks into the soul. There is no path through them, not one; + we might wander a whole spring day, and not see a trace of human + habitation. They belong to a number of small proprietors, who allow each + other access through their respective grounds, from pure kindness and + neighbourly feeling; a privilege never abused: and the fields on the other + side of the water are reached by a rough plank, or a tree thrown across, + or some such homely bridge. We ourselves possess one of the most + beautiful; so that the strange pleasure of property, that instinct which + makes Lizzy delight in her broken doll, and May in the bare bone which she + has pilfered from the kennel of her recreant admirer of Newfoundland, is + added to the other charms of this enchanting scenery; a strange pleasure + it is, when one so poor as I can feel it! Perhaps it is felt most by the + poor, with the rich it may be less intense—too much diffused and + spread out, becoming thin by expansion, like leaf-gold; the little of the + poor may be not only more precious, but more pleasant to them: certain + that bit of grassy and blossomy earth, with its green knolls and tufted + bushes, its old pollards wreathed with ivy, and its bright and babbling + waters, is very dear to me. But I must always have loved these meadows, so + fresh, and cool, and delicious to the eye and to the tread, full of + cowslips, and of all vernal flowers: Shakspeare's 'Song of Spring' bursts + irrepressibly from our lips as we step on them. + </p> + <p> + *Walking along these meadows one bright sunny afternoon, a year or two + back, and rather later in the season, I had an opportunity of noticing a + curious circumstance in natural history. Standing close to the edge of the + stream, I remarked a singular appearance on a large tuft of flags. It + looked like bunches of flowers, the leaves of which seemed dark, yet + transparent, intermingled with brilliant tubes of bright blue or shining + green. On examining this phenomenon more closely, it turned out to be + several clusters of dragon-flies, just emerged from their deformed + chrysalis state, and still torpid and motionless from the wetness of their + filmy wings. Half an hour later we returned to the spot and they were + gone. We had seen them at the very moment when beauty was complete and + animation dormant. I have since found nearly a similar account of this + curious process in Mr. Bingley's very entertaining work, called 'Animal + Biography.' + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'When daisies pied and violets blue + And lady-smocks all silver-white + And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue + Do paint the meadows with delight, + The cuckoo then, on every tree—' +</pre> + <p> + 'Cuckoo! cuckoo!' cried Lizzy, breaking in with her clear childish voice; + and immediately, as if at her call, the real bird, from a neighbouring + tree (for these meadows are dotted with timber like a park), began to echo + my lovely little girl, 'cuckoo! cuckoo!' I have a prejudice very + unpastoral and unpoetical (but I cannot help it, I have many such) against + this 'harbinger of spring.' His note is so monotonous, so melancholy; and + then the boys mimic him; one hears 'cuckoo! cuckoo!' in dirty streets, + amongst smoky houses, and the bird is hated for faults not his own. But + prejudices of taste, likings and dislikings, are not always vanquishable + by reason; so, to escape the serenade from the tree, which promised to be + of considerable duration (when once that eternal song begins, on it goes + ticking like a clock)—to escape that noise I determined to excite + another, and challenged Lizzy to a cowslip-gathering; a trial of skill and + speed, to see which should soonest fill her basket. My stratagem succeeded + completely. What scrambling, what shouting, what glee from Lizzy! twenty + cuckoos might have sung unheard whilst she was pulling her own flowers, + and stealing mine, and laughing, screaming, and talking through all. + </p> + <p> + At last the baskets were filled, and Lizzy declared victor: and down we + sat, on the brink of the stream, under a spreading hawthorn, just + disclosing its own pearly buds, and surrounded with the rich and enamelled + flowers of the wild hyacinth, blue and white, to make our cowslip-ball. + Every one knows the process: to nip off the tuft of flowerets just below + the top of the stalk, and hang each cluster nicely balanced across a + riband, till you have a long string like a garland; then to press them + closely together, and tie them tightly up. We went on very prosperously, + CONSIDERING; as people say of a young lady's drawing, or a Frenchman's + English, or a woman's tragedy, or of the poor little dwarf who works + without fingers, or the ingenious sailor who writes with his toes, or + generally of any performance which is accomplished by means seemingly + inadequate to its production. To be sure we met with a few accidents. + First, Lizzy spoiled nearly all her cowslips by snapping them off too + short; so there was a fresh gathering; in the next place, May overset my + full basket, and sent the blossoms floating, like so many fairy favours, + down the brook; then, when we were going on pretty steadily, just as we + had made a superb wreath, and were thinking of tying it together, Lizzy, + who held the riband, caught a glimpse of a gorgeous butterfly, all brown + and red and purple, and, skipping off to pursue the new object, let go her + hold; so all our treasures were abroad again. At last, however, by dint of + taking a branch of alder as a substitute for Lizzy, and hanging the basket + in a pollard-ash, out of sight of May, the cowslip-ball was finished. What + a concentration of fragrance and beauty it was! golden and sweet to + satiety! rich to sight, and touch, and smell! Lizzy was enchanted, and ran + off with her prize, hiding amongst the trees in the very coyness of + ecstasy, as if any human eye, even mine, would be a restraint on her + innocent raptures. + </p> + <p> + In the meanwhile I sat listening, not to my enemy the cuckoo, but to a + whole concert of nightingales, scarcely interrupted by any meaner bird, + answering and vying with each other in those short delicious strains which + are to the ear as roses to the eye: those snatches of lovely sound which + come across us as airs from heaven. Pleasant thoughts, delightful + associations, awoke as I listened; and almost unconsciously I repeated to + myself the beautiful story of the Lutist and the Nightingale, from Ford's + 'Lover's Melancholy.' Here it is. Is there in English poetry anything + finer? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Passing from Italy to Greece, the tales + Which poets of an elder time have feign'd + To glorify their Tempe, bred in me + Desire of visiting Paradise. + To Thessaly I came, and living private, + Without acquaintance of more sweet companions + Than the old inmates to my love, my thoughts, + I day by day frequented silent groves + And solitary walks. One morning early + This accident encounter'd me: I heard + The sweetest and most ravishing contention + That art and nature ever were at strife in. + A sound of music touch'd mine ears, or rather + Indeed entranced my soul; as I stole nearer, + Invited by the melody, I saw + This youth, this fair-faced youth, upon his lute + With strains of strange variety and harmony + Proclaiming, as it seem'd, so bold a challenge + To the clear choristers of the woods, the birds, + That as they flock'd about him, all stood silent, + Wondering at what they heard. I wonder'd too. + A nightingale, + Nature's best skill'd musician, undertakes + The challenge; and for every several strain + The well-shaped youth could touch, she sang him down. + He could not run divisions with more art + Upon his quaking instrument than she, + The nightingale, did with her various notes + Reply to. + + Some time thus spent, the young man grew at last + Into a pretty anger, that a bird, + Whom art had never taught cliffs, moods, or notes + Should vie with him for mastery, whose study + Had busied many hours to perfect practice. + To end the controversy, in a rapture + Upon his instrument he plays so swiftly, + So many voluntaries, and so quick, + That there was curiosity and cunning, + Concord in discord, lines of differing method + Meeting in one full centre of delight. + The bird (ordain'd to be + Music's first martyr) strove to imitate + These several sounds; which when her warbling throat + Fail'd in, for grief down dropt she on his lute, + And brake her heart. It was the quaintest sadness + To see the conqueror upon her hearse + To weep a funeral elegy of tears. + He look'd upon the trophies of his art, + Then sigh'd, then wiped his eyes; then sigh'd, and cry'd + "Alas! poor creature, I will soon revenge + This cruelty upon the author of it. + Henceforth this lute, guilty of innocent blood, + Shall never more betray a harmless peace + To an untimely end:" and in that sorrow, + As he was pashing it against a tree, + I suddenly stept in.' +</pre> + <p> + When I had finished the recitation of this exquisite passage, the sky, + which had been all the afternoon dull and heavy, began to look more and + more threatening; darker clouds, like wreaths of black smoke, flew across + the dead leaden tint; a cooler, damper air blew over the meadows, and a + few large heavy drops splashed in the water. 'We shall have a storm. + Lizzy! May! where are ye? Quick, quick, my Lizzy! run, run! faster, + faster!' + </p> + <p> + And off we ran; Lizzy not at all displeased at the thoughts of a wetting, + to which indeed she is almost as familiar as a duck; May, on the other + hand, peering up at the weather, and shaking her pretty ears with manifest + dismay. Of all animals, next to a cat, a greyhound dreads rain. She might + have escaped it; her light feet would have borne her home long before the + shower; but May is too faithful for that, too true a comrade, understands + too well the laws of good-fellowship; so she waited for us. She did, to be + sure, gallop on before, and then stop and look back, and beckon, as it + were, with some scorn in her black eyes at the slowness of our progress. + We in the meanwhile got on as fast as we could, encouraging and + reproaching each other. 'Faster, my Lizzy! Oh, what a bad runner!'—'Faster, + faster! Oh, what a bad runner!' echoed my saucebox. 'You are so fat, + Lizzy, you make no way!'—'Ah! who else is fat?' retorted the + darling. Certainly her mother is right; I do spoil that child. + </p> + <p> + By this time we were thoroughly soaked, all three. It was a pelting + shower, that drove through our thin summer clothing and poor May's short + glossy coat in a moment. And then, when we were wet to the skin, the sun + came out, actually the sun, as if to laugh at our plight; and then, more + provoking still, when the sun was shining, and the shower over, came a + maid and a boy to look after us, loaded with cloaks and umbrellas enough + to fence us against a whole day's rain. Never mind! on we go, faster and + faster; Lizzy obliged to be most ignobly carried, having had the + misfortune to lose a shoe in the mud, which we left the boy to look after. + </p> + <p> + Here we are at home—dripping; but glowing and laughing, and bearing + our calamity most manfully. May, a dog of excellent sense, went instantly + to bed in the stable, and is at this moment over head and ears in straw; + Lizzy is gone to bed too, coaxed into that wise measure by a promise of + tea and toast, and of not going home till to-morrow, and the story of + Little Red Riding Hood; and I am enjoying the luxury of dry clothing by a + good fire. Really getting wet through now and then is no bad thing, finery + apart; for one should not like spoiling a new pelisse, or a handsome + plume; but when there is nothing in question but a white gown and a straw + bonnet, as was the case to-day, it is rather pleasant than not. The little + chill refreshes, and our enjoyment of the subsequent warmth and dryness is + positive and absolute. Besides, the stimulus and exertion do good to the + mind as well as body. How melancholy I was all the morning! how cheerful I + am now! Nothing like a shower-bath—a real shower-bath, such as Lizzy + and May and I have undergone, to cure low spirits. Try it, my dear + readers, if ever ye be nervous—I will answer for its success. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE OLD HOUSE AT ABERLEIGH. + </h2> + <p> + June 25th.—What a glowing glorious day! Summer in its richest prime, + noon in its most sparkling brightness, little white clouds dappling the + deep blue sky, and the sun, now partially veiled, and now bursting through + them with an intensity of light! It would not do to walk to-day, + professedly to walk,—we should be frightened at the very sound! and + yet it is probable that we may be beguiled into a pretty long stroll + before we return home. We are going to drive to the old house at + Aberleigh, to spend the morning under the shade of those balmy firs, and + amongst those luxuriant rose trees, and by the side of that brimming + Loddon river. 'Do not expect us before six o'clock,' said I, as I left the + house; 'Six at soonest!' added my charming companion; and off we drove in + our little pony chaise, drawn by our old mare, and with the good humoured + urchin, Henry's successor, a sort of younger Scrub, who takes care of + horse and chaise, and cow and garden, for our charioteer. + </p> + <p> + My comrade in this homely equipage was a young lady of high family and + higher endowments, to whom the novelty of the thing, and her own + naturalness of character and simplicity of taste, gave an unspeakable + enjoyment. She danced the little chaise up and down as she got into it, + and laughed for very glee like a child, Lizzy herself could not have been + more delighted. She praised the horse and the driver, and the roads and + the scenery, and gave herself fully up to the enchantment of a rural + excursion in the sweetest weather of this sweet season. I enjoyed all this + too; for the road was pleasant to every sense, winding through narrow + lanes, under high elms, and between hedges garlanded with woodbine and + rose trees, whilst the air was scented with the delicious fragrance of + blossomed beans. I enjoyed it all,—but, I believe, my principal + pleasure was derived from my companion herself. + </p> + <p> + Emily I. is a person whom it is a privilege to know. She is quite like a + creation of the older poets, and might pass for one of Shakspeare's or + Fletcher's women stepped into life; just as tender, as playful, as gentle, + and as kind. She is clever too, and has all the knowledge and + accomplishments that a carefully-conducted education, acting on a mind of + singular clearness and ductility, matured and improved by the very best + company, can bestow. But one never thinks of her acquirements. It is the + charming artless character, the bewitching sweetness of manner, the real + and universal sympathy, the quick taste and the ardent feeling, that one + loves in Emily. She is Irish by birth, and has in perfection the melting + voice and soft caressing accent by which her fair countrywomen are + distinguished. Moreover she is pretty—I think her beautiful, and so + do all who have heard as well as seen her,—but pretty, very pretty, + all the world must confess; and perhaps that is a distinction more + enviable, because less envied, than the 'palmy state' of beauty. Her + prettiness is of the prettiest kind—that of which the chief + character is youthfulness. A short but pleasing figure, all grace and + symmetry, a fair blooming face, beaming with intelligence and good-humour; + the prettiest little feet and the whitest hands in the world;—such + is Emily I. + </p> + <p> + She resides with her maternal grandmother, a venerable old lady, slightly + shaken with the palsy; and when together (and they are so fondly attached + to each other that they are seldom parted), it is one of the loveliest + combinations of youth and age ever witnessed. There is no seeing them + without feeling an increase of respect and affection for both grandmother + and granddaughter—always one of the tenderest and most beautiful of + natural connections—as Richardson knew when he made such exquisite + use of it in his matchless book. I fancy that grandmamma Shirley must have + been just such another venerable lady as Mrs. S., and our sweet Emily—Oh + no! Harriet Byron is not half good enough for her! There is nothing like + her in the whole seven volumes. + </p> + <p> + But here we are at the bridge! Here we must alight! 'This is the Loddon, + Emily. Is it not a beautiful river? rising level with its banks, so clear, + and smooth, and peaceful, giving back the verdant landscape and the bright + blue sky, and bearing on its pellucid stream the snowy water-lily, the + purest of flowers, which sits enthroned on its own cool leaves, looking + chastity itself, like the lady in Comus. That queenly flower becomes the + water, and so do the stately swans who are sailing so majestically down + the stream, like those who + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'On St. Mary's lake + Float double, swan and shadow." +</pre> + <p> + We must dismount here, and leave Richard to take care of our equipage + under the shade of these trees, whilst we walk up to the house:—See, + there it is! We must cross this stile; there is no other way now.' + </p> + <p> + And crossing the stile we were immediately in what had been a drive round + a spacious park, and still retained something of the character, though the + park itself had long been broken into arable fields,—and in full + view of the Great House, a beautiful structure of James the First's time, + whose glassless windows and dilapidated doors form a melancholy contrast + with the strength and entireness of the rich and massive front. + </p> + <p> + The story of that ruin—for such it is—is always to me + singularly affecting. It is that of the decay of an ancient and + distinguished family, gradually reduced from the highest wealth and + station to actual poverty. The house and park, and a small estate around + it, were entailed on a distant cousin, and could not be alienated; and the + late owner, the last of his name and lineage, after long struggling with + debt and difficulty, farming his own lands, and clinging to his + magnificent home with a love of place almost as tenacious as that of the + younger Foscari, was at last forced to abandon it, retired to a paltry + lodging in a paltry town, and died there about twenty years ago, + broken-hearted. His successor, bound by no ties of association to the + spot, and rightly judging the residence to be much too large for the + diminished estate, immediately sold the superb fixtures, and would have + entirely taken down the house, if, on making the attempt, the masonry had + not been found so solid that the materials were not worth the labour. A + great part, however, of one side is laid open, and the splendid chambers, + with their carving and gilding, are exposed to the wind and rain—sad + memorials of past grandeur! The grounds have been left in a merciful + neglect; the park, indeed, is broken up, the lawn mown twice a year like a + common hayfield, the grotto mouldering into ruin, and the fishponds choked + with rushes and aquatic plants; but the shrubs and flowering trees are + undestroyed, and have grown into a magnificence of size and wildness of + beauty, such as we may imagine them to attain in their native forests. + Nothing can exceed their luxuriance, especially in the spring, when the + lilac, and laburnum, and double-cherry put forth their gorgeous blossoms. + There is a sweet sadness in the sight of such floweriness amidst such + desolation; it seems the triumph of nature over the destructive power of + man. The whole place, in that season more particularly, is full of a soft + and soothing melancholy, reminding me, I scarcely know why, of some of the + descriptions of natural scenery in the novels of Charlotte Smith, which I + read when a girl, and which, perhaps, for that reason hang on my memory. + </p> + <p> + But here we are, in the smooth grassy ride, on the top of a steep turfy + slope descending to the river, crowned with enormous firs and limes of + equal growth, looking across the winding waters into a sweet peaceful + landscape of quiet meadows, shut in by distant woods. What a fragrance is + in the air from the balmy fir trees and the blossomed limes! What an + intensity of odour! And what a murmur of bees in the lime trees! What a + coil those little winged people make over our heads! And what a pleasant + sound it is! the pleasantest of busy sounds, that which comes associated + with all that is good and beautiful—industry and forecast, and + sunshine and flowers. Surely these lime trees might store a hundred hives; + the very odour is of a honeyed richness, cloying, satiating. + </p> + <p> + Emily exclaimed in admiration as we stood under the deep, strong, leafy + shadow, and still more when honeysuckles trailed their untrimmed profusion + in our path, and roses, really trees, almost intercepted our passage. + </p> + <p> + 'On, Emily! farther yet! Force your way by that jessamine—it will + yield; I will take care of this stubborn white rose bough.'—'Take + care of yourself! Pray take care,' said my fairest friend; 'let me hold + back the branches.'—After we had won our way through the strait, at + some expense of veils and flounces, she stopped to contemplate and admire + the tall, graceful shrub, whose long thorny stems, spreading in every + direction, had opposed our progress, and now waved their delicate clusters + over our heads. 'Did I ever think,' exclaimed she, 'of standing under the + shadow of a white rose tree! What an exquisite fragrance! And what a + beautiful flower! so pale, and white, and tender, and the petals thin and + smooth as silk! What rose is it?'—'Don't you know? Did you never see + it before? It is rare now, I believe, and seems rarer than it is, because + it only blossoms in very hot summers; but this, Emily, is the musk rose,—that + very musk rose of which Titania talks, and which is worthy of Shakspeare + and of her. Is it not?—No! do not smell to it; it is less sweet so + than other roses; but one cluster in a vase, or even that bunch in your + bosom, will perfume a large room, as it does the summer air.'—'Oh! + we will take twenty clusters,' said Emily. 'I wish grandmamma were here! + She talks so often of a musk rose tree that grew against one end of her + father's house. I wish she were here to see this!' + </p> + <p> + Echoing her wish, and well laden with musk roses, planted perhaps in the + days of Shakspeare, we reached the steps that led to a square summer-house + or banqueting-room, overhanging the river: the under part was a + boat-house, whose projecting roof, as well as the walls and the very top + of the little tower, was covered with ivy and woodbine, and surmounted by + tufted barberries, bird cherries, acacias, covered with their snowy + chains, and other pendent and flowering trees. Beyond rose two poplars of + unrivalled magnitude, towering like stately columns over the dark tall + firs, and giving a sort of pillared and architectural grandeur to the + scene. + </p> + <p> + We were now close to the mansion; but it looked sad and desolate, and the + entrance, choked with brambles and nettles, seemed almost to repel our + steps. The summer-house, the beautiful summer-house, was free and open, + and inviting, commanding from the unglazed windows, which hung high above + the water, a reach of the river terminated by a rustic mill. + </p> + <p> + There we sat, emptying our little basket of fruit and country cakes, till + Emily was seized with a desire of viewing, from the other side of the + Loddon, the scenery which had so much enchanted her. 'I must,' said she, + 'take a sketch of the ivied boat-house, and of this sweet room, and this + pleasant window;—grandmamma would never be able to walk from the + road to see the place itself, but she must see its likeness.' So forth we + sallied, not forgetting the dear musk roses. + </p> + <p> + We had no way of reaching the desired spot but by retracing our steps a + mile, during the heat of the hottest hour of the day, and then following + the course of the river to an equal distance on the other side; nor had we + any materials for sketching, except the rumpled paper which had contained + our repast, and a pencil without a point which I happened to have about + me. But these small difficulties are pleasures to gay and happy youth. + Regardless of such obstacles, the sweet Emily bounded on like a fawn, and + I followed delighting in her delight. The sun went in, and the walk was + delicious; a reviving coolness seemed to breathe over the water, wafting + the balmy scent of the firs and limes; we found a point of view presenting + the boat-house, the water, the poplars, and the mill, in a most felicitous + combination; the little straw fruit basket made a capital table; and + refreshed and sharpened and pointed by our trusty lacquey's excellent + knife (your country boy is never without a good knife, it is his prime + treasure), the pencil did double duty;—first in the skilful hands of + Emily, whose faithful and spirited sketch does equal honour to the scene + and to the artist, and then in the humbler office of attempting a faint + transcript of my own impressions in the following sonnet:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + It was an hour of calmest noon, at day + Of ripest summer: o'er the deep blue sky + White speckled clouds came sailing peacefully, + Half-shrouding in a chequer'd veil the ray + Of the sun, too ardent else,—what time we lay + By the smooth Loddon, opposite the high + Steep bank, which as a coronet gloriously + Wore its rich crest of firs and lime trees, gay + With their pale tassels; while from out a bower + Of ivy (where those column'd poplars rear + Their heads) the ruin'd boat-house, like a tower, + Flung its deep shadow on the waters clear. + My Emily! forget not that calm hour, + Nor that fair scene, by thee made doubly dear! +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE HARD SUMMER. + </h2> + <p> + August 15th.—Cold, cloudy, windy, wet. Here we are, in the midst of + the dog-days, clustering merrily round the warm hearth like so many + crickets, instead of chirruping in the green fields like that other merry + insect the grasshopper; shivering under the influence of the Jupiter + Pluvius of England, the watery St. Swithin; peering at that scarce + personage the sun, when he happens to make his appearance, as intently as + astronomers look after a comet, or the common people stare at a balloon; + exclaiming against the cold weather, just as we used to exclaim against + the warm. 'What a change from last year!' is the first sentence you hear, + go where you may. Everybody remarks it, and everybody complains of it; and + yet in my mind it has its advantages, or at least its compensations, as + everything in nature has, if we would only take the trouble to seek for + them. + </p> + <p> + Last year, in spite of the love which we are now pleased to profess + towards that ardent luminary, not one of the sun's numerous admirers had + courage to look him in the face: there was no bearing the world till he + had said 'Good-night' to it. Then we might stir: then we began to wake and + to live. All day long we languished under his influence in a strange + dreaminess, too hot to work, too hot to read, too hot to write, too hot + even to talk; sitting hour after hour in a green arbour, embowered in + leafiness, letting thought and fancy float as they would. Those day-dreams + were pretty things in their way; there is no denying that. But then, if + one half of the world were to dream through a whole summer, like the + sleeping Beauty in the wood, what would become of the other? + </p> + <p> + The only office requiring the slightest exertion, which I performed in + that warm weather, was watering my flowers. Common sympathy called for + that labour. The poor things withered, and faded, and pined away; they + almost, so to say, panted for draught. Moreover, if I had not watered them + myself, I suspect that no one else would; for water last year was nearly + as precious hereabout as wine. Our land-springs were dried up; our wells + were exhausted; our deep ponds were dwindling into mud; and geese, and + ducks, and pigs, and laundresses, used to look with a jealous and + suspicious eye on the few and scanty half-buckets of that impure element, + which my trusty lacquey was fain to filch for my poor geraniums and + campanulas and tuberoses. We were forced to smuggle them in through my + faithful adherent's territories, the stable, to avoid lectures within + doors and at last even that resource failed; my garden, my blooming + garden, the joy of my eyes, was forced to go waterless like its + neighbours, and became shrivelled, scorched, and sunburnt, like them. It + really went to my heart to look at it. + </p> + <p> + On the other side of the house matters were still worse. What a dusty + world it was, when about sunset we became cool enough to creep into it! + Flowers in the court looking fit for a 'hortus siccus;' mummies of plants, + dried as in an oven; hollyhocks, once pink, turned into Quakers; cloves + smelling of dust. Oh, dusty world! May herself looked of that complexion; + so did Lizzy; so did all the houses, windows, chickens, children, trees, + and pigs in the village; so above all did the shoes. No foot could make + three plunges into that abyss of pulverised gravel, which had the + impudence to call itself a hard road, without being clothed with a coat a + quarter of an inch thick. Woe to white gowns! woe to black! Drab was your + only wear. + </p> + <p> + Then, when we were out of the street, what a toil it was to mount the + hill, climbing with weary steps and slow upon the brown turf by the + wayside, slippery, hot, and hard as a rock! And then if we happened to + meet a carriage coming along the middle of the road,—the bottomless + middle,—what a sandy whirlwind it was! What choking! what + suffocation! No state could be more pitiable, except indeed that of the + travellers who carried this misery about with them. I shall never forget + the plight in which we met the coach one evening in last August, full an + hour after its time, steeds and driver, carriage and passengers, all one + dust. The outsides, and the horses, and the coachman, seemed reduced to a + torpid quietness, the resignation of despair. They had left off trying to + better their condition, and taken refuge in a wise and patient + hopelessness, bent to endure in silence the extremity of ill. The six + insides, on the contrary, were still fighting against their fate, vainly + struggling to ameliorate their hapless destiny. They were visibly + grumbling at the weather, scolding at the dust, and heating themselves + like a furnace, by striving against the heat. How well I remember the fat + gentleman without his coat, who was wiping his forehead, heaving up his + wig, and certainly uttering that English ejaculation, which, to our + national reproach, is the phrase of our language best known on the + continent. And that poor boy, red-hot, all in a flame, whose mamma, having + divested her own person of all superfluous apparel, was trying to relieve + his sufferings by the removal of his neckerchief—an operation which + he resisted with all his might. How perfectly I remember him, as well as + the pale girl who sat opposite, fanning herself with her bonnet into an + absolute fever! They vanished after a while into their own dust; but I + have them all before my eyes at this moment, a companion picture to + Hogarth's 'Afternoon,' a standing lesson to the grumblers at cold summers. + </p> + <p> + For my part, I really like this wet season. It keeps us within, to be + sure, rather more than is quite agreeable; but then we are at least awake + and alive there, and the world out of doors is so much the pleasanter when + we can get abroad. Everything does well, except those fastidious bipeds, + men and women; corn ripens, grass grows, fruit is plentiful; there is no + lack of birds to eat it, and there has not been such a wasp-season these + dozen years. My garden wants no watering, and is more beautiful than ever, + beating my old rival in that primitive art, the pretty wife of the little + mason, out and out. Measured with mine, her flowers are naught. Look at + those hollyhocks, like pyramids of roses; those garlands of the + convolvulus major of all colours, hanging around that tall pole, like the + wreathy hop-bine; those magnificent dusky cloves, breathing of the Spice + Islands; those flaunting double dahlias; those splendid scarlet geraniums, + and those fierce and warlike flowers the tiger-lilies. Oh, how beautiful + they are! Besides, the weather clears sometimes—it has cleared this + evening; and here are we, after a merry walk up the hill, almost as quick + as in the winter, bounding lightly along the bright green turf of the + pleasant common, enticed by the gay shouts of a dozen clear young voices, + to linger awhile, and see the boys play at cricket. + </p> + <p> + I plead guilty to a strong partiality towards that unpopular class of + beings, country boys: I have a large acquaintance amongst them, and I can + almost say, that I know good of many and harm of none. In general they are + an open, spirited, good-humoured race, with a proneness to embrace the + pleasures and eschew the evils of their condition, a capacity for + happiness, quite unmatched in man, or woman, or a girl. They are patient, + too, and bear their fate as scape-goats (for all sins whatsoever are laid + as matters of course to their door), whether at home or abroad, with + amazing resignation and, considering the many lies of which they are the + objects, they tell wonderfully few in return. The worst that can be said + of them is, that they seldom, when grown to man's estate, keep the promise + of their boyhood; but that is a fault to come—a fault that may not + come, and ought not to be anticipated. It is astonishing how sensible they + are to notice from their betters, or those whom they think such. I do not + speak of money, or gifts, or praise, or the more coarse and common + briberies—they are more delicate courtiers; a word, a nod, a smile, + or the mere calling of them by their names, is enough to ensure their + hearts and their services. Half a dozen of them, poor urchins, have run + away now to bring us chairs from their several homes. 'Thank you, Joe + Kirby!—you are always first—yes, that is just the place—I + shall see everything there. Have you been in yet, Joe?'—'No, ma'am! + I go in next.'—'Ah, I am glad of that—and now's the time. + Really that was a pretty ball of Jem Eusden's!—I was sure it would + go to the wicket. Run, Joe! They are waiting for you.' There was small + need to bid Joe Kirby make haste; I think he is, next to a race-horse, or + a greyhound, or a deer, the fastest creature that runs—the most + completely alert and active. Joe is mine especial friend, and leader of + the 'tender juveniles,' as Joel Brent is of the adults. In both instances + this post of honour was gained by merit, even more remarkably so in Joe's + case than in Joel's; for Joe is a less boy than many of his companions + (some of whom are fifteeners and sixteeners, quite as tall and nearly as + old as Tom Coper), and a poorer than all, as may be conjectured from the + lamentable state of that patched round frock, and the ragged condition of + those unpatched shoes, which would encumber, if anything could, the light + feet that wear them. But why should I lament the poverty that never + troubles him? Joe is the merriest and happiest creature that ever lived + twelve years in this wicked world. Care cannot come near him. He hath a + perpetual smile on his round ruddy face, and a laugh in his hazel eye, + that drives the witch away. He works at yonder farm on the top of the + hill, where he is in such repute for intelligence and good-humour, that he + has the honour of performing all the errands of the house, of helping the + maid, the mistress, and the master, in addition to his own stated office + of carter's boy. There he works hard from five till seven, and then he + comes here to work still harder, under the name of play—batting, + bowling, and fielding, as if for life, filling the place of four boys; + being, at a pinch, a whole eleven. The late Mr. Knyvett, the king's + organist, who used in his own person to sing twenty parts at once of the + Hallelujah Chorus, so that you would have thought he had a nest of + nightingales in his throat, was but a type of Joe Kirby. There is a sort + of ubiquity about him; he thinks nothing of being in two places at once, + and for pitching a ball, William Grey himself is nothing to him. It goes + straight to the mark like a bullet. He is king of the cricketers from + eight to sixteen, both inclusive, and an excellent ruler he makes. + Nevertheless, in the best-ordered states there will be grumblers, and we + have an opposition here in the shape of Jem Eusden. + </p> + <p> + Jem Eusden is a stunted lad of thirteen, or thereabout, lean, small, and + short, yet strong and active. His face is of an extraordinary ugliness, + colourless, withered, haggard, with a look of extreme age, much increased + by hair so light that it might rather pass for white than flaxen. He is + constantly arrayed in the blue cap and old-fashioned coat, the costume of + an endowed school to which he belongs; where he sits still all day, and + rushes into the field at night, fresh, untired, and ripe for action, to + scold and brawl, and storm, and bluster. He hates Joe Kirby, whose + immovable good-humour, broad smiles, and knowing nods, must certainly be + very provoking to so fierce and turbulent a spirit; and he has himself + (being, except by rare accident, no great player) the preposterous + ambition of wishing to be manager of the sports. In short, he is a + demagogue in embryo, with every quality necessary to a splendid success in + that vocation,—a strong voice, a fluent utterance, an incessant + iteration, and a frontless impudence. He is a great 'scholar' too, to use + the country phrase; his 'piece,' as our village schoolmaster terms a fine + sheet of flourishing writing, something between a valentine and a sampler, + enclosed within a border of little coloured prints—his last, I + remember, was encircled by an engraved history of Moses, beginning at the + finding in the bulrushes, with Pharaoh's daughter dressed in a + rose-coloured gown and blue feathers—his piece is not only the + admiration of the school, but of the parish, and is sent triumphantly + round from house to house at Christmas, to extort halfpence and sixpences + from all encouragers of learning—Montem in miniature. The Mosaic + history was so successful, that the produce enabled Jem to purchase a bat + and ball, which, besides adding to his natural arrogance (for the little + pedant actually began to mutter against being eclipsed by a dunce, and + went so far as to challenge Joe Kirby to a trial in Practice, or the Rule + of Three), gave him, when compared with the general poverty, a most + unnatural preponderance in the cricket state. He had the ways and means in + his hands (for alas! the hard winter had made sad havoc among the bats, + and the best ball was a bad one)—he had the ways and means, could + withhold the supplies, and his party was beginning to wax strong, when Joe + received a present of two bats and a ball for the youngsters in general + and himself in particular—and Jem's adherents left him on the spot—they + ratted, to a man, that very evening. Notwithstanding this desertion, their + forsaken leader has in nothing relaxed from his pretensions, or his + ill-humour. He stills quarrels and brawls as if he had a faction to back + him, and thinks nothing of contending with both sides, the ins and the + outs, secure of out-talking the whole field. He has been squabbling these + ten minutes, and is just marching off now with his own bat (he has never + deigned to use one of Joe's) in his hand. What an ill-conditioned + hobgoblin it is! And yet there is something bold and sturdy about him too. + I should miss Jem Eusden. + </p> + <p> + Ah, there is another deserter from the party! my friend the little hussar—I + do not know his name, and call him after his cap and jacket. He is a very + remarkable person, about the age of eight years, the youngest piece of + gravity and dignity I ever encountered; short, and square, and upright, + and slow, with a fine bronzed flat visage, resembling those convertible + signs the Broad-Face and the Saracen's-Head, which, happening to be + next-door neighbours in the town of B., I never knew apart, resembling, + indeed, any face that is open-eyed and immovable, the very sign of a boy! + He stalks about with his hands in his breeches pockets, like a piece of + machinery; sits leisurely down when he ought to field, and never gets + farther in batting than to stop the ball. His is the only voice never + heard in the melee: I doubt, indeed, if he have one, which may be partly + the reason of a circumstance that I record to his honour, his fidelity to + Jem Eusden, to whom he has adhered through every change of fortune, with a + tenacity proceeding perhaps from an instinctive consciousness that the + loquacious leader talks enough for two. He is the only thing resembling a + follower that our demagogue possesses, and is cherished by him + accordingly. Jem quarrels for him, scolds for him, pushes for him; and but + for Joe Kirby's invincible good-humour, and a just discrimination of the + innocent from the guilty, the activity of Jem's friendship would get the + poor hussar ten drubbings a day. + </p> + <p> + But it is growing late. The sun has set a long time. Only see what a + gorgeous colouring has spread itself over those parting masses of clouds + in the west,—what a train of rosy light! We shall have a fine + sunshiny day to-morrow,—a blessing not to be undervalued, in spite + of my late vituperation of heat. Shall we go home now? And shall we take + the longest but prettiest road, that by the green lanes? This way, to the + left, round the corner of the common, past Mr. Welles's cottage, and our + path lies straight before us. How snug and comfortable that cottage looks! + Its little yard all alive with the cow, and the mare, and the colt almost + as large as the mare, and the young foal, and the great yard-dog, all so + fat! Fenced in with hay-rick, and wheat-rick, and bean-stack, and backed + by the long garden, the spacious drying-ground, the fine orchard, and that + large field quartered into four different crops. How comfortable this + cottage looks, and how well the owners earn their comforts! They are the + most prosperous pair in the parish—she a laundress with twenty times + more work than she can do, unrivalled in flounces and shirt-frills, and + such delicacies of the craft; he, partly a farmer, partly a farmer's man, + tilling his own ground, and then tilling other people's;—affording a + proof, even in this declining age, when the circumstances of so many + worthy members of the community seem to have 'an alacrity in sinking,' + that it is possible to amend them by sheer industry. He, who was born in + the workhouse, and bred up as a parish boy, has now, by mere manual + labour, risen to the rank of a land-owner, pays rates and taxes, grumbles + at the times, and is called Master Welles,—the title next to Mister—that + by which Shakspeare was called;—what would man have more? His wife, + besides being the best laundress in the county, is a comely woman still. + There she stands at the spring, dipping up water for to-morrow,—the + clear, deep, silent spring, which sleeps so peacefully under its high + flowery bank, red with the tall spiral stalks of the foxglove and their + rich pendent bells, blue with the beautiful forget-me-not, that gem-like + blossom, which looks like a living jewel of turquoise and topaz. It is + almost too late to see its beauty; and here is the pleasant shady lane, + where the high elms will shut out the little twilight that remains. Ah, + but we shall have the fairies' lamps to guide us, the stars of the earth, + the glow-worms! Here they are, three almost together. Do you not see them? + One seems tremulous, vibrating, as if on the extremity of a leaf of grass; + the others are deeper in the hedge, in some green cell on which their + light falls with an emerald lustre. I hope my friends the cricketers will + not come this way home. I would not have the pretty creatures removed for + more than I care to say, and in this matter I would hardly trust Joe Kirby—boys + so love to stick them in their hats. But this lane is quite deserted. It + is only a road from field to field. No one comes here at this hour. They + are quite safe; and I shall walk here to-morrow and visit them again. And + now, goodnight! beautiful insects, lamps of the fairies, good-night! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SHAW. + </h2> + <p> + September 9th.—A bright sunshiny afternoon. What a comfort it is to + get out again—to see once more that rarity of rarities, a fine day! + We English people are accused of talking overmuch of the weather; but the + weather, this summer, has forced people to talk of it. Summer! did I say? + Oh! season most unworthy of that sweet, sunny name! Season of coldness and + cloudiness, of gloom and rain! A worse November!—for in November the + days are short; and shut up in a warm room, lighted by that household sun, + a lamp, one feels through the long evenings comfortably independent of the + out-of-door tempests. But though we may have, and did have, fires all + through the dog-days, there is no shutting out daylight; and sixteen hours + of rain, pattering against the windows and dripping from the eaves—sixteen + hours of rain, not merely audible, but visible for seven days in the week—would + be enough to exhaust the patience of Job or Grizzel; especially if Job + were a farmer, and Grizzel a country gentlewoman. Never was known such a + season! Hay swimming, cattle drowning, fruit rotting, corn spoiling! and + that naughty river, the Loddon, who never can take Puff's advice, and + 'keep between its banks,' running about the country, fields, roads, + gardens, and houses, like mad! The weather would be talked of. Indeed, it + was not easy to talk of anything else. A friend of mine having occasion to + write me a letter, thought it worth abusing in rhyme, and bepommelled it + through three pages of Bath-guide verse; of which I subjoin a specimen:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Aquarius surely REIGNS over the world, + And of late he his water-pot strangely has twirl'd; + Or he's taken a cullender up by mistake, + And unceasingly dips it in some mighty lake; + Though it is not in Lethe—for who can forget + The annoyance of getting most thoroughly wet? + It must be in the river called Styx, I declare, + For the moment it drizzles it makes the men swear. + "It did rain to-morrow," is growing good grammar; + Vauxhall and camp-stools have been brought to the hammer; + A pony-gondola is all I can keep, + And I use my umbrella and pattens in sleep: + Row out of my window, whene'er 'tis my whim + To visit a friend, and just ask, "Can you swim?"' +</pre> + <p> + So far my friend. * In short, whether in prose or in verse, everybody + railed at the weather. But this is over now. The sun has come to dry the + world; mud is turned into dust; rivers have retreated to their proper + limits; farmers have left off grumbling; and we are about to take a walk, + as usual, as far as the Shaw, a pretty wood about a mile off. But one of + our companions being a stranger to the gentle reader, we must do him the + honour of an introduction. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *This friend of mine is a person of great quickness and + talent, who, if she were not a beauty and a woman of + fortune—that is to say, if she were prompted by either of + those two powerful stimuli, want of money or want of + admiration, to take due pains—would inevitably become a + clever writer. As it is, her notes and 'jeux d'esprit' + struck off 'a trait de plume,' have great point and + neatness. Take the following billet, which formed the label + to a closed basket, containing the ponderous present alluded + to, last Michaelmas day:— + + 'To Miss M. + "When this you see + Remember me," + Was long a phrase in use; + And so I send + To you, dear friend, + My proxy, "What?"—A goose!' +</pre> + <p> + Dogs, when they are sure of having their own way, have sometimes ways as + odd as those of the unfurred, unfeathered animals, who walk on two legs, + and talk, and are called rational. My beautiful white greyhound, + Mayflower,* for instance, is as whimsical as the finest lady in the land. + Amongst her other fancies, she has taken a violent affection for a most + hideous stray dog, who made his appearance here about six months ago, and + contrived to pick up a living in the village, one can hardly tell how. Now + appealing to the charity of old Rachael Strong, the laundress—a + dog-lover by profession; now winning a meal from the lightfooted and + open-hearted lasses at the Rose; now standing on his hind-legs, to extort + by sheer beggary a scanty morsel from some pair of 'drouthy cronies,' or + solitary drover, discussing his dinner or supper on the alehouse-bench; + now catching a mouthful, flung to him in pure contempt by some scornful + gentleman of the shoulder-knot, mounted on his throne, the coach-box, + whose notice he had attracted by dint of ugliness; now sharing the commons + of Master Keep the shoemaker's pigs; now succeeding to the reversion of + the well-gnawed bone of Master Brown the shopkeeper's fierce house-dog; + now filching the skim-milk of Dame Wheeler's cat:—spit at by the + cat; worried by the mastiff; chased by the pigs; screamed at by the dame; + stormed at by the shoemaker; flogged by the shopkeeper; teased by all the + children, and scouted by all the animals of the parish;—but yet + living through his griefs, and bearing them patiently, 'for sufferance is + the badge of all his tribe;'—and even seeming to find, in an + occasional full meal, or a gleam of sunshine, or a wisp of dry straw on + which to repose his sorry carcase, some comfort in his disconsolate + condition. + </p> + <p> + *Dead, alas, since this was written. + </p> + <p> + In this plight was he found by May, the most high-blooded and aristocratic + of greyhounds; and from this plight did May rescue him;—invited him + into her territory, the stable; resisted all attempts to turn him out; + reinstated him there, in spite of maid and boy, and mistress and master; + wore out everybody's opposition, by the activity of her protection, and + the pertinacity of her self-will; made him sharer of her bed and of her + mess; and, finally, established him as one of the family as firmly as + herself. + </p> + <p> + Dash—for he has even won himself a name amongst us, before he was + anonymous—Dash is a sort of a kind of a spaniel; at least there is + in his mongrel composition some sign of that beautiful race. Besides his + ugliness, which is of the worst sort—that is to say, the shabbiest—he + has a limp on one leg that gives a peculiar one-sided awkwardness to his + gait; but independently of his great merit in being May's pet, he has + other merits which serve to account for that phenomenon—being, + beyond all comparison, the most faithful, attached, and affectionate + animal that I have ever known; and that is saying much. He seems to think + it necessary to atone for his ugliness by extra good conduct, and does so + dance on his lame leg, and so wag his scrubby tail, that it does any one + who has a taste for happiness good to look at him—so that he may now + be said to stand on his own footing. We are all rather ashamed of him when + strangers come in the way, and think it necessary to explain that he is + May's pet; but amongst ourselves, and those who are used to his + appearance, he has reached the point of favouritism in his own person. I + have, in common with wiser women, the feminine weakness of loving whatever + loves me—and, therefore, I like Dash. His master has found out that + he is a capital finder, and in spite of his lameness will hunt a field or + beat a cover with any spaniel in England—and, therefore, HE likes + Dash. The boy has fought a battle, in defence of his beauty, with another + boy, bigger than himself, and beat his opponent most handsomely—and, + therefore, HE likes Dash; and the maids like him, or pretend to like him, + because we do—as is the fashion of that pliant and imitative class. + And now Dash and May follow us everywhere, and are going with us to the + Shaw, as I said before—or rather to the cottage by the Shaw, to + bespeak milk and butter of our little dairy-woman, Hannah Bint—a + housewifely occupation, to which we owe some of our pleasantest rambles. + </p> + <p> + And now we pass the sunny, dusty village street—who would have + thought, a month ago, that we should complain of sun and dust again!—and + turn the corner where the two great oaks hang so beautifully over the + clear deep pond, mixing their cool green shadows with the bright blue sky, + and the white clouds that flit over it; and loiter at the wheeler's shop, + always picturesque, with its tools, and its work, and its materials, all + so various in form, and so harmonious in colour; and its noise, merry + workmen, hammering and singing, and making a various harmony also. The + shop is rather empty to-day, for its usual inmates are busy on the green + beyond the pond—one set building a cart, another painting a waggon. + And then we leave the village quite behind, and proceed slowly up the + cool, quiet lane, between tall hedgerows of the darkest verdure, + overshadowing banks green and fresh as an emerald. + </p> + <p> + Not so quick as I expected, though—for they are shooting here + to-day, as Dash and I have both discovered: he with great delight, for a + gun to him is as a trumpet to a war-horse; I with no less annoyance, for I + don't think that a partridge itself, barring the accident of being killed, + can be more startled than I at that abominable explosion. Dash has + certainly better blood in his veins than any one would guess to look at + him. He even shows some inclination to elope into the fields, in pursuit + of those noisy iniquities. But he is an orderly person after all, and a + word has checked him. + </p> + <p> + Ah! here is a shriller din mingling with the small artillery—a + shriller and more continuous. We are not yet arrived within sight of + Master Weston's cottage, snugly hidden behind a clump of elms; but we are + in full hearing of Dame Weston's tongue, raised as usual to scolding + pitch. The Westons are new arrivals in our neighbourhood, and the first + thing heard of them was a complaint from the wife to our magistrate of her + husband's beating her: it was a regular charge of assault—an + information in full form. A most piteous case did Dame Weston make of it, + softening her voice for the nonce into a shrill tremulous whine, and + exciting the mingled pity and anger—pity towards herself, anger + towards her husband—of the whole female world, pitiful and indignant + as the female world is wont to be on such occasions. Every woman in the + parish railed at Master Weston; and poor Master Weston was summoned to + attend the bench on the ensuing Saturday, and answer the charge; and such + was the clamour abroad and at home, that the unlucky culprit, terrified at + the sound of a warrant and a constable, ran away, and was not heard of for + a fortnight. + </p> + <p> + At the end of that time he was discovered, and brought to the bench; and + Dame Weston again told her story, and, as before, on the full cry. She had + no witnesses, and the bruises of which she made complaint had disappeared, + and there were no women present to make common cause with the sex. Still, + however, the general feeling was against Master Weston; and it would have + gone hard with him when he was called in, if a most unexpected witness had + not risen up in his favour. His wife had brought in her arms a little girl + about eighteen months old, partly perhaps to move compassion in her + favour; for a woman with a child in her arms is always an object that + excites kind feelings. The little girl had looked shy and frightened, and + had been as quiet as a lamb during her mother's examination; but she no + sooner saw her father, from whom she had been a fortnight separated, than + she clapped her hands, and laughed, and cried, 'Daddy! daddy!' and sprang + into his arms, and hung round his neck, and covered him with kisses—again + shouting, 'Daddy, come home! daddy! daddy!'—and finally nestled her + little head in his bosom, with a fulness of contentment, an assurance of + tenderness and protection such as no wife-beating tyrant ever did inspire, + or ever could inspire, since the days of King Solomon. Our magistrates + acted in the very spirit of the Jewish monarch: they accepted the evidence + of nature, and dismissed the complaint. And subsequent events have fully + justified their decision; Mistress Weston proving not only renowned for + the feminine accomplishment of scolding (tongue-banging, it is called in + our parts, a compound word which deserves to be Greek), but is actually + herself addicted to administering the conjugal discipline, the infliction + of which she was pleased to impute to her luckless husband. + </p> + <p> + Now we cross the stile, and walk up the fields to the Shaw. How + beautifully green this pasture looks! and how finely the evening sun + glances between the boles of that clump of trees, beech, and ash, and + aspen! and how sweet the hedgerows are with woodbine and wild scabious, + or, as the country people call it, the gipsy-rose! Here is little Dolly + Weston, the unconscious witness, with cheeks as red as a real rose, + tottering up the path to meet her father. And here is the carroty-poled + urchin, George Coper, returning from work, and singing 'Home! sweet Home!' + at the top of his voice; and then, when the notes prove too high for him, + continuing the air in a whistle, until he has turned the impassable + corner; then taking up again the song and the words, 'Home! sweet Home!' + and looking as if he felt their full import, ploughboy though he be. And + so he does; for he is one of a large, an honest, a kind, and an + industrious family, where all goes well, and where the poor ploughboy is + sure of finding cheerful faces and coarse comforts—all that he has + learned to desire. Oh, to be as cheaply and as thoroughly contented as + George Coper! All his luxuries a cricket-match!—all his wants + satisfied in 'home! sweet home!' + </p> + <p> + Nothing but noises to-day! They are clearing Farmer Brooke's great + bean-field, and crying the 'Harvest Home!' in a chorus, before which all + other sounds—the song, the scolding, the gunnery—fade away, + and become faint echoes. A pleasant noise is that! though, for one's ears' + sake, one makes some haste to get away from it. And here, in happy time, + is that pretty wood, the Shaw, with its broad pathway, its tangled + dingles, its nuts and its honeysuckles;—and, carrying away a faggot + of those sweetest flowers, we reach Hannah Bint's: of whom, and of whose + doings, we shall say more another time. + </p> + <p> + NOTE.—Poor Dash is also dead. We did not keep him long, indeed I + believe that he died of the transition from starvation to good feed, as + dangerous to a dog's stomach, and to most stomachs, as the less agreeable + change from good feed to starvation. He has been succeeded in place and + favour by another Dash, not less amiable in demeanour and far more + creditable in appearance, bearing no small resemblance to the pet spaniel + of my friend Master Dinely, he who stole the bone from the magpies, and + who figures as the first Dash of this volume. Let not the unwary reader + opine, that in assigning the same name to three several individuals, I am + acting as an humble imitator of the inimitable writer who has given + immortality to the Peppers and the Mustards, on the one hand; or showing a + poverty of invention or a want of acquaintance with the bead-roll of + canine appellations on the other. I merely, with my usual scrupulous + fidelity, take the names as I find them. The fact is that half the + handsome spaniels in England are called Dash, just as half the tall + footmen are called Thomas. The name belongs to the species. Sitting in an + open carriage one day last summer at the door of a farmhouse where my + father had some business, I saw a noble and beautiful animal of this kind + lying in great state and laziness on the steps, and felt an immediate + desire to make acquaintance with him. My father, who had had the same + fancy, had patted him and called him 'poor fellow' in passing, without + eliciting the smallest notice in return. 'Dash!' cried I at a venture, + 'good Dash! noble Dash!' and up he started in a moment, making but one + spring from the door into the gig. Of course I was right in my guess. The + gentleman's name was Dash. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NUTTING. + </h2> + <p> + September 26th.—One of those delicious autumnal days, when the air, + the sky, and the earth seem lulled into a universal calm, softer and + milder even than May. We sallied forth for a walk, in a mood congenial to + the weather and the season, avoiding, by mutual consent, the bright and + sunny common, and the gay highroad, and stealing through shady, + unfrequented lanes, where we were not likely to meet any one,—not + even the pretty family procession which in other years we used to + contemplate with so much interest—the father, mother, and children, + returning from the wheat-field, the little ones laden with bristling + close-tied bunches of wheat-ears, their own gleanings, or a bottle and a + basket which had contained their frugal dinner, whilst the mother would + carry her babe hushing and lulling it, and the father and an elder child + trudged after with the cradle, all seeming weary and all happy. We shall + not see such a procession as this to-day; for the harvest is nearly over, + the fields are deserted, the silence may almost be felt. Except the wintry + notes of the redbreast, nature herself is mute. But how beautiful, how + gentle, how harmonious, how rich! The rain has preserved to the herbage + all the freshness and verdure of spring, and the world of leaves has lost + nothing of its midsummer brightness, and the harebell is on the banks, and + the woodbine in the hedges, and the low furze, which the lambs cropped in + the spring, has burst again into its golden blossoms. + </p> + <p> + All is beautiful that the eye can see; perhaps the more beautiful for + being shut in with a forest-like closeness. We have no prospect in this + labyrinth of lanes, cross-roads, mere cart-ways, leading to the + innumerable little farms into which this part of the parish is divided. + Up-hill or down, these quiet woody lanes scarcely give us a peep at the + world, except when, leaning over a gate, we look into one of the small + enclosures, hemmed in with hedgerows, so closely set with growing timber, + that the meady opening looks almost like a glade in a wood; or when some + cottage, planted at a corner of one of the little greens formed by the + meeting of these cross-ways, almost startles us by the unexpected sight of + the dwellings of men in such a solitude. But that we have more of hill and + dale, and that our cross-roads are excellent in their kind, this side of + our parish would resemble the description given of La Vendee, in Madame + Laroche-Jacquelin's most interesting book.* I am sure if wood can entitle + a country to be called Le Bocage, none can have a better right to the + name. Even this pretty snug farmhouse on the hillside, with its front + covered with the rich vine, which goes wreathing up to the very top of the + clustered chimney, and its sloping orchard full of fruit—even this + pretty quiet nest can hardly peep out of its leaves. Ah! they are + gathering in the orchard harvest. Look at that young rogue in the old + mossy apple-tree—that great tree, bending with the weight of its + golden-rennets—see how he pelts his little sister beneath with + apples as red and as round as her own cheeks, while she, with her + outstretched frock, is trying to catch them, and laughing and offering to + pelt again as often as one bobs against her; and look at that still + younger imp, who, as grave as a judge, is creeping on hands and knees + under the tree, picking up the apples as they fall so deedily,** and + depositing them so honestly in the great basket on the grass, already + fixed so firmly and opened so widely, and filled almost to overflowing by + the brown rough fruitage of the golden-rennet's next neighbour the + russeting; and see that smallest urchin of all, seated apart in infantine + state on the turfy bank, with that toothsome piece of deformity a + crumpling in each hand, now biting from one sweet, hard, juicy morsel and + now from another—Is not that a pretty English picture? And then, + farther up the orchard, that bold hardy lad, the eldest born, who has + scaled (Heaven knows how) the tall, straight upper branch of that great + pear-tree, and is sitting there as securely and as fearlessly, in as much + real safety and apparent danger, as a sailor on the top-mast. Now he + shakes the tree with a mighty swing that brings down a pelting shower of + stony bergamots, which the father gathers rapidly up, whilst the mother + can hardly assist for her motherly fear—a fear which only spurs the + spirited boy to bolder ventures. Is not that a pretty picture? And they + are such a handsome family too, the Brookers. I do not know that there is + any gipsy blood, but there is the true gipsy complexion, richly brown, + with cheeks and lips so red, black hair curling close to their heads in + short crisp rings, white shining teeth—and such eyes!—That + sort of beauty entirely eclipses your mere roses and lilies. Even Lizzy, + the prettiest of fair children, would look poor and watery by the side of + Willy Brooker, the sober little personage who is picking up the apples + with his small chubby hands, and filling the basket so orderly, next to + his father the most useful man in the field. 'Willy!' He hears without + seeing; for we are quite hidden by the high bank, and a spreading hawthorn + bush that overtops it, though between the lower branches and the grass we + have found a convenient peep-hole. 'Willy!' The voice sounds to him like + some fairy dream, and the black eyes are raised from the ground with + sudden wonder, the long silky eyelashes thrown back till they rest on the + delicate brow, and a deeper blush is burning on those dark cheeks, and a + smile is dimpling about those scarlet lips. But the voice is silent now, + and the little quiet boy, after a moment's pause, is gone coolly to work + again. He is indeed a most lovely child. I think some day or other he must + marry Lizzy; I shall propose the match to their respective mammas. At + present the parties are rather too young for a wedding—the intended + bridegroom being, as I should judge, six, or thereabout, and the fair + bride barely five,—but at least we might have a betrothment after + the royal fashion,—there could be no harm in that. Miss Lizzy, I + have no doubt, would be as demure and coquettish as if ten winters more + had gone over her head, and poor Willy would open his innocent black eyes, + and wonder what was going forward. They would be the very Oberon and + Titania of the village, the fairy king and queen. + </p> + <p> + *An almost equally interesting account of that very peculiar and + interesting scenery, may be found in The Maid of La Vendee, an English + novel, remarkable for its simplicity and truth of painting, written by + Mrs. Le Noir, the daughter of Christopher Smart, an inheritrix of much of + his talent. Her works deserve to be better known. + </p> + <p> + **'Deedily,'—I am not quite sure that this word is good English; but + it is genuine Hampshire, and is used by the most correct of female + writers, Miss Austen. It means (and it is no small merit that it has no + exact synonym) anything done with a profound and plodding attention, an + action which engrosses all the powers of mind and body. + </p> + <p> + Ah! here is the hedge along which the periwinkle wreathes and twines so + profusely, with its evergreen leaves shining like the myrtle, and its + starry blue flowers. It is seldom found wild in this part of England; but, + when we do meet with it, it is so abundant and so welcome,—the very + robin-redbreast of flowers, a winter friend. Unless in those unfrequent + frosts which destroy all vegetation, it blossoms from September to June, + surviving the last lingering crane's-bill, forerunning the earliest + primrose, hardier even than the mountain daisy,—peeping out from + beneath the snow, looking at itself in the ice, smiling through the + tempests of life, and yet welcoming and enjoying the sunbeams. Oh, to be + like that flower! + </p> + <p> + The little spring that has been bubbling under the hedge all along the + hillside, begins, now that we have mounted the eminence and are + imperceptibly descending, to deviate into a capricious variety of clear + deep pools and channels, so narrow and so choked with weeds, that a child + might overstep them. The hedge has also changed its character. It is no + longer the close compact vegetable wall of hawthorn, and maple, and + brier-roses, intertwined with bramble and woodbine, and crowned with large + elms or thickly-set saplings. No! the pretty meadow which rises high above + us, backed and almost surrounded by a tall coppice, needs no defence on + our side but its own steep bank, garnished with tufts of broom, with + pollard oaks wreathed with ivy, and here and there with long patches of + hazel overhanging the water. 'Ah, there are still nuts on that bough!' and + in an instant my dear companion, active and eager and delighted as a boy, + has hooked down with his walking-stick one of the lissome hazel stalks, + and cleared it of its tawny clusters, and in another moment he has mounted + the bank, and is in the midst of the nuttery, now transferring the spoil + from the lower branches into that vast variety of pockets which gentlemen + carry about them, now bending the tall tops into the lane, holding them + down by main force, so that I might reach them and enjoy the pleasure of + collecting some of the plunder myself. A very great pleasure he knew it + would be. I doffed my shawl, tucked up my flounces, turned my straw bonnet + into a basket, and began gathering and scrambling—for, manage it how + you may, nutting is scrambling work,—those boughs, however tightly + you may grasp them by the young fragrant twigs and the bright green + leaves, will recoil and burst away; but there is a pleasure even in that: + so on we go, scrambling and gathering with all our might and all our glee. + Oh, what an enjoyment! All my life long I have had a passion for that sort + of seeking which implies finding (the secret, I believe, of the love of + field-sports, which is in man's mind a natural impulse)—therefore I + love violeting,—therefore, when we had a fine garden, I used to love + to gather strawberries, and cut asparagus, and above all, to collect the + filberts from the shrubberies: but this hedgerow nutting beats that sport + all to nothing. That was a make-believe thing, compared with this; there + was no surprise, no suspense, no unexpectedness—it was as inferior + to this wild nutting, as the turning out of a bag-fox is to unearthing the + fellow, in the eyes of a staunch foxhunter. + </p> + <p> + Oh, what enjoyment this nut-gathering is! They are in such abundance, that + it seems as if there were not a boy in the parish, nor a young man, nor a + young woman,—for a basket of nuts is the universal tribute of + country gallantry; our pretty damsel Harriet has had at least half a dozen + this season; but no one has found out these. And they are so full too, we + lose half of them from over-ripeness; they drop from the socket at the + slightest motion. If we lose, there is one who finds. May is as fond of + nuts as a squirrel, and cracks the shell and extracts the kernel with + equal dexterity. Her white glossy head is upturned now to watch them as + they fall. See how her neck is thrown back like that of a swan, and how + beautifully her folded ears quiver with expectation, and how her quick eye + follows the rustling noise, and her light feet dance and pat the ground, + and leap up with eagerness, seeming almost sustained in the air, just as I + have seen her when Brush is beating a hedgerow, and she knows from his + questing that there is a hare afoot. See, she has caught that nut just + before it touched the water; but the water would have been no defence,—she + fishes them from the bottom, she delves after them amongst the matted + grass—even my bonnet—how beggingly she looks at that! 'Oh, + what a pleasure nutting is!—Is it not, May? But the pockets are + almost full, and so is the basket-bonnet, and that bright watch the sun + says it is late; and after all it is wrong to rob the poor boys—is + it not, May?'—May shakes her graceful head denyingly, as if she + understood the question—'And we must go home now—must we not? + But we will come nutting again some time or other—shall we not, my + May?' + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE VISIT. + </h2> + <p> + October 27th.—A lovely autumnal day; the air soft, balmy, genial; + the sky of that softened and delicate blue upon which the eye loves to + rest,—the blue which gives such relief to the rich beauty of the + earth, all around glowing in the ripe and mellow tints of the most + gorgeous of the seasons. Really such an autumn may well compensate our + English climate for the fine spring of the south, that spring of which the + poets talk, but which we so seldom enjoy. Such an autumn glows upon us + like a splendid evening; it is the very sunset of the year; and I have + been tempted forth into a wider range of enjoyment than usual. This WALK + (if I may use the Irish figure of speech called a bull) will be a RIDE. A + very dear friend has beguiled me into accompanying her in her pretty + equipage to her beautiful home, four miles off; and having sent forward in + the style of a running footman the servant who had driven her, she assumes + the reins, and off we set. + </p> + <p> + My fair companion is a person whom nature and fortune would have spoiled + if they could. She is one of those striking women whom a stranger cannot + pass without turning to look again; tall and finely proportioned, with a + bold Roman contour of figure and feature, a delicate English complexion, + and an air of distinction altogether her own. Her beauty is duchess-like. + She seems born to wear feathers and diamonds, and to form the grace and + ornament of a court; and the noble frankness and simplicity of her + countenance and manner confirm the impression. Destiny has, however, dealt + more kindly by her. She is the wife of a rich country gentleman of high + descent and higher attainments, to whom she is most devotedly attached,—the + mother of a little girl as lovely as herself, and the delight of all who + have the happiness of her acquaintance, to whom she is endeared not merely + by her remarkable sweetness of temper and kindness of heart, but by the + singular ingenuousness and openness of character which communicate an + indescribable charm to her conversation. She is as transparent as water. + You may see every colour, every shade of a mind as lofty and beautiful as + her person. Talking with her is like being in the Palace of Truth + described by Madame de Genlis; and yet so kindly are her feelings, so + great her indulgence to the little failings and foibles of our common + nature, so intense her sympathy with the wants, the wishes, the sorrows, + and the happiness of her fellow-creatures, that, with all her + frank-speaking, I never knew her make an enemy or lose a friend. + </p> + <p> + But we must get on. What would she say if she knew I was putting her into + print? We must get on up the hill. Ah! that is precisely what we are not + likely to do! This horse, this beautiful and high-bred horse, well-fed, + and fat and glossy, who stood prancing at our gate like an Arabian, has + suddenly turned sulky. He does not indeed stand quite still, but his way + of moving is little better—the slowest and most sullen of all walks. + Even they who ply the hearse at funerals, sad-looking beasts who totter + under black feathers, go faster. It is of no use to admonish him by whip, + or rein, or word. The rogue has found out that it is a weak and tender + hand that guides him now. Oh, for one pull, one stroke of his old driver, + the groom! how he would fly! But there is the groom half a mile before us, + out of earshot, clearing the ground at a capital rate, beating us hollow. + He has just turned the top of the hill;—and in a moment—ay, + NOW he is out of sight, and will undoubtedly so continue till he meets us + at the lawn gate. Well! there is no great harm. It is only prolonging the + pleasure of enjoying together this charming scenery in this fine weather. + If once we make up our minds not to care how slowly our steed goes, not to + fret ourselves by vain exertions, it is no matter what his pace may be. + There is little doubt of his getting home by sunset, and that will content + us. He is, after all, a fine noble animal; and perhaps when he finds that + we are determined to give him his way, he may relent and give us ours. All + his sex are sticklers for dominion, though, when it is undisputed, some of + them are generous enough to abandon it. Two or three of the most discreet + wives of my acquaintance contrive to manage their husbands sufficiently + with no better secret than this seeming submission; and in our case the + example has the more weight since we have no possible way of helping + ourselves. + </p> + <p> + Thus philosophising, we reached the top of the hill, and viewed with + 'reverted eyes' the beautiful prospect that lay bathed in golden sunshine + behind us. Cowper says, with that boldness of expressing in poetry the + commonest and simplest feelings, which is perhaps one great secret of his + originality, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Scenes must be beautiful, which, daily seen, + Please daily, and whose novelty survives + Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years.' +</pre> + <p> + Every day I walk up this hill—every day I pause at the top to admire + the broad winding road with the green waste on each side, uniting it with + the thickly timbered hedgerows; the two pretty cottages at unequal + distances, placed so as to mark the bends; the village beyond, with its + mass of roofs and clustered chimneys peeping through the trees; and the + rich distance, where cottages, mansions, churches, towns, seem embowered + in some wide forest, and shut in by blue shadowy hills. Every day I admire + this most beautiful landscape; yet never did it seem to me so fine or so + glowing as now. All the tints of the glorious autumn, orange, tawny, + yellow, red, are poured in profusion among the bright greens of the + meadows and turnip fields, till the eyes are satiated with colour; and + then before us we have the common with its picturesque roughness of + surface tufted with cottages, dappled with water, edging off on one side + into fields and farms and orchards, and terminated on the other by the + princely oak avenue. What a richness and variety the wild broken ground + gives to the luxuriant cultivation of the rest of the landscape! Cowper + has described it for me. How perpetually, as we walk in the country, his + vivid pictures recur to the memory! Here is his common and mine! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'The common overgrown with fern, and rough + With prickly gorse, that, shapeless and deform'd + And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom, + And decks itself with ornaments of gold;— + ———————- there the turf + Smells fresh, and, rich in odoriferous herbs + And fungous fruits of earth, regales the sense + With luxury of unexpected sweets.' +</pre> + <p> + The description is exact. There, too, to the left is my cricket-ground + (Cowper's common wanted that finishing grace); and there stands one + solitary urchin, as if in contemplation of its past and future glories; + for, alas! cricket is over for the season. Ah! it is Ben Kirby, next + brother to Joe, king of the youngsters, and probably his successor—for + this Michaelmas has cost us Joe! He is promoted from the farm to the + mansion-house, two miles off; there he cleans shoes, rubs knives, and runs + on errands, and is, as his mother expresses it, 'a sort of 'prentice to + the footman.' I should not wonder if Joe, some day or other, should + overtop the footman, and rise to be butler; and his splendid prospects + must be our consolation for the loss of this great favourite. In the + meantime we have Ben. + </p> + <p> + Ben Kirby is a year younger than Joe, and the school-fellow and rival of + Jem Eusden. To be sure his abilities lie in rather a different line: Jem + is a scholar, Ben is a wag: Jem is great in figures and writing, Ben in + faces and mischief. His master says of him, that, if there were two such + in the school, he must resign his office; and as far as my observation + goes, the worthy pedagogue is right. Ben is, it must be confessed, a great + corrupter of gravity. He hath an exceeding aversion to authority and + decorum, and a wonderful boldness and dexterity in overthrowing the one + and puzzling the other. His contortions of visage are astounding. His + 'power over his own muscles and those of other people' is almost equal to + that of Liston; and indeed the original face, flat and square and Chinese + in its shape, of a fine tan complexion, with a snub nose, and a slit for a + mouth, is nearly as comical as that matchless performer's. When aided by + Ben's singular mobility of feature, his knowing winks and grins and shrugs + and nods, together with a certain dry shrewdness, a habit of saying sharp + things, and a marvellous gift of impudence, it forms as fine a specimen as + possible of a humorous country boy, an oddity in embryo. Everybody likes + Ben, except his butts (which may perhaps comprise half his acquaintance); + and of them no one so thoroughly hates and dreads him as our parish + schoolmaster, a most worthy King Log, whom Ben dumbfounds twenty times a + day. He is a great ornament of the cricket-ground, has a real genius for + the game, and displays it after a very original manner, under the disguise + of awkwardness—as the clown shows off his agility in a pantomime. + Nothing comes amiss to him. By the bye, he would have been the very lad + for us in our present dilemma; not a horse in England could master Ben + Kirby. But we are too far from him now—and perhaps it is as well + that we are so. I believe the rogue has a kindness for me, in remembrance + of certain apples and nuts, which my usual companion, who delights in his + wit, is accustomed to dole out to him. But it is a Robin Goodfellow + nevertheless, a perfect Puck, that loves nothing on earth so well as + mischief. Perhaps the horse may be the safer conductor of the two. + </p> + <p> + The avenue is quite alive to-day. Old women are picking up twigs and + acorns, and pigs of all sizes doing their utmost to spare them the latter + part of the trouble; boys and girls groping for beech-nuts under yonder + clump; and a group of younger elves collecting as many dead leaves as they + can find to feed the bonfire which is smoking away so briskly amongst the + trees,—a sort of rehearsal of the grand bonfire nine days hence; of + the loyal conflagration of the arch-traitor Guy Vaux, which is annually + solemnised in the avenue, accompanied with as much of squibbery and + crackery as our boys can beg or borrow—not to say steal. Ben Kirby + is a great man on the 5th of November. All the savings of a month, the + hoarded halfpence, the new farthings, the very luck-penny, go off in fumo + on that night. For my part, I like this daylight mockery better. There is + no gunpowder—odious gunpowder! no noise but the merry shouts of the + small fry, so shrill and happy, and the cawing of the rooks, who are + wheeling in large circles overhead, and wondering what is going forward in + their territory—seeming in their loud clamour to ask what that light + smoke may mean that curls so prettily amongst their old oaks, towering as + if to meet the clouds. There is something very intelligent in the ways of + that black people the rooks, particularly in their wonder. I suppose it + results from their numbers and their unity of purpose, a sort of + collective and corporate wisdom. Yet geese congregate also; and geese + never by any chance look wise. But then geese are a domestic fowl; we have + spoiled them; and rooks are free commoners of nature, who use the + habitations we provide for them, tenant our groves and our avenues, but + never dream of becoming our subjects. + </p> + <p> + What a labyrinth of a road this is! I do think there are four turnings in + the short half-mile between the avenue and the mill. And what a pity, as + my companion observes—not that our good and jolly miller, the very + representative of the old English yeomanry, should be so rich, but that + one consequence of his riches should be the pulling down of the prettiest + old mill that ever looked at itself in the Loddon, with the picturesque, + low-browed, irregular cottage, which stood with its light-pointed roof, + its clustered chimneys, and its ever-open door, looking like the real + abode of comfort and hospitality, to build this huge, staring, frightful, + red-brick mill, as ugly as a manufactory, and this great square house, + ugly and red to match, just behind. The old buildings always used to + remind me of Wollett's beautiful engraving of a scene in the Maid of the + Mill. It will be long before any artist will make a drawing of this. Only + think of this redness in a picture! this boiled lobster of a house! + Falstaff's description of Bardolph's nose would look pale in the + comparison. + </p> + <p> + Here is that monstrous machine of a tilted waggon, with its load of flour, + and its four fat horses. I wonder whether our horse will have the decency + to get out of the way. If he does not, I am sure we cannot make him; and + that enormous ship upon wheels, that ark on dry land, would roll over us + like the car of Juggernaut. Really—Oh no! there is no danger now. I + should have remembered that it is my friend Samuel Long who drives the + mill team. He will take care of us. 'Thank you, Samuel!' And Samuel has + put us on our way, steered us safely past his waggon, escorted us over the + bridge and now, having seen us through our immediate difficulties, has + parted from us with a very civil bow and good-humoured smile, as one who + is always civil and good-humoured, but with a certain triumphant masterful + look in his eyes, which I have noted in men, even the best of them, when a + woman gets into straits by attempting manly employments. He has done us + great good though, and may be allowed his little feeling of superiority. + The parting salute he bestowed on our steed, in the shape of an astounding + crack of his huge whip, has put that refractory animal on his mettle. On + we go! past the glazier's pretty house, with its porch and its filbert + walk; along the narrow lane bordered with elms, whose fallen leaves have + made the road one yellow; past that little farmhouse with the + horse-chestnut trees before, glowing like oranges; past the whitewashed + school on the other side, gay with October roses; past the park, and the + lodge, and the mansion, where once dwelt the great Earl of Clarendon;—and + now the rascal has begun to discover that Samuel Long and his whip are a + mile off, and that his mistress is driving him, and he slackens his pace + accordingly. Perhaps he feels the beauty of the road just here, and goes + slowly to enjoy it. Very beautiful it certainly is. The park paling forms + the boundary on one side, with fine clumps of oak, and deer in all + attitudes; the water, tufted with alders, flowing along on the other. + Another turn, and the water winds away, succeeded by a low hedge, and a + sweep of green meadows; whilst the park and its palings are replaced by a + steep bank, on which stands a small, quiet, village alehouse; and higher + up, embosomed in wood, is the little country church, with its sloping + churchyard and its low white steeple, peeping out from amongst magnificent + yew-trees:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth + Of intertwisted fibres serpentine + Up-coiling, and invet'rately convolved.' + WORDSWORTH. +</pre> + <p> + No village church was ever more happily placed. It is the very image of + the peace and humbleness inculcated within its walls. + </p> + <p> + Ah! here is a higher hill rising before us, almost like a mountain. How + grandly the view opens as we ascend over that wild bank, overgrown with + fern, and heath, and gorse, and between those tall hollies, glowing with + their coral berries! What an expanse! But we have little time to gaze at + present; for that piece of perversity, our horse, who has walked over so + much level ground, has now, inspired, I presume, by a desire to revisit + his stable, taken it into that unaccountable noddle of his to trot up + this, the very steepest hill in the county. Here we are on the top; and in + five minutes we have reached the lawn gate, and are in the very midst of + that beautiful piece of art or nature (I do not know to which class it + belongs), the pleasure-ground of F. Hill. Never was the 'prophetic eye of + taste' exerted with more magical skill than in these plantations. Thirty + years ago this place had no existence; it was a mere undistinguished tract + of field and meadow and common land; now it is a mimic forest, delighting + the eye with the finest combinations of trees and shrubs, the rarest + effects of form and foliage, and bewildering the mind with its green + glades, and impervious recesses, and apparently interminable extent. It is + the triumph of landscape gardening, and never more beautiful than in this + autumn sunset, lighting up the ruddy beech and the spotted sycamore, and + gilding the shining fir-cones that hang so thickly amongst the dark pines. + The robins are singing around us, as if they too felt the magic of the + hour. How gracefully the road winds through the leafy labyrinth, leading + imperceptibly to the more ornamented sweep. Here we are at the door amidst + geraniums, and carnations, and jasmines, still in flower. Ah! here is a + flower sweeter than all, a bird gayer than the robin, the little bird that + chirps to the tune of 'mamma! mamma!', the bright-faced fairy, whose tiny + feet come pattering along, making a merry music, mamma's own Frances! And + following her guidance, here we are in the dear round room time enough to + catch the last rays of the sun, as they light the noble landscape which + lies like a panorama around us, lingering longest on that long island of + old thorns and stunted oaks, the oasis of B. Heath, and then vanishing in + a succession of gorgeous clouds. + </p> + <p> + October 28th.—Another soft and brilliant morning. But the pleasures + of to-day must be written in shorthand. I have left myself no room for + notes of admiration. + </p> + <p> + First we drove about the coppice: an extensive wood of oak, and elm, and + beech, chiefly the former, which adjoins the park-paling of F. Hill, of + which demesne, indeed, it forms one of the most delightful parts. The + roads through the coppice are studiously wild; so that they have the + appearance of mere cart-tracks: and the manner in which the ground is + tumbled about, the steep declivities, the sunny slopes, the sudden swells + and falls, now a close narrow valley, then a sharp ascent to an eminence + commanding an immense extent of prospect, have a striking air of natural + beauty, developed and heightened by the perfection of art. All this, + indeed, was familiar to me; the colouring only was new. I had been there + in early spring, when the fragrant palms were on the willow, and the + yellow tassels on the hazel, and every twig was swelling with renewed + life; and I had been there again and again in the green leafiness of + midsummer; but never as now, when the dark verdure of the fir-plantations, + hanging over the picturesque and unequal paling, partly covered with moss + and ivy, contrasts so remarkably with the shining orange-leaves of the + beech, already half fallen, the pale yellow of the scattering elm, the + deeper and richer tints of the oak, and the glossy stems of the 'lady of + the woods,' the delicate weeping birch. The underwood is no less + picturesque. The red-spotted leaves and redder berries of the old thorns, + the scarlet festoons of the bramble, the tall fern of every hue, seem to + vie with the brilliant mosaic of the ground, now covered with dead leaves + and strewn with fir-cones, now, where a little glade intervenes, gay with + various mosses and splendid fungi. How beautiful is this coppice to-day! + especially where the little spring, as clear as crystal, comes bubbling + out from the old 'fantastic' beech root, and trickles over the grass, + bright and silent as the dew in a May morning. The wood-pigeons (who are + just returned from their summer migration, and are cropping the ivy + berries) add their low cooings, the very note of love, to the slight + fluttering of the falling leaves in the quiet air, giving a voice to the + sunshine and the beauty. This coppice is a place to live and die in. But + we must go. And how fine is the ascent which leads us again into the + world, past those cottages hidden as in a pit, and by that hanging orchard + and that rough heathy bank! The scenery in this one spot has a wildness, + an abruptness of rise and fall, rare in any part of England, rare above + all in this rich and lovely but monotonous county. It is Switzerland in + miniature. + </p> + <p> + And now we cross the hill to pay a morning visit to the family at the + great house,—another fine place, commanding another fine sweep of + country. The park, studded with old trees, and sinking gently into a + valley, rich in wood and water, is in the best style of ornamental + landscape, though more according to the common routine of gentlemen's + seats than the singularly original place which we have just left. There + is, however, one distinctive beauty in the grounds of the great house;—the + magnificent firs which shade the terraces and surround the sweep, giving + out in summer odours really Sabaean, and now in this low autumn sun + producing an effect almost magical, as the huge red trunks, garlanded with + ivy, stand out from the deep shadows like an army of giants. Indoors—Oh + I must not take my readers indoors, or we shall never get away! Indoors + the sunshine is brighter still; for there, in a lofty, lightsome room, sat + a damsel fair and arch and piquante, one whom Titian or Velasquez should + be born again to paint, leaning over an instrument* as sparkling and + fanciful as herself, singing pretty French romances, and Scottish Jacobite + songs, and all sorts of graceful and airy drolleries picked up I know not + where—an English improvisatrice! a gayer Annot Lyle! whilst her + sister, of a higher order of beauty, and with an earnest kindness in her + smile that deepens its power, lends to the piano, as her father to the + violin, an expression, a sensibility, a spirit, an eloquence almost + superhuman—almost divine! Oh to hear these two instruments + accompanying my dear companion (I forgot to say that she is a singer + worthy to be so accompanied) in Haydn's exquisite canzonet, "She never + told her love,"—to hear her voice, with all its power, its + sweetness, its gush of sound, so sustained and assisted by modulations + that rivalled its intensity of expression; to hear at once such poetry, + such music, such execution, is a pleasure never to be forgotten, or mixed + with meaner things. I seem to hear it still. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + As in the bursting spring time o'er the eye + Of one who haunts the fields fair visions creep + Beneath the closed lids (afore dull sleep + Dims the quick fancy) of sweet flowers that lie + On grassy banks, oxlip of orient dye, + And palest primrose and blue violet, + All in their fresh and dewy beauty set, + Pictured within the sense, and will not fly: + So in mine ear resounds and lives again + One mingled melody,—a voice, a pair + Of instruments most voice-like! Of the air + Rather than of the earth seems that high strain, + A spirit's song, and worthy of the train + That soothed old Prospero with music rare. + + *The dital harp. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + HANNAH BINT. + </h2> + <p> + The Shaw, leading to Hannah Bint's habitation, is, as I perhaps have said + before, a very pretty mixture of wood and coppice; that is to say, a tract + of thirty or forty acres covered with fine growing timber—ash, and + oak, and elm, very regularly planted; and interspersed here and there with + large patches of underwood, hazel, maple, birch, holly, and hawthorn, + woven into almost impenetrable thickets by long wreaths of the bramble, + the briony, and the brier-rose, or by the pliant and twisting garlands of + the wild honeysuckle. In other parts, the Shaw is quite clear of its bosky + undergrowth, and clothed only with large beds of feathery fern, or carpets + of flowers, primroses, orchises, cowslips, ground-ivy, crane's-bill, + cotton-grass, Solomon's seal, and forget-me-not, crowded together with a + profusion and brilliancy of colour, such as I have rarely seen equalled + even in a garden. Here the wild hyacinth really enamels the ground with + its fresh and lovely purple; there, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'On aged roots, with bright green mosses clad, + Dwells the wood-sorrel, with its bright thin leaves + Heart-shaped and triply folded, and its root + Creeping like beaded coral; whilst around + Flourish the copse's pride, anemones, + With rays like golden studs on ivory laid + Most delicate; but touch'd with purple clouds, + Fit crown for April's fair but changeful brow.' +</pre> + <p> + The variety is much greater than I have enumerated; for the ground is so + unequal, now swelling in gentle ascents, now dimpling into dells and + hollows, and the soil so different in different parts, that the sylvan + Flora is unusually extensive and complete. + </p> + <p> + The season is, however, now too late for this floweriness; and except the + tufted woodbines, which have continued in bloom during the whole of this + lovely autumn, and some lingering garlands of the purple wild vetch, + wreathing round the thickets, and uniting with the ruddy leaves of the + bramble, and the pale festoons of the briony, there is little to call + one's attention from the grander beauties of the trees—the sycamore, + its broad leaves already spotted—the oak, heavy with acorns—and + the delicate shining rind of the weeping birch, 'the lady of the woods,' + thrown out in strong relief from a background of holly and hawthorn, each + studded with coral berries, and backed with old beeches, beginning to + assume the rich tawny hue which makes them perhaps the most picturesque of + autumnal trees, as the transparent freshness of their young foliage is + undoubtedly the choicest ornament of the forest in spring. + </p> + <p> + A sudden turn round one of these magnificent beeches brings us to the + boundary of the Shaw, and leaning upon a rude gate, we look over an open + space of about ten acres of ground, still more varied and broken than that + which we have passed, and surrounded on all sides by thick woodland. As a + piece of colour, nothing can be well finer. The ruddy glow of the + heath-flower, contrasting, on the one hand, with the golden-blossomed + furze—on the other, with a patch of buck-wheat, of which the bloom + is not past, although the grain be ripening, the beautiful buck-wheat, + whose transparent leaves and stalks are so brightly tinged with vermilion, + while the delicate pink-white of the flower, a paler persicaria, has a + feathery fall, at once so rich and so graceful, and a fresh and reviving + odour, like that of birch trees in the dew of a May evening. The bank that + surmounts this attempt at cultivation is crowned with the late foxglove + and the stately mullein; the pasture of which so great a part of the waste + consists, looks as green as an emerald; a clear pond, with the bright sky + reflected in it, lets light into the picture; the white cottage of the + keeper peeps from the opposite coppice; and the vine-covered dwelling of + Hannah Bint rises from amidst the pretty garden, which lies bathed in the + sunshine around it. + </p> + <p> + The living and moving accessories are all in keeping with the cheerfulness + and repose of the landscape. Hannah's cow grazing quietly beside the + keeper's pony; a brace of fat pointer puppies holding amicable intercourse + with a litter of young pigs; ducks, geese, cocks, hens, and chickens + scattered over the turf; Hannah herself sallying forth from the + cottage-door, with her milk-bucket in her hand, and her little brother + following with the milking-stool. + </p> + <p> + My friend, Hannah Bint, is by no means an ordinary person. Her father, + Jack Bint (for in all his life he never arrived at the dignity of being + called John, indeed in our parts he was commonly known by the cognomen of + London Jack), was a drover of high repute in his profession. No man, + between Salisbury Plain and Smithfield, was thought to conduct a flock of + sheep so skilfully through all the difficulties of lanes and commons, + streets and high-roads, as Jack Bint, aided by Jack Bint's famous dog, + Watch; for Watch's rough, honest face, black, with a little white about + the muzzle, and one white ear, was as well known at fairs and markets as + his master's equally honest and weather-beaten visage. Lucky was the + dealer that could secure their services; Watch being renowned for keeping + a flock together better than any shepherd's dog on the road—Jack, + for delivering them more punctually, and in better condition. No man had a + more thorough knowledge of the proper night stations, where good feed + might be procured for his charge, and good liquor for Watch and himself; + Watch, like other sheep dogs, being accustomed to live chiefly on bread + and beer. His master, though not averse to a pot of good double X, + preferred gin; and they who plod slowly along, through wet and weary ways, + in frost and in fog, have undoubtedly a stronger temptation to indulge in + that cordial and reviving stimulus, than we water-drinkers, sitting in + warm and comfortable rooms, can readily imagine. For certain, our drover + could never resist the gentle seduction of the gin-bottle, and being of a + free, merry, jovial temperament, one of those persons commonly called good + fellows, who like to see others happy in the same way with themselves, he + was apt to circulate it at his own expense, to the great improvement of + his popularity, and the great detriment of his finances. + </p> + <p> + All this did vastly well whilst his earnings continued proportionate to + his spendings, and the little family at home were comfortably supported by + his industry: but when a rheumatic fever came on, one hard winter, and + finally settled in his limbs, reducing the most active and hardy man in + the parish to the state of a confirmed cripple, then his reckless + improvidence stared him in the face; and poor Jack, a thoughtless, but + kind creature, and a most affectionate father, looked at his three + motherless children with the acute misery of a parent who has brought + those whom he loves best in the world to abject destitution. He found + help, where he probably least expected it, in the sense and spirit of his + young daughter, a girl of twelve years old. + </p> + <p> + Hannah was the eldest of the family, and had, ever since her mother's + death, which event had occurred two or three years before, been accustomed + to take the direction of their domestic concerns, to manage her two + brothers, to feed the pigs and the poultry, and to keep house during the + almost constant absence of her father. She was a quick, clever lass, of a + high spirit, a firm temper, some pride, and a horror of accepting + parochial relief, which is every day becoming rarer amongst the peasantry; + but which forms the surest safeguard to the sturdy independence of the + English character. Our little damsel possessed this quality in perfection; + and when her father talked of giving up their comfortable cottage, and + removing to the workhouse, whilst she and her brothers must go to service, + Hannah formed a bold resolution, and without disturbing the sick man by + any participation of her hopes and fears, proceeded after settling their + trifling affairs to act at once on her own plans and designs. + </p> + <p> + Careless of the future as the poor drover had seemed, he had yet kept + clear of debt, and by subscribing constantly to a benefit club, had + secured a pittance that might at least assist in supporting him during the + long years of sickness and helplessness to which he was doomed to look + forward. This his daughter knew. She knew also, that the employer in whose + service his health had suffered so severely, was a rich and liberal + cattle-dealer in the neighbourhood, who would willingly aid an old and + faithful servant, and had, indeed, come forward with offers of money. To + assistance from such a quarter Hannah saw no objection. Farmer Oakley and + the parish were quite distinct things. Of him, accordingly, she asked, not + money, but something much more in his own way—'a cow! any cow! old + or lame, or what not, so that it were a cow! she would be bound to keep it + well; if she did not, he might take it back again. She even hoped to pay + for it by and by, by instalments, but that she would not promise!' and, + partly amused, partly interested by the child's earnestness, the wealthy + yeoman gave her, not as a purchase, but as a present, a very fine young + Alderney. She then went to the lord of the manor, and, with equal + knowledge of character, begged his permission to keep her cow on the Shaw + common. 'Farmer Oakley had given her a fine Alderney, and she would be + bound to pay the rent, and keep her father off the parish, if he would + only let it graze on the waste;' and he too, half from real good nature—half, + not to be outdone in liberality by his tenant, not only granted the + requested permission, but reduced the rent so much, that the produce of + the vine seldom fails to satisfy their kind landlord. + </p> + <p> + Now Hannah showed great judgment in setting up as a dairy-woman. She could + not have chosen an occupation more completely unoccupied, or more loudly + called for. One of the most provoking of the petty difficulties which + beset people with a small establishment in this neighbourhood, is the + trouble, almost the impossibility, of procuring the pastoral luxuries of + milk, eggs, and butter, which rank, unfortunately, amongst the + indispensable necessaries of housekeeping. To your thoroughbred Londoner, + who, whilst grumbling over his own breakfast, is apt to fancy that thick + cream, and fresh butter, and new-laid eggs, grow, so to say, in the + country—form an actual part of its natural produce—it may be + some comfort to learn, that in this great grazing district, however the + calves and the farmers may be the better for cows, nobody else is; that + farmers' wives have ceased to keep poultry; and that we unlucky villagers + sit down often to our first meal in a state of destitution, which may well + make him content with his thin milk and his Cambridge butter, when + compared to our imputed pastoralities. + </p> + <p> + Hannah's Alderney restored us to one rural privilege. Never was so cleanly + a little milkmaid. She changed away some of the cottage finery, which, in + his prosperous days, poor Jack had pleased himself with bringing home, the + china tea-service, the gilded mugs, and the painted waiters, for the + useful utensils of the dairy, and speedily established a regular and + gainful trade in milk, eggs, butter, honey, and poultry—for poultry + they had always kept. + </p> + <p> + Her domestic management prospered equally. Her father, who retained the + perfect use of his hands, began a manufacture of mats and baskets, which + he constructed with great nicety and adroitness; the eldest boy, a sharp + and clever lad, cut for him his rushes and osiers; erected, under his + sister's direction, a shed for the cow, and enlarged and cultivated the + garden (always with the good leave of her kind patron the lord of the + manor) until it became so ample, that the produce not only kept the pig, + and half kept the family, but afforded another branch of merchandise to + the indefatigable directress of the establishment. For the younger boy, + less quick and active, Hannah contrived to obtain an admission to the + charity-school, where he made great progress—retaining him at home, + however, in the hay-making and leasing season, or whenever his services + could be made available, to the great annoyance of the schoolmaster, whose + favourite he is, and who piques himself so much on George's scholarship + (your heavy sluggish boy at country work often turns out quick at his + book), that it is the general opinion that this much-vaunted pupil will, + in process of time, be promoted to the post of assistant, and may, + possibly, in course of years, rise to the dignity of a parish pedagogue in + his own person; so that his sister, although still making him useful at + odd times, now considers George as pretty well off her hands, whilst his + elder brother, Tom, could take an under-gardener's place directly, if he + were not too important at home to be spared even for a day. + </p> + <p> + In short, during the five years that she has ruled at the Shaw cottage, + the world has gone well with Hannah Bint. Her cow, her calves, her pigs, + her bees, her poultry, have each, in their several ways, thriven and + prospered. She has even brought Watch to like butter-milk, as well as + strong beer, and has nearly persuaded her father (to whose wants and + wishes she is most anxiously attentive) to accept of milk as a substitute + for gin. Not but Hannah hath had her enemies as well as her betters. Why + should she not? The old woman at the lodge, who always piqued herself on + being spiteful, and crying down new ways, foretold from the first she + would come to no good, and could not forgive her for falsifying her + prediction; and Betty Barnes, the slatternly widow of a tippling farmer, + who rented a field, and set up a cow herself, and was universally + discarded for insufferable dirt, said all that the wit of an envious woman + could devise against Hannah and her Alderney; nay, even Ned Miles, the + keeper, her next neighbour, who had whilom held entire sway over the Shaw + common, as well as its coppices, grumbled as much as so good-natured and + genial a person could grumble, when he found a little girl sharing his + dominion, a cow grazing beside his pony, and vulgar cocks and hens + hovering around the buck-wheat destined to feed his noble pheasants. + Nobody that had been accustomed to see that paragon of keepers, so tall + and manly, and pleasant looking, with his merry eye, and his knowing + smile, striding gaily along, in his green coat, and his gold-laced hat, + with Neptune, his noble Newfoundland dog (a retriever is the sporting + word), and his beautiful spaniel Flirt at his heels, could conceive how + askew he looked, when he first found Hannah and Watch holding equal reign + over his old territory, the Shaw common. + </p> + <p> + Yes! Hannah hath had her enemies; but they are passing away. The old woman + at the lodge is dead, poor creature; and Betty Barnes, having herself + taken to tippling, has lost the few friends she once possessed, and looks, + luckless wretch, as if she would soon die too!—and the keeper?—why, + he is not dead, or like to die; but the change that has taken place there + is the most astonishing of all—except, perhaps, the change in Hannah + herself. + </p> + <p> + Few damsels of twelve years old, generally a very pretty age, were less + pretty than Hannah Bint. Short and stunted in her figure, thin in face, + sharp in feature, with a muddled complexion, wild sunburnt hair, and eyes + whose very brightness had in them something startling, over-informed, + super-subtle, too clever for her age,—at twelve years old she had + quite the air of a little old fairy. Now, at seventeen, matters are + mended. Her complexion has cleared; her countenance has developed itself; + her figure has shot up into height and lightness, and a sort of rustic + grace; her bright, acute eye is softened and sweetened by the womanly wish + to please; her hair is trimmed, and curled and brushed, with exquisite + neatness; and her whole dress arranged with that nice attention to the + becoming, the suitable both in form and texture, which would be called the + highest degree of coquetry, if it did not deserve the better name of + propriety. Never was such a transmogrification beheld. The lass is really + pretty, and Ned Miles has discovered that she is so. There he stands, the + rogue, close at her side (for he hath joined her whilst we have been + telling her little story, and the milking is over!)—there he stands—holding + her milk-pail in one hand, and stroking Watch with the other; whilst she + is returning the compliment by patting Neptune's magnificent head. There + they stand, as much like lovers as may be; he smiling, and she blushing—he + never looking so handsome nor she so pretty in all their lives. There they + stand, in blessed forgetfulness of all except each other; as happy a + couple as ever trod the earth. There they stand, and one would not disturb + them for all the milk and butter in Christendom. I should not wonder if + they were fixing the wedding day. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE FALL OF THE LEAF. + </h2> + <p> + November 6th.—The weather is as peaceful to-day, as calm, and as + mild, as in early April; and, perhaps, an autumn afternoon and a spring + morning do resemble each other more in feeling, and even in appearance, + than any two periods of the year. There is in both the same freshness and + dewiness of the herbage; the same balmy softness in the air; and the same + pure and lovely blue sky, with white fleecy clouds floating across it. The + chief difference lies in the absence of flowers, and the presence of + leaves. But then the foliage of November is so rich, and glowing, and + varied, that it may well supply the place of the gay blossoms of the + spring; whilst all the flowers of the field or the garden could never make + amends for the want of leaves,—that beautiful and graceful attire in + which nature has clothed the rugged forms of trees—the verdant + drapery to which the landscape owes its loveliness, and the forests their + glory. + </p> + <p> + If choice must be between two seasons, each so full of charm, it is at + least no bad philosophy to prefer the present good, even whilst looking + gratefully back, and hopefully forward, to the past and the future. And of + a surety, no fairer specimen of a November day could well be found than + this,—a day made to wander + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'By yellow commons and birch-shaded hollows, + And hedgerows bordering unfrequented lanes;' +</pre> + <p> + nor could a prettier country be found for our walk than this shady and yet + sunny Berkshire, where the scenery, without rising into grandeur or + breaking into wildness, is so peaceful, so cheerful, so varied, and so + thoroughly English. + </p> + <p> + We must bend our steps towards the water side, for I have a message to + leave at Farmer Riley's: and sooth to say, it is no unpleasant necessity; + for the road thither is smooth and dry, retired, as one likes a country + walk to be, but not too lonely, which women never like; leading past the + Loddon—the bright, brimming, transparent Loddon—a fitting + mirror for this bright blue sky, and terminating at one of the prettiest + and most comfortable farmhouses in the neighbourhood. + </p> + <p> + How beautiful the lane is to-day, decorated with a thousand colours! The + brown road, and the rich verdure that borders it, strewed with the pale + yellow leaves of the elm, just beginning to fall; hedgerows glowing with + long wreaths of the bramble in every variety of purplish red; and overhead + the unchanged green of the fir, contrasting with the spotted sycamore, the + tawny beech, and the dry sere leaves of the oak, which rustle as the light + wind passes through them; a few common hardy yellow flowers (for yellow is + the common colour of flowers, whether wild or cultivated, as blue is the + rare one), flowers of many sorts, but almost of one tint, still blowing in + spite of the season, and ruddy berries glowing through all. How very + beautiful is the lane! + </p> + <p> + And how pleasant is this hill where the road widens, with the group of + cattle by the wayside, and George Hearn, the little post-boy, trundling + his hoop at full speed, making all the better haste in his work, because + he cheats himself into thinking it play! And how beautiful, again, is this + patch of common at the hilltop with the clear pool, where Martha Pither's + children,—elves of three, and four, and five years old,—without + any distinction of sex in their sunburnt faces and tattered drapery, are + dipping up water in their little homely cups shining with cleanliness, and + a small brown pitcher with the lip broken, to fill that great kettle, + which, when it is filled, their united strength will never be able to + lift! They are quite a group for a painter, with their rosy cheeks, and + chubby hands, and round merry faces; and the low cottage in the + background, peeping out of its vine leaves and china roses, with Martha at + the door, tidy, and comely, and smiling, preparing the potatoes for the + pot, and watching the progress of dipping and filling that useful utensil, + completes the picture. + </p> + <p> + But we must go on. No time for more sketches in these short days. It is + getting cold too. We must proceed in our walk. Dash is showing us the way + and beating the thick double hedgerow that runs along the side of the + meadows, at a rate that indicates game astir, and causes the leaves to fly + as fast as an east-wind after a hard frost. Ah! a pheasant! a superb cock + pheasant! Nothing is more certain than Dash's questing, whether in a + hedgerow or covert, for a better spaniel never went into the field; but I + fancied that it was a hare afoot, and was almost as much startled to hear + the whirring of those splendid wings, as the princely bird himself would + have been at the report of a gun. Indeed, I believe that the way in which + a pheasant goes off, does sometimes make young sportsmen a little nervous, + (they don't own it very readily, but the observation may be relied on + nevertheless), until they get as it were broken in to the sound; and then + that grand and sudden burst of wing becomes as pleasant to them as it + seems to be to Dash, who is beating the hedgerow with might and main, and + giving tongue louder, and sending the leaves about faster than ever—very + proud of finding the pheasant, and perhaps a little angry with me for not + shooting it; at least looking as if he would be angry if I were a man; for + Dash is a dog of great sagacity, and has doubtless not lived four years in + the sporting world without making the discovery, that although gentlemen + do shoot, ladies do not. + </p> + <p> + The Loddon at last! the beautiful Loddon! and the bridge, where every one + stops, as by instinct, to lean over the rails, and gaze a moment on a + landscape of surpassing loveliness,—the fine grounds of the Great + House, with their magnificent groups of limes, and firs, and poplars + grander than ever poplars were; the green meadows opposite, studded with + oaks and elms; the clear winding river; the mill with its picturesque old + buildings, bounding the scene; all glowing with the rich colouring of + autumn, and harmonised by the soft beauty of the clear blue sky, and the + delicious calmness of the hour. The very peasant whose daily path it is, + cannot cross that bridge without a pause. + </p> + <p> + But the day is wearing fast, and it grows colder and colder. I really + think it will be a frost. After all, spring is the pleasantest season, + beautiful as this scenery is. We must get on. Down that broad yet shadowy + lane, between the park, dark with evergreens and dappled with deer, and + the meadows where sheep, and cows, and horses are grazing under the tall + elms; that lane, where the wild bank, clothed with fern, and tufted with + furze, and crowned by rich berried thorn, and thick shining holly on the + one side, seems to vie in beauty with the picturesque old paling, the + bright laurels, and the plumy cedars, on the other;—down that shady + lane, until the sudden turn brings us to an opening where four roads meet, + where a noble avenue turns down to the Great House; where the village + church rears its modest spire from amidst its venerable yew trees: and + where, embosomed in orchards and gardens, and backed by barns and ricks, + and all the wealth of the farmyard, stands the spacious and comfortable + abode of good Farmer Riley,—the end and object of our walk. + </p> + <p> + And in happy time the message is said and the answer given, for this + beautiful mild day is edging off into a dense frosty evening; the leaves + of the elm and the linden in the old avenue are quivering and vibrating + and fluttering in the air, and at length falling crisply on the earth, as + if Dash were beating for pheasants in the tree-tops; the sun gleams dimly + through the fog, giving little more of light and heat than his fair sister + the lady moon;—I don't know a more disappointing person than a cold + sun; and I am beginning to wrap my cloak closely round me, and to + calculate the distance to my own fireside, recanting all the way my + praises of November, and longing for the showery, flowery April, as much + as if I were a half-chilled butterfly, or a dahlia knocked down by the + frost. + </p> + <p> + Ah, dear me! what a climate this is, that one cannot keep in the same mind + about it for half an hour together! I wonder, by the way, whether the + fault is in the weather, which Dash does not seem to care for, or in me? + If I should happen to be wet through in a shower next spring, and should + catch myself longing for autumn, that would settle the question. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR VILLAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 2496-h.htm or 2496-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/2496/ + +Produced by Les Bowler, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Our Village + +Author: Mary Russell Mitford + +Commentator: Anne Thackeray Ritchie + +Posting Date: January 8, 2009 [EBook #2496] +Release Date: February, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR VILLAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Les Bowler + + + + + +OUR VILLAGE + +By Mary Russell Mitford + + +1893 Macmillan and Co. edition. + + + +CONTENTS + + INTRODUCTION + COUNTRY PICTURES + WALKS IN THE COUNTRY + THE FIRST PRIMROSE + VIOLETING + THE COPSE + THE WOOD + THE DELL + THE COWSLIP-BALL + THE OLD HOUSE AT ABERLEIGH + THE HARD SUMMER + THE SHAW + NUTTING + THE VISIT + HANNAH BINT + THE FALL OF THE LEAF + + + + +Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie + + +I. + +There is a great deal of admirable literature concerning Miss Mitford, +so much of it indeed, that the writer of this little notice feels as if +she almost owed an apology to those who remember, for having ventured to +write, on hearsay only, and without having ever known or ever seen +the author of 'Our Village.' And yet, so vivid is the homely friendly +presence, so clear the sound of that voice 'like a chime of bells,' with +its hospitable cheery greeting, that she can scarcely realise that this +acquaintance exists only in the world of the might-have-beens. + +For people who are beginning to remember, rather than looking forward +any more, there certainly exists no more delightful reading than the +memoirs and stories of heroes and heroines, many of whom we ourselves +may have seen, and to whom we may have spoken. As we read on we are led +into some happy bygone region,--such as that one described by Mr. du +Maurier in 'Peter Ibbetson,'--a region in which we ourselves, together +with all our friends and acquaintances, grow young again;--very young, +very brisk, very hopeful. The people we love are there, along with the +people we remember. Music begins to play, we are dancing, laughing, +scampering over the country once more; our parents too are young and +laughing cheerily. Every now and then perhaps some old friend, also +vigorous and hopeful, bursts into the book, and begins to talk or to +write a letter; early sights and sounds return to us, we have NOW, and +we have THEN, in a pleasant harmony. To those of a certain literary +generation who read Miss Mitford's memoirs, how many such familiar +presences and names must appear and reappear. Not least among them +that of her biographer, Mr. Harness himself, who was so valued by his +friends. Mrs. Kemble, Mrs. Sartoris, Charles Allston Collins, always +talked of him with a great respect and tenderness. I used to think they +had a special voice with which to speak his name. He was never among +our intimate friends, but how familiar to my recollection are the +two figures, that of Mr. Harness and Miss Harness, his sister and +housekeeper, coming together along the busy Kensington roadway. The +brother and sister were like characters out of some book, with their +kind faces, their simple spiritual ways; in touch with so much that was +interesting and romantic, and in heart with so much that suffered. I +remember him with grey hair and a smile. He was not tall; he walked +rather lame; Miss Harness too was little, looking up at all the rest of +the world with a kind round face and sparkling eyes fringed with thick +lashes. Mary Mitford was indeed happy in her friends, as happy as she +was unfortunate in her nearer relations. + +With much that is sad, there is a great deal of beauty and enjoyment in +Miss Mitford's life. For her the absence of material happiness was made +up for by the presence of warm-hearted sensibility, of enthusiasm, by +her devotion to her parents. Her long endurance and filial piety are +very remarkable, her loving heart carried her safely to the end, and she +found comfort in her unreasoning life's devotion. She had none of the +restlessness which is so apt to spoil much that might be harmonious; +all the charm of a certain unity and simplicity of motive is hers, 'the +single eye,' of which Charles Kingsley wrote so sweetly. She loved +her home, her trees, her surrounding lanes and commons. She loved her +friends. Her books and flowers are real and important events in her +life, soothing and distracting her from the contemplation of its +constant anxieties. 'I may truly say,' she once writes to Miss Barrett, +'that ever since I was a very young girl, I have never (although for +some years living apparently in affluence) been without pecuniary +care,--the care that pressed upon my thoughts the last thing at night, +and woke in the morning with a dreary sense of pain and pressure, of +something which weighed me to the earth.' + +Mary Russell Mitford was born on the 16th of December 1787. She was the +only child of her parents, who were well connected; her mother was an +heiress. Her father belonged to the Mitfords of the North. She describes +herself as 'a puny child, with an affluence of curls which made her look +as if she were twin sister to her own great doll.' She could read at +three years old; she learnt the Percy ballads by heart almost before she +could read. Long after, she used to describe how she first studied her +beloved ballads in the breakfast-room lined with books, warmly spread +with its Turkey carpet, with its bright fire, easy chairs, and the +windows opening to a garden full of flowers,--stocks, honeysuckles, and +pinks. It is touching to note how, all through her difficult life, +her path was (literally) lined with flowers, and how the love of them +comforted and cheered her from the first to the very last. In her +saddest hours, the passing fragrance and beauty of her favourite +geraniums cheered and revived her. Even when her mother died she found +comfort in the plants they had tended together, and at the very last +breaks into delighted descriptions of them. + +She was sent to school in the year 1798 to No. 22 Hans Place, to a Mrs. +St. Quintin's. It seems to have been an excellent establishment. Mary +learnt the harp and astronomy; her taste for literature was encouraged. +The young ladies, attired as shepherdesses, were also taught to skip +through many mazy movements, but she never distinguished herself as a +shepherdess. She had greater success in her literary efforts, and her +composition 'on balloons' was much applauded. She returned to her home +in 1802. 'Plain in figure and in face, she was never common-looking,' +says Mr. Harness. He gives a pretty description of her as 'no ordinary +child, her sweet smiles, her animated conversation, her keen enjoyment +of life, and her gentle voice won the love and admiration of her +friends, whether young or old.' Mr. Harness has chiefly told Miss +Mitford's story in her own words by quotations from her letters, and, as +one reads, one can almost follow her moods as they succeed each other, +and these moods are her real history. The assiduity of childhood, the +bright enthusiasm and gaiety of her early days, the growing anxiety of +her later life, the maturer judgments, the occasional despairing +terrors which came to try her bright nature, but along with it all, that +innocent and enduring hopefulness which never really deserted her. Her +elastic spirit she owed to her father, that incorrigible old Skimpole. +'I am generally happy everywhere,' she writes in her youth--and then +later on: 'It is a great pleasure to me to love and to admire, this is a +faculty which has survived many frosts and storms.' It is true that +she adds a query somewhere else, 'Did you ever remark how superior old +gaiety is to new?' she asks. + +Her handsome father, her plain and long-enduring mother, are both +unconsciously described in her correspondence. 'The Doctor's manners +were easy, natural, cordial, and apparently extremely frank,' says Mr. +Harness, 'but he nevertheless met the world on its own terms, and was +prepared to allow himself any insincerity which seemed expedient. He was +not only recklessly extravagant, but addicted to high play. His wife's +large fortune, his daughter's, his own patrimony, all passed through his +hands in an incredibly short space of time, but his wife and daughter +were never heard to complain of his conduct, nor appeared to admire him +less.' + +The story of Miss Mitford's 20,000 pounds is unique among the adventures +of authoresses. Dr. Mitford, having spent all his wife's fortune, and +having brought his family from a comfortable home, with flowers and a +Turkey carpet, to a small lodging near Blackfriars Bridge, determined to +present his daughter with an expensive lottery ticket on the occasion +of her tenth birthday. She had a fancy for No. 2224, of which the added +numbers came to 10. This number actually came out the first prize of +20,000 pounds, which money started the family once more in comparative +affluence. Dr. Mitford immediately built a new square house, which he +calls Bertram House, on the site of a pretty old farmhouse which he +causes to be pulled down. He also orders a dessert-service painted with +the Mitford arms; Mrs. Mitford is supplied with a carriage, and she +subscribes to a circulating library. + +A list still exists of the books taken out by her for her daughter's +use; some fifty-five volumes a month, chiefly trash: 'Vicenza,' 'A +Sailor's Friendship and Soldier's Love,' 'Clarentina,' 'Robert and +Adela,' 'The Count de Valmont,' 'The Three Spaniards,' 'De Clifford' (in +four volumes) and so on. + +The next two or three years were brilliant enough; for the family +must have lived at the rate of three or four thousand a year. Their +hospitality was profuse, they had servants, carriages, they bought +pictures and furniture, they entertained. Cobbett was among their +intimate friends. The Doctor naturally enough invested in a good many +more lottery tickets, but without any further return. + +The ladies seem to take it as a matter of course that he should +speculate and gamble at cards, and indeed do anything and everything he +fancied, but they beg him at least to keep to respectable clubs. He is +constantly away. His daughter tries to tempt him home with the bloom of +her hyacinths. 'How they long to see him again!' she says, 'how greatly +have they been disappointed, when, every day, the journey to Reading has +been fruitless. The driver of the Reading coach is quite accustomed +to being waylaid by their carriage.' Then she tells him about the +primroses, but neither hyacinths nor primroses bring the Doctor away +from his cards. Finally, the rhododendrons and the azaleas are in bloom, +but these also fail to attract him. + +Miss Mitford herself as she grows up is sent to London more than +once, to the St. Quintin's and elsewhere. She goes to the play and to +Westminster Hall, she sees her hero, Charles James Fox, and has the +happiness of watching him helped on to his horse. Mr. Romilly delights +her, but her greatest favourite of all is Mr. Whitbread. 'You know I am +always an enthusiast,' she writes, 'but at present it is impossible to +describe the admiration I feel for this exalted character.' She speaks +of his voice 'which she could listen to with transport even if he spoke +in an unknown language!' she writes a sonnet to him, 'an impromptu, on +hearing Mr. Whitbread declare in Westminster Hall that he fondly trusted +his name would descend to posterity.' + + 'The hope of Fame thy noble bosom fires, + Nor vain the hope thy ardent mind inspires; + In British breasts whilst Purity remains, + Whilst Liberty her blessed abode retains, + Still shall the muse of History proclaim + To future ages thy immortal name!' + +There are many references to the celebrities of the time in her +letters home,--every one agrees as to the extreme folly of Sheridan's +entertainments, Mrs. Opie is spoken of as a rising authoress, etc. etc. +etc. + +Miss Austen used to go to 23 Hans Place, and Miss Mitford used to stay +at No. 22, but not at the same time. Mrs. Mitford had known Miss Austen +as a child. She may perhaps be forgiven for some prejudice and maternal +jealousy, in her later impressions, but Mary Mitford admired Jane Austen +always with warmest enthusiasm. She writes to her mother at length from +London, describing everything, all the people and books and experiences +that she comes across,--the elegant suppers at Brompton, the Grecian +lamps, Mr. Barker's beauty, Mr. Plummer's plainness, and the destruction +of her purple gown. + +Mrs. Mitford writes back in return describing Reading festivities, 'an +agreeable dinner at Doctor Valpy's, where Mrs. Women and Miss Peacock +are present and Mr. J. Simpson, M.P.; the dinner very good, two full +courses and one remove, the soup giving place to one quarter of lamb.' +Mrs. Mitford sends a menu of every dinner she goes to. + +In 1806 Dr. Mitford takes his daughter, who was then about nineteen, +to the North to visit his relations; they are entertained by the +grandparents of the Trevelyans and the Swinburnes, the Ogles and the +Mitfords of the present day. They fish in Sir John Swinburne's lake, +they visit at Alnwick Castle. Miss Mitford kept her front hair in papers +till she reached Alnwick, nor was her dress discomposed though she had +travelled thirty miles. They sat down, sixty-five to dinner, which was +'of course' (she somewhat magnificently says) entirely served on plate. +Poor Mary's pleasure is very much dashed by the sudden disappearance +of her father,--Dr. Mitford was in the habit of doing anything he felt +inclined to do at once and on the spot, quite irrespectively of the +convenience of others,--and although a party had been arranged on +purpose to meet him in the North, and his daughter was counting on his +escort to return home, (people posted in those days, they did not take +their tickets direct from Newcastle to London), Dr. Mitford one morning +leaves word that he has gone off to attend the Reading election, where +his presence was not in the least required. For the first and apparently +for the only time in her life his daughter protests. 'Mr. Ogle is +extremely offended; nothing but your immediate return can ever excuse +you to him! I IMPLORE you to return, I call upon Mamma's sense of +propriety to send you here directly. Little did I suspect that my +father, my beloved father, would desert me at this distance from home! +Every one is surprised.' Dr. Mitford was finally persuaded to travel +back to Northumberland to fetch his daughter. + +The constant companionship of Dr. Mitford must have given a curious +colour to his good and upright daughter's views of life. Adoring her +father as she did, she must have soon accustomed herself to take his +fine speeches for fine actions, to accept his self-complacency in the +place of a conscience. She was a woman of warm impressions, with a +strong sense of right. But it was not within her daily experience, poor +soul, that people who did not make grand professions were ready to do +their duty all the same; nor did she always depend upon the uprightness, +the courage, the self-denial of those who made no protestations. At that +time loud talking was still the fashion, and loud living was considered +romantic. They both exist among us, but they are less admired, and +there is a different language spoken now to that of Dr. Mitford and his +school. * This must account for some of Miss Mitford's judgments of what +she calls a 'cynical' generation, to which she did little justice. + + *People nowadays are more ready to laugh than to admire when + they hear the lions bray; for mewing and bleating, the + taste, I fear, is on the increase. + + +II. + +There is one penalty people pay for being authors, which is that from +cultivating vivid impressions and mental pictures they are apt to take +fancies too seriously and to mistake them for reality. In story-telling +this is well enough, and it interferes with nobody; but in real history, +and in one's own history most of all, this faculty is apt to raise +up bogies and nightmares along one's path; and while one is fighting +imaginary demons, the good things and true are passed by unnoticed, the +best realities of life are sometimes overlooked.... + +But after all, Mary Russell Mitford, who spent most of her time +gathering figs off thistles and making the best of her difficult +circumstances, suffered less than many people do from the influence of +imaginary things. + +She was twenty-three years old when her first book of poems was +published; so we read in her letters, in which she entreats her father +not to curtail ANY of the verses addressed to him; there is no +reason, she says, except his EXTREME MODESTY why the verses should be +suppressed,--she speaks not only with the fondness of a daughter but +with the sensibility of a poet. Our young authoress is modest, although +in print; she compares herself to Crabbe (as Jane Austen might have +done), and feels 'what she supposes a farthing candle would experience +when the sun rises in all its glory.' Then comes the Publisher's +bill for 59 pounds; she is quite shocked at the bill, which is really +exorbitant! In her next letter Miss Mitford reminds her father that +the taxes are still unpaid, and a correspondence follows with somebody +asking for a choice of the Doctor's pictures in payment for the taxes. +The Doctor is in London all the time, dining out and generally amusing +himself. Everybody is speculating whether Sir Francis Burdett will go +to the Tower.* 'Oh, my darling, how I envy you at the fountain-head of +intelligence in these interesting times! How I envy Lady Burdett for +the fine opportunity she has to show the heroism of our sex!' writes +the daughter, who is only encountering angry tax-gatherers at home.... +Somehow or other the bills are paid for the time, and the family +arrangements go on as before. + +*Here, in our little suburban garden at Wimbledon, are the remains of +an old hedgerow which used to grow in the kitchen garden of the Grange +where Sir Francis Burdett then lived. The tradition is that he was +walking in the lane in his own kitchen garden when he was taken up and +carried off to honourable captivity.--A.T.R. + +Besides writing to the members of her own home, Miss Mitford started +another correspondent very early in life; this was Sir William Elford, +to whom she describes her outings and adventures, her visits to +Tavistock House, where her kind friends the Perrys receive her. Mr. +Perry was the editor of the Morning Chronicle; he and his beautiful wife +were the friends of all the most interesting people of the day. Here +again the present writer's own experiences can interpret the printed +page, for her own first sight of London people and of London society +came to her in a little house in Chesham Place, where her father's old +friends, Mrs. Frederick Elliot and Miss Perry, the daughters of Miss +Mitford's friends, lived with a very notable and interesting set of +people, making a social centre, by that kindly unconscious art +which cannot be defined; that quick apprehension, that benevolent +fastidiousness (I have to use rather far-fetched words) which are so +essential to good hosts and hostesses. A different standard is looked +for now, by the rising generations knocking at the doors, behind which +the dignified past is lying as stark as King Duncan himself! + +Among other entertainments Miss Mitford went to the fetes which +celebrated the battle of Vittoria; she had also the happiness of getting +a good sight of Mme. de Stael, who was a great friend of the Perrys. +'She is almost as much followed in the gardens as the Princess,' she +says, pouring out her wonders, her pleasures, her raptures. She begins +to read Burns with youthful delight, dilates upon his exhaustless +imagination, his versatility, and then she suggests a very just +criticism. 'Does it not appear' she says, 'that versatility is the true +and rare characteristic of that rare thing called genius--versatility +and playfulness;' then she goes on to speak of two highly-reputed novels +just come out and ascribed to Lady Morley, 'Pride and Prejudice' and +'Sense and Sensibility.' + +She is still writing from Bertram House, but her pleasant gossip +continually alternates with more urgent and less agreeable letters +addressed to her father. Lawyers' clerks are again calling with notices +and warnings, tax-gatherers are troubling. Dr. Mitford has, as usual, +left no address, so that she can only write to the 'Star Office,' +and trust to chance. 'Mamma joins in tenderest love,' so the letters +invariably conclude. + +Notwithstanding the adoration bestowed by the ladies of the family and +their endearing adjectives, Mr. Harness is very outspoken on the +subject of the handsome Doctor! He disliked his manners, his morals, +his self-sufficiency, his loud talk. 'The old brute never informed his +friends of anything; all they knew of him or his affairs, or whatever +false or true he intended them to believe, came out carelessly in his +loose, disjointed talk.' + +In 1814 Miss Mitford is living on still with her parents at Bertram +House, but a change has come over their home; the servants are gone, +the gravel turned to moss, the turf into pasture, the shrubberies to +thickets, the house a sort of new 'ruin half inhabited, and a Chancery +suit is hanging over their heads.' Meantime some news comes to cheer +her from America. Two editions of her poems have been printed and sold. +'Narrative Poems on the Female Character' proved a real success. 'All +who have hearts to feel and understandings to discriminate, must wish +you health and leisure to complete your plan,' so write publishers in +those golden days, with complimentary copies of the work.... + +Great things are happening all this time; battles are being fought and +won, Napoleon is on his way to St. Helena; London is in a frenzy of +rejoicings, entertainings, illuminations. To Mary Mitford the appearance +of 'Waverley' seems as great an event as the return of the Bourbons; +she is certain that 'Waverley' is written by Sir Walter Scott, but +'Guy Mannering,' she thinks, is by another hand: her mind is full of a +genuine romantic devotion to books and belles lettres, and she is also +rejoicing, even more, in the spring-time of 1816. Dr. Mitford may be +impecunious and their affairs may be threadbare, but the lovely seasons +come out ever in fresh beauty and abundance. The coppices are carpeted +with primroses, with pansies and wild strawberry blossom,--the woods are +spangled with the delicate flowers of the woodsorrel and wood anemone, +the meadows enamelled with cowslips.... Certainly few human beings +were ever created more fit for this present world, and more capable of +admiring and enjoying its beauties, than Miss Mitford, who only desired +to be beautiful herself, she somewhere says, to be perfectly contented. + + +III. + +Most people's lives are divided into first, second and third volumes; +and as we read Miss Mitford's history it forms no exception to the +rule. The early enthusiastic volume is there, with its hopes and wild +judgments, its quaint old-fashioned dress and phraseology; then comes +the second volume, full of actual work and serious responsibility, +with those childish parents to provide for, whose lives, though so +protracted, never seem to reach beyond their nurseries. Miss Mitford's +third volume is retrospective; her growing infirmities are courageously +endured, there is the certainty of success well earned and well +deserved; we realise her legitimate hold upon the outer world of readers +and writers, besides the reputation which she won upon the stage by her +tragedies. + +The literary ladies of the early part of the century in some ways had a +very good time of it. A copy of verses, a small volume of travels, a few +tea-parties, a harp in one corner of the room, and a hat and feathers +worn rather on one side, seemed to be all that was wanted to establish +a claim to fashion and inspiration. They had footstools to rest their +satin shoes upon, they had admirers and panegyrists to their heart's +content, and above all they possessed that peculiar complacency in which +(with a few notable exceptions) our age is singularly deficient. We are +earnest, we are audacious, we are original, but we are not complacent. +THEY were dolls perhaps, and lived in dolls' houses; WE are ghosts +without houses at all; we come and go wrapped in sheets of newspaper, +holding flickering lights in our hands, paraffin lamps, by the light of +which we are seeking our proper sphere. Poor vexed spirits! We do not +belong to the old world any more! The new world is not yet ready for +us. Even Mr. Gladstone will not let us into the House of Commons; the +Geographical Society rejects us, so does the Royal Academy; and yet who +could say that any of their standards rise too high! Some one or two are +happily safe, carried by the angels of the Press to little altars and +pinnacles all their own; but the majority of hard-working, intelligent +women, 'contented with little, yet ready for more,' may they not in +moments of depression be allowed to picture to themselves what their +chances might have been had they only been born half a century earlier? + +Miss Mitford, notwithstanding all her troubles (she has been known +to say she had rather be a washerwoman than a literary lady), had +opportunities such as few women can now obtain. One is lost in +admiration at the solidity of one's grandparents' taste, when one +attempts to read the tragedies they delighted in, and yet 'Rienzi' sold +four thousand copies and was acted forty-five times; and at one time +Miss Mitford had two tragedies rehearsed upon the boards together; one +at Covent Garden and one at Drury Lane, with Charles Kemble and Macready +disputing for her work. Has not one also read similar descriptions +of the triumphs of Hannah More, or of Johanna Baillie; cheered by +enthusiastic audiences, while men shed tears.* + +*Mem. Hannah More, v.i. p.124. + +'Julian' was the first of Miss Mitford's acted plays. It was brought out +at Covent Garden in 1823, when she was thirty-six years old; Macready +played the principal part. 'If the play do reach the ninth night,' Miss +Mitford writes to Macready, 'it will be a very complete refutation of +Mr. Kemble's axiom that no single performer can fill the theatre; for +except our pretty Alfonso (Miss Foote) there is only Julian, one and +only one. Let him imagine how deeply we feel his exertions and his +kindness.*...' + +*In Macready's diary we find an entry which is not over gracious. +'"Julian" acted March the 15th. Had but moderate success. The C. G. +company was no longer equal to the support of plays containing moral +characters. The authoress in her dedication to me was profuse in +her acknowledgments and compliments, but the performance made little +impression, and was soon forgotten.' + +'Julian' was stopped on the eighth night, to her great disappointment, +but she is already engaged on another--on several more---tragedies; she +wants the money badly; for the editor of her magazine has absconded, +owing her 50 pounds. Some trying and bewildering quarrel then ensues +between Charles Kemble and Macready, which puts off her tragedies, +and sadly affects poor Miss Mitford's nerves and profits. She has one +solace. Her father, partly instigated, she says, by the effect which the +terrible feeling of responsibility and want of power has had upon her +health and spirits, at last resolves to try if he can HIMSELF obtain any +employment that may lighten the burthen of the home. It is a good thing +that Dr. Mitford has braced himself to this heroic determination. 'The +addition of two or even one hundred a year to our little income, joined +to what I am, in a manner, sure of gaining by mere industry, would take +a load from my heart of which I can scarcely give you an idea... even +"Julian" was written under a pressure of anxiety which left me not a +moment's rest....' So she fondly dwells upon the delightful prospects. +Then comes the next letter to Sir William Elford, and we read that her +dear father, 'relying with a blessed sanguineness on my poor endeavours, +has not, I believe, even inquired for a situation, and I do not press +the matter, though I anxiously wish it; being willing to give one more +trial to the theatre.' + +On one of the many occasions when Miss Mitford writes to her trustee +imploring him to sell out the small remaining fragment of her fortune, +she says, 'My dear father has, years ago, been improvident, is still +irritable and difficult to live with, but he is a person of a thousand +virtues... there are very few half so good in this mixed world; it is +my fault that this money is needed, entirely my fault, and if it be +withheld, my dear father will be overthrown, mind and body, and I shall +never know another happy hour.' + +No wonder Mr. Harness, who was behind the scenes, remonstrated against +the filial infatuation which sacrificed health, sleep, peace of mind, +to gratify every passing whim of the Doctor's. At a time when she was +sitting up at night and slaving, hour after hour, to earn the necessary +means of living, Dr. Mitford must needs have a cow, a stable, and dairy +implements procured for his amusement, and when he died he left 1,000 +pounds of debts for the scrupulous woman to pay off. She is determined +to pay, if she sells her clothes to do so. Meanwhile, the Doctor is +still alive, and Miss Mitford is straining every nerve to keep him so. +She is engaged (in strict confidence) on a grand historical subject, +Charles and Cromwell, the finest episode in English history, she says. +Here, too, fresh obstacles arise. This time it is the theatrical censor +who interferes. It would be dangerous for the country to touch upon such +topics; Mr. George Colman dwells upon this theme, although he gives the +lady full credit for no evil intentions; but for the present all her +work is again thrown away. While Miss Mitford is struggling on as best +she can against this confusion of worries and difficulty (she eventually +received 200 pounds for 'Julian' from a Surrey theatre), a new firm +'Whittaker' undertakes to republish the 'village sketches' which had +been written for the absconding editor. The book is to be published +under the title of 'Our Village.' + + +IV. + +'Are your characters and descriptions true?' somebody once asked our +authoress. 'Yes, yes, yes, as true, as true as is well possible,' she +answers. 'You, as a great landscape painter, know that in painting a +favourite scene you do a little embellish and can't help it; you avail +yourself of happy accidents of atmosphere; if anything be ugly you +strike it out, or if anything be wanting, you put it in. But still the +picture is a likeness.' + +So wrote Miss Mitford, but with all due respect for her and for Sir +William Elford, the great landscape painter, I cannot help thinking +that what is admirable in her book, are not her actual descriptions +and pictures of intelligent villagers and greyhounds, but the more +imaginative things; the sense of space and nature and progress which she +knows how to convey; the sweet and emotional chord she strikes with so +true a touch. Take at hazard her description of the sunset. How simple +and yet how finely felt it is. Her genuine delight reaches us and +carries us along; it is not any embellishing of effects, or exaggeration +of facts, but the reality of a true and very present feeling... 'The +narrow line of clouds which a few minutes ago lay like long vapouring +streaks along the horizon, now lighted with a golden splendour, that the +eye can scarcely endure; those still softer clouds which floated above, +wreathing and curling into a thousand fantastic forms as thin and +changeful as summer smoke, defined and deepened into grandeur, and +hedged with ineffable, insufferable light. Another minute and the +brilliant orb totally disappears and the sky above grows, every moment, +more varied and more beautiful, as the dazzling golden lines are mixed +with glowing red and gorgeous purple, dappled with small dark specks, +and mingled with such a blue as the egg of the hedge-sparrow.... To +look up at that glorious sky, and then to see that magnificent picture +reflected in the clear and lovely Loddon water, is a pleasure never to +be described, and never to be forgotten. My heart swells, and my eyes +fill as I write of it, and think of the immeasurable majesty of nature +and the unspeakable goodness of God, who has spread an enjoyment so +pure, so peaceful, and so intense before the meanest and lowliest of His +creatures.' + +But it is needless now to go on praising 'Our Village,' or to recount +what a success was in store for the little book. Certain books hold +their own by individual right and might; they are part of everybody's +life as a matter of course. They are not always read, but they tacitly +take their place among us. The editions succeeded editions here and in +America; artists came down to illustrate the scenes. Miss Mitford, who +was so delighted with the drawings by Mr. Baxter, should have lived to +see the charming glimpses of rural life we owe to Mr. Thomson. 'I don't +mind 'em,' says Lizzy to the cows, as they stand with spirited bovine +grace behind the stable door. 'Don't mind them indeed!' + +I think the author would assuredly have enjoyed the picture of the +baker, the wheelwright and the shoemaker, each following his special +Alderney along the road to the village, or of the farmer driving his old +wife in the gig.... One design, that of the lady in her pattens, comes +home to the writer of these notes, who has perhaps the distinction of +being the only authoress now alive who has ever walked out in +pattens. At the age of seven years she was provided with a pair by a +great-great-aunt, a kind old lady living at Fareham, in Hampshire, +where they were still in use. How interesting the little circles looked +stamped upon the muddy road, and how nearly down upon one's nose one was +at every other step! + +But even with all her success, Miss Mitford was not out of her troubles. +She writes to Mr. Harness saying: 'You cannot imagine how perplexed I +am. There are points in my domestic situation too long and too painful +to write about; the terrible improvidence of one dear parent, the +failure of memory and decay of faculty in that other who is still +dearer, cast on me a weight of care and fear that I can hardly bear up +against.' Her difficulties were unending. The new publisher now stopped +payment, so that even 'Our Village' brought in no return for the moment; +Charles Kemble was unable to make any offer for 'Foscari.' She went up +to town in the greatest hurry to try and collect some of the money owing +to her from her various publishers, but, as Mr. Harness says, received +little from her debtors beyond invitations and compliments. She +meditates a novel, she plans an opera, 'Cupid and Psyche.' + +At last, better times began to dawn, and she receives 150 pounds down +for a new novel and ten guineas from Blackwood as a retaining fee. Then +comes a letter from Charles Kemble giving her new hope, for her tragedy, +which was soon afterwards produced at Covent Garden. + +The tragedies are in tragic English, of course that language of the +boards, but not without a simplicity and music of their own. In the +introduction to them, in some volumes published by Hurst and Blacket in +1854, Miss Mitford describes 'the scene of indescribable chaos preceding +the performance, the vague sense of obscurity and confusion; tragedians, +hatted and coated, skipping about, chatting and joking; the only very +grave person being Liston himself. Ballet-girls walking through their +quadrilles to the sound of a solitary fiddle, striking up as if of its +own accord, from amid the tall stools and music-desks of the orchestra, +and piercing, one hardly knew how, through the din that was going on +incessantly. Oh, that din! Voices from every part; above, below, around, +and in every key. Heavy weights rolling here and falling there. +Bells ringing, one could not tell why, and the ubiquitous call-boy +everywhere.' + +She describes her astonishment when the play succeeds. 'Not that I had +nerve enough to attend the first representation of my tragedies. I +sat still and trembling in some quiet apartment near, and thither some +friend flew to set my heart at ease. Generally the messenger of good +tidings was poor Haydon, whose quick and ardent spirit lent him wings on +such an occasion.' + +We have the letter to her mother about 'Foscari,' from which I have +quoted; and on the occasion of the production of 'Rienzi' at Drury Lane +(two years later in October 1828), the letter to Sir William Elford +when the poor old mother was no longer here to rejoice in her daughter's +success. + +Miss Mitford gratefully records the sympathy of her friends, the +warm-hearted muses of the day. Mrs. Trollope, Miss Landon, Miss +Edgeworth, Miss Porden, Mrs. Hofland, Mrs. Opie, who all appear with +their congratulations. + +Miss Mitford says that Haydon, above all, sympathised with her love for +a large canvas. The Classics, Spain, Italy, Mediaeval Rome, these are +her favourite scenes and periods. Dukes and tribunes were her heroes; +daggers, dungeons, and executioners her means of effects. + +She moralises very sensibly upon Dramatic success. 'It is not,' she +says, 'so delicious, so glorious, so complete a gratification as, in our +secret longings, we all expect. It does not fill the heart,--it is an +intoxication followed by a dismal reaction.' She tells a friend that +never in all her life was she so depressed and out of spirits as after +'Rienzi,' her first really successful venture. But there is also +a passing allusion to her father's state of mind, to his mingled +irritation and sulkiness, which partly explains things. Could it be +that the Doctor added petty jealousy and envy to his other inconvenient +qualities? His intolerance for any author or actor, in short, for any +one not belonging to a county family, his violent annoyance at any +acquaintances such as those which she now necessarily made, would +naturally account for some want of spirits on the daughter's part; +overwrought, over-taxed, for ever on the strain, her work was exhausting +indeed. The small pension she afterwards obtained from the Civil List +must have been an unspeakable boon to the poor harassed woman. + +Tragedy seems to have resulted in a substantial pony and a basket +carriage for Miss Mitford, and in various invitations (from the +Talfourds, among the rest) during which she is lionised right and left. +It must have been on this occasion that Serjeant Talfourd complained so +bitterly of a review of 'Ion' which appeared about that time. His guest, +to soothe him, unwarily said, 'she should not have minded such a review +of HER Tragedy.' + +'YOUR "Rienzi," indeed! I should think not,' says the serjeant. '"Ion" +is very different.' The Talfourd household, as it is described by Mr. +Lestrange, is a droll mixture of poetry and prose, of hospitality, of +untidiness, of petulance, of most genuine kindness and most genuine +human nature. + +There are also many mentions of Miss Mitford in the 'Life of Macready' +by Sir F. Pollock. The great tragedian seems not to have liked her +with any cordiality; but he gives a pleasant account of a certain +supper-party in honour of 'Ion' at which she is present, and during +which she asks Macready if he will not now bring out her tragedy. The +tragedian does not answer, but Wordsworth, sitting by, says, 'Ay, keep +him to it.' + + +V. + +Besides the 'Life of Miss Mitford' by Messrs. Harness and Lestrange, +there is also a book of the 'Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford,' +consisting of the letters she received rather than of those which she +wrote. It certainly occurs to one, as one looks through the printed +correspondence of celebrated people, how different are written from +printed letters. Your friend's voice sounds, your friend's eyes look +out, of the written page, even its blots and erasures remind you of your +human being. But the magnetism is gone out of these printer's lines with +their even margins; in which everybody's handwriting is exactly alike; +in which everybody uses the same type, the same expressions; in which +the eye roams from page to page untouched, unconvinced. I can imagine +the pleasure each one of these letters may have given to Miss Mitford +to receive in turn. They come from well-known ladies, accustomed to be +considered. Mrs. Trollope, Mrs. Hofland, Mrs. Howitt, Mrs. S. C. Hall, +Miss Strickland, Mrs. Opie; there, too, are Miss Barrett and Mrs. +Jamieson and Miss Sedgwick who writes from America; they are all +interesting people, but it must be confessed that the correspondence is +not very enlivening. Miss Barrett's is an exception, that is almost as +good as handwriting to read. But there is no doubt that compliments +to OTHER authoresses are much less amusing, than those one writes or +receives oneself; apologies also for not writing sooner, CAN pall +upon one in print, however soothing they may be to the justly offended +recipient, or to the conscience-stricken correspondent. + +'I must have seemed a thankless wretch, my dear Miss Mitford,' etc. etc. +'You, my dear friend, know too well what it is to have to finish a book, +to blame my not attempting,' etc. etc. 'This is the thirty-ninth letter +I have written since yesterday morning,' says Harriet Martineau. 'Oh, +I can scarcely hold the pen! I will not allow my shame for not having +written, to prevent me from writing now.' All these people seem to have +been just as busy as people are now, as amusing, as tiresome. They had +the additional difficulty of having to procure franks, and of having to +cover four pages instead of a post-card. OUR letters may be dull, but at +all events they are not nearly so long. We come sooner to the point and +avoid elegant circumlocutions. But one is struck, among other things, +by the keener literary zest of those days, and by the immense numbers +of MSS. and tragedies in circulation, all of which their authors +confidingly send from one to another. There are also whole flights of +travelling poems flapping their wings and uttering their cries as they +go. + +An enthusiastic American critic who comes over to England emphasises the +situation. Mr. Willis's 'superlative admiration' seems to give point +to everything, and to all the enthusiasm. Miss Austen's Collins himself +could not have been more appreciative, not even if Miss de Burgh had +tried her hand at a MS.... Could he--Mr. Willis--choose, he would have +tragedy once a year from Miss Mitford's pen. 'WHAT an intoxicating life +it is,' he cries; 'I met Jane Porter and Miss Aikin and Tom Moore and a +troop more beaux esprits at dinner yesterday! I never shall be content +elsewhere.' + +Miss Mitford's own letters speak in a much more natural voice. + +'I never could understand what people could find to like in my letters,' +Miss Mitford writes, 'unless it be that they have a ROOT to them.' The +root was in her own kind heart. Miss Mitford may have been wanting a +little in discrimination, but she was never wanting in sympathy. She +seems to have loved people for kindness's sake indiscriminately as if +they were creations of her own brain: but to friendliness or to trouble +of any sort she responds with fullest measure. Who shall complain if +some rosy veil coloured the aspects of life for her? + +'Among the many blessings I enjoy,--my dear father, my admirable mother, +my tried and excellent friends,--there is nothing for which I ought to +thank God so earnestly as for the constitutional buoyancy of spirits, +the aptness to hope, the will to be happy WHICH I INHERIT FROM MY +FATHER,' she writes. Was ever filial piety so irritating as hers? It is +difficult to bear, with any patience, her praises of Dr. Mitford. His +illusions were no less a part of his nature than his daughter's, the one +a self-centred absolutely selfish existence, the other generous, humble, +beautiful. She is hardly ever really angry except when some reports get +about concerning her marriage. There was an announcement that she was +engaged to one of her own clan, and the news spread among her friends. +The romantic Mrs. Hofland had conjured up the suggestion, to Miss +Mitford's extreme annoyance. It is said Mrs. Hofland also married off +Miss Edgeworth in the same manner. + +Mary Mitford found her true romance in friendship, not in love. One day +Mr. Kenyon came to see her while she was staying in London, and offered +to show her the Zoological Gardens, and on the way he proposed calling +in Gloucester Place to take up a young lady, a connection of his own, +Miss Barrett by name. It was thus that Miss Mitford first made the +acquaintance of Mrs. Browning, whose friendship was one of the happiest +events of her whole life. A happy romance indeed, with that added +reality which must have given it endurance. And indeed to make a new +friend is like learning a new language. I myself have a friend who says +that we have each one of us a chosen audience of our own to whom we turn +instinctively, and before whom we rehearse that which is in our minds; +whose opinion influences us, whose approval is our secret aim. All this +Mrs. Browning seems to have been to Miss Mitford. + +'I sit and think of you and of the poems that you will write, and of +that strange rainbow crown called fame, until the vision is before +me.... My pride and my hopes seem altogether merged in you. At my time +of life and with so few to love, and with a tendency to body forth +images of gladness, you cannot think what joy it is to anticipate....' +So wrote the elder woman to the younger with romantic devotion. What +Miss Mitford once said of herself was true, hers was the instinct of +the bee sucking honey from the hedge flower. Whatever sweetness and +happiness there was to find she turned to with unerring directness. + +It is to Miss Barrett that she sometimes complains. 'It will help you to +understand how impossible it is for me to earn money as I ought to +do, when I tell you that this very day I received your dear letter and +sixteen others; then my father brought into my room the newspaper to +hear the ten or twelve columns of news from India; then I dined and +breakfasted in one; then I got up, and by that time there were three +parties of people in the garden; eight others arrived soon after.... I +was forced to leave, being engaged to call on Lady Madeline Palmer. She +took me some six miles on foot in Mr. Palmer's beautiful plantations, in +search of that exquisite wild-flower the bog-bean, do you know it? most +beautiful of flowers, either wild--or, as K. puts it,--"tame." After +long search we found the plant not yet in bloom.' + +Dr. Mitford weeps over his daughters exhaustion, telling everybody that +she is killing herself by her walks and drives. He would like her +never to go beyond the garden and beyond reach of the columns of his +newspaper. She declares that it is only by getting out and afield that +she can bear the strain and the constant alternation of enforced +work and anxiety. Nature was, indeed, a second nature to her. Charles +Kingsley himself could scarcely write better of the East wind.... + +'We have had nine weeks of drought and east wind, scarcely a flower to +be seen, no verdure in the meadows, no leaves in the hedgerows; if a +poor violet or primrose did make its appearance it was scentless. I have +not once heard my aversion the cuckoo... and in this place, so evidently +the rendezvous of swallows, that it takes its name from them, not +a swallow has yet appeared. The only time that I have heard the +nightingale, I drove, the one mild day we have had, to a wood where I +used to find the woodsorrel in beds; only two blossoms of that could be +found, but a whole chorus of nightingales saluted me the moment I drove +into the wood.' + +There is something of Madame de Sevigne in her vivid realisation of +natural things. + +She nursed her father through a long and trying illness, and when he +died found herself alone in the world with impaired health and very +little besides her pension from the Civil List to live upon. Dr. Mitford +left 1000 pounds worth of debts, which this honourable woman then and +there set to work to try and pay. So much courage and devotion touched +the hearts of her many friends and readers, and this sum was actually +subscribed by them. Queens, archbishops, dukes, and marquises subscribe +to the testimonial, so do the literary ladies, Mesdames Bailey, +Edgeworth, Trollope; Mrs. Opie is determined to collect twenty pounds at +least, although she justly says she wishes it were for anything but to +pay the Doctor's debts. + +In 1844 it is delightful to read of a little ease at last in this +harassed life; of a school-feast with buns and flags organised by the +kind lady, the children riding in waggons decked with laurel, Miss +Mitford leading the way, followed by eight or ten neighbouring +carriages, and the whole party waiting in Swallowfield Lane to see +the Queen and Prince Albert returning from their visit to the Duke of +Wellington. 'Our Duke went to no great expense,' says Miss Mitford. (Dr. +Mitford would have certainly disapproved had he been still alive.) One +strip of carpet the Duke did buy, the rest of the furniture he hired +in Reading for the week. The ringers, after being hard at work for four +hours, sent a can to the house to ask for some beer, and the can was +sent back empty. + +It was towards the end of her life that Miss Mitford left Three Mile +Cross and came to Swallowfield to stay altogether. 'The poor cottage was +tumbling around us, and if we had stayed much longer we should have +been buried in the ruins,' she says; 'there I had toiled and striven and +tasted as bitterly of bitter anxiety, of fear and hope, as often falls +to the lot of women.' Then comes a charming description of the three +miles of straight and dusty road. 'I walked from one cottage to the +other on an autumn evening when the vagrant birds, whose habit of +assembling there for their annual departure, gives, I suppose, its +name of Swallowfield to the village, were circling over my head, and +I repeated to myself the pathetic lines of Hayley as he saw those same +birds gathering upon his roof during his last illness:-- + + '"Ye gentle birds, that perch aloof, + And smooth your pinions on my roof... + + '"Prepare for your departure hence + Ere winter's angry threats commence; + Like you my soul would smooth her plume + For longer flights beyond the tomb. + + '"May God by whom is seen and heard + Departing men and wandering bird, + In mercy mark us for His own + And guide us to the land unknown!"' + +Thoughts soothing and tender came with those touching lines, and gayer +images followed.... + +It is from Swallowfield that she writes: 'I have fell this blessing of +being able to respond to new friendships very strongly lately, for I +have lost many old and valued connections during this trying spring. I +thank God far more earnestly for such blessings than for my daily bread, +for friendship is the bread of the heart.' + +It was late in life to make such warm new ties as those which followed +her removal from Three Mile Cross; but some of the most cordial +friendships of her life date from this time. Mr. James Payn and Mr. +Fields she loved with some real motherly feeling, and Lady Russell who +lived at the Hall became her tender and devoted friend. + + +VI. + +We went down to Reading the other day, as so many of Miss Mitford's +friends have done before, to look at 'our village' with our own eyes, +and at the cottage in which she lived for so long. A phaeton with a +fast-stepping horse met us at the station and whirled us through the +busy town and along the straight dusty road beyond it. As we drove along +in the soft clouded sunshine I looked over the hedges on either side, +and I could see fields and hedgerows and red roofs clustering here +and there, while the low background of blue hills spread towards the +horizon. It was an unpretentious homely prospect intercepted each minute +by the detestable advertisement hoardings recommending this or that +rival pill. 'Tongues in trees' indeed, in a very different sense from +the exiled duke's experience! Then we come within sight of the running +brook, uncontaminated as yet; the river flowing cool and swift, without +quack medicines stamped upon its waters: we reach Whitley presently, +with its pretty gabled hostel (Mrs. Mitford used to drive to Whitley and +back for her airing), the dust rises on the fresh keen wind, the scent +of the ripe corn is in the air, the cows stoop under the elm trees, +looking exactly as they do in Mr. Thomson's pretty pictures, dappled +and brown, with delicate legs and horns. We pass very few people, a baby +lugged along in its cart, and accompanied by its brothers and sisters; +a fox-terrier comes barking at our wheels; at last the phaeton stops +abruptly between two or three roadside houses, and the coachman, +pointing with his whip, says, 'That is "The Mitford," ma'am.--That's +where Miss Mitford used to live!' + +Was that all? I saw two or three commonplace houses skirting the dusty +road, I saw a comfortable public-house with an elm tree, and beside it +another grey unpretentious little house, with a slate roof and square +walls, and an inscription, 'The Mitford,' painted over the doorway.... + +I had been expecting I knew not what; a spire, a pump, a green, a +winding street: my preconceived village in the air had immediately to be +swept into space, and in its stead, behold the inn with its sign-post, +and these half-dozen brick tenements, more or less cut to one square +pattern! So this was all! this was 'our village' of which the author +had written so charmingly! These were the sights the kind eyes had dwelt +upon, seeing in them all, the soul of hidden things, rather than dull +bricks and slates. Except for one memory, Three Mile Cross would seem to +be one of the dullest and most uninteresting of country places.... + +But we have Miss Mitford's own description. 'The Cross is not a borough, +thank Heaven, either rotten or independent. The inhabitants are quiet, +peaceable people who would not think of visiting us, even if we had a +knocker to knock at. Our residence is a cottage' (she is writing to +her correspondent, Sir William Elford), 'no, not a cottage, it does not +deserve the name--a messuage or tenement such as a little farmer who had +made 1400 pounds might retire to when he left off business to live on +his means. It consists of a series of closets, the largest of which may +be about eight feet square, which they call parlours and kitchens +and pantries, some of them minus a corner, which has been unnaturally +filched for a chimney, others deficient in half a side, which has been +truncated by a shelving roof. Behind is a garden about the size of a +good drawing-room, with an arbour, which is a complete sentry-box of +privet. On one side a public-house, on the other a village shop, and +right opposite a cobbler's stall. Notwithstanding all this "the cabin," +as Boabdil says, "is convenient." It is within reach of my dear old +walks, the banks where I find my violets, the meadows full of cowslips, +and the woods where the woodsorrel blows.... Papa has already had the +satisfaction of setting the neighbourhood to rights and committing a +disorderly person who was the pest of "The Cross" to Bridewell.... +Mamma has furbished up an old dairy; I have lost my only key and stuffed +the garden with flowers....' So writes the contented young woman. + +How much more delightful is all this than any commonplace stagey effect +of lattice and gable; and with what pleasant unconscious art the writer +of this letter describes what is NOT there and brings in her banks of +violets to perfume the dull rooms. The postscript to this letter is Miss +Mitford all over. 'Pray excuse my blots and interlineations. They have +been caused by my attention being distracted by a nightingale in full +song who is pouring a world of music through my window.' + +'Do you not like to meet with good company in your friends' hearts?' +Miss Mitford says somewhere,--to no one better than to herself does this +apply. Her heart was full of gracious things, and the best of company +was ever hers, 'La fleur de la hotte,' as Madame de Sevigne says. + +We walked into the small square hall where Dr. Mitford's bed was +established after his illness, whilst visitors and all the rest of the +household came and went through the kitchen door. In the parlour, +once kept for his private use, now sat a party of homely friends from +Reading, resting and drinking tea: we too were served with smoking cups, +and poured our libation to her who once presided in the quiet place; and +then the landlady took us round and about, showed us the kitchen with +its comfortable corners and low window-frames--'I suppose this is +scarcely changed at all?' said one of us. + +'Oh yes, ma'am,' says the housekeeper--'WE uses a Kitchener, Miss +Mitford always kept an open range.' + +The garden, with its sentry-box of privet, exists no longer; an iron +mission-room stands in its place, with the harmonium, the rows of straw +chairs, the table and the candlesticks de circonstance. Miss Mitford's +picture hangs on the wall, a hand-coloured copy of one of her portraits. +The kindly homely features smile from the oils, in good humour and +attentive intelligence. The sentiment of to-day is assuredly to be found +in the spirit of things rather than in their outward signs.... Any one +of us can feel the romance of a wayside shrine put up to the memory of +some mediaeval well-dressed saint with a nimbus at the back of her +head, and a trailing cloak and veil.... Here, after all, is the same +sentiment, only translated into nineteenth-century language; uses +corrogated iron sheds, and cups of tea, and oakum matting. 'Mr. Palmer, +he bought the place,' says the landlady, 'he made it into a Temperance +Hotel, and built the Temperance Hall in the garden.'.... + +No romantic marble shrine, but a square meeting-house of good intent, +a tribute not less sincere because it is square, than if it were drawn +into Gothic arch and curve. It speaks, not of a holy and mythical saint, +but of a good and warm-hearted woman; of a life-long penance borne with +charity and cheerfulness; of sweet fancies and blessings which have +given innocent pleasure to many generations! + + +VII. + +There is a note, written in a close and pretty writing, something +between Sir Walter Scott's and Mrs. Browning's, which the present +writer has possessed for years, fastened in a book among other early +treasures:-- + +Thank you, dearest Miss Priscilla, for your great kindness. I return the +ninth volume of [illegible], with the four succeeding ones, all that I +have; probably all that are yet published. You shall have the rest when +I get them. Tell dear Mr. George (I must not call him Vert-Vert) that I +have recollected the name of the author of the clever novel 'Le Rouge et +le Noir' (that is the right title of the book, which has nothing to do +with the name); the author's name is Stendhal, or so he calls himself. I +think that he was either a musician or a musical critic, and that he is +dead.... My visitor has not yet arrived (6 o'clock, p.m.), frightened +no doubt by the abruptness of the two notes which I wrote in reply to +hers yesterday morning; and indeed nobody could fancy the hurry in which +one is forced to write by this walking post.... + +Tell my visitors of yesterday with my kind love that they did me all the +good in the world, as indeed everybody of your house does. + +--Ever, dear Miss Priscilla, very affectionately yours, + +M. R. MITFORD. + +In the present writer's own early days, when the now owner of +Swallowfield was a very young, younger son, she used to hear him and his +sister, Mrs. Brackenbury (the Miss Priscilla of the note), speaking with +affectionate remembrance of the old friend lately gone, who had dwelt at +their very gates; through which friendly gates one is glad, indeed, to +realise what delightful companionship and loving help came to cheer the +end of that long and toilsome life; and when Messrs. Macmillan suggested +this preface the writer looked for her old autograph-book, and at its +suggestion wrote (wondering whether any links existed still) to ask for +information concerning Miss Mitford, and so it happened that she found +herself also kindly entertained at Swallowfield, and invited to visit +the scenes of which the author of 'Our Village' had written with so much +delight. + +I think I should like to reverse the old proverb about letting those who +run read, my own particular fancy being for reading first and running +afterwards. There are few greater pleasures than to meet with an +Individuality, to listen to it speaking from a printed page, recounting, +suggesting, growing upon you every hour, gaining in life and presence, +and then, while still under its influence, to find oneself suddenly +transported into the very scene of that life, to stand among its +familiar impressions and experiences, realising another distinct +existence by some odd metempsychosis, and what may--or rather, what +MUST have been. It is existing a book rather than reading it when this +happens to one. + +The house in Swallowfield Park is an old English country home, a +fastness still piled up against time; whose stately walls and halls +within, and beautiful century-old trees in the park without, record +great times and striking figures. The manor was a part of the dowry +of Henry the VIII.'s luckless queens. The modern house was built by +Clarendon, and the old church among the elms dates from 1200, with +carved signs and symbols and brasses of knights and burgesses, and names +of strange sound and bygone fashion. + +Lady Russell, who had sent the phaeton with the fast-stepping horse to +meet us, was walking in the park as we drove up, and instead of taking +us back to the house, she first led the way across the grass and by the +stream to the old church, standing in its trim sweet garden, where Death +itself seems smiling and fearless; where kind Mary Mitford's warm heart +rests quiet, and 'her busy hand,' as she says herself, 'is lying in +peace there, where the sun glances through the great elm trees in the +beautiful churchyard of Swallowfield.' + +The last baronet, Sir Charles, who fought in the Crimea, and who +succeeded his father, Sir Henry, moved the dividing rail so that his old +friend should be well within the shadow of these elm trees. Lady Russell +showed us the tranquil green place, and told us its story, and how the +old church had once been doomed to destruction when Kingsley came over +by chance, and pleaded that it should be spared; and how, when rubbish +and outward signs of decay had been cleared away, the restorers were +rewarded for their piety, by coming upon noble beams of oak, +untouched by time, upon some fine old buried monuments and brasses and +inscriptions, among which the people still say their prayers in the +shrine where their fathers knelt, and of which the tradition is not yet +swept away. The present Lady of the Manor, who loves old traditions, has +done her part to preserve the records for her children. + +So Miss Mitford walked from Three Mile Cross to Swallowfield to end her +days, with these kind friends to cheer and to comfort her. Sir Henry +Russell was alive when she first established herself, but he was +already suffering from some sudden seizure, which she, with her usual +impetuosity, describes in her letters as a chronic state of things. +After his death, his widow, the Lady Russell of those days, was her +kindest friend and comforter. + +The little Swallowfield cottage at the meeting of the three roads, to +which Mary Mitford came when she left Three Mile Cross, has thrown out +a room or two, as cottages do, but otherwise I think it can be little +changed. It was here Miss Mitford was visited by so many interesting +people, here she used to sit writing at her big table under the 'tassels +of her acacia tree.' When the present Lady of the Manor brought us to +the gate, the acacia flowers were over, but a balmy breath of summer +was everywhere; a beautiful rose was hanging upon the wall beneath the +window (it must have taken many years to grow to such a height), and +beyond the palings of the garden spread the fields, ripening in the +late July, and turning to gold. The farmer and his son were at work with +their scythes; the birds were still flying, the sweet scents were in the +air. + +From a lady who had known her, 'my own Miss Anne' of the letters, we +heard something more that day of the author of 'Our Village'; of her +charming intellect, her gift of talk, her impulsiveness, her essential +sociability, and rapid grace of mind. She had the faults of her +qualities; she jumped too easily to conclusions; she was too much +under the influence of those with whom she lived. She was born to be a +victim,--even after her old tyrant father's death, she was more or less +over-ridden by her servants. Neighbours looked somewhat doubtfully on +K. and Ben, but they were good to her, on the whole, and tended her +carefully. Miss Russell said that when she and her brother took refuge +in the cottage, one morning from a storm, while they dried themselves +by the fire, they saw the careful meal carried up to the old lady, the +kidneys, the custard, for her dejeuner a la fourchette. + +When Miss Mitford died, she left everything she had to her beloved +K. and to Ben, except that she said she wished that one book from her +well-stocked library should be given to each of her friends. The old +Doctor, with all his faults, had loved books, and bought handsome and +valuable first editions of good authors. K. and Ben also seem to have +loved books and first editions. To the Russells, who had nursed Miss +Mitford, comforted her, by whose gates she dwelt, in whose arms she +died, Ben brought, as a token of remembrance, an old shilling volume +of one of G. P. R. James's novels, which was all he could bear to part +with. A prettier incident was told me by Miss Russell, who once went to +visit Miss Mitford's grave. She found a young man standing there whom +she did not know. 'Don't you know me?' said he; 'I am Henry, ma'am. I +have just come back from Australia.' He was one of the children of the +couple who had lived in the cottage, and his first visit on his return +from abroad had been to the tomb of his old protectress. + +I also heard a friend who knew Miss Mitford in her latest days, describe +going to see her within a very few months of her death; she was still +bright and responding as ever, though very ill. The young visitor had +herself been laid up and absent from the invalid's bedside for some +time. They talked over many things,--an authoress among the rest, +concerning whose power of writing a book Miss Mitford seems to have been +very doubtful. After her visitor was gone, the sick woman wrote one of +her delicate pretty little notes and despatched it with its tiny seal +(there it is still unbroken, with its M. R. M. just as she stamped it), +and this is the little letter:-- + +Thank you, dearest Miss... for once again showing me your fair face by +the side of the dear, dear friend [Lady Russell] for whose goodness +I have neither thanks nor words. To the end of my life I shall go on +sinning and repenting. Heartily sorry have I been ever since you went +away to have spoken so unkindly to Mrs.... Heaven forgive me for it, +and send her a happier conclusion to her life than the beginning might +warrant. If you have an idle lover, my dear, present over to him my +sermon, for those were words of worth. + +God bless you all! Ever, most faithfully and affectionately yours, + +M. R. MITFORD. + +Sunday Evening. + + +VIII. + +When one turns from Miss Mitford's works to the notices in the +biographical dictionary (in which Miss Mitford and Mithridates occupy +the same page), one finds how firmly her reputation is established. +'Dame auteur,' says my faithful mentor, the Biographic Generale, +'consideree comme le peintre le plus fidele de la vie rurale en +Angleterre.' 'Author of a remarkable tragedy, "Julian," in which +Macready played a principal part, followed by "Foscari," "Rienzi," and +others,' says the English Biographical Dictionary. + +'I am charmed with my new cottage,' she writes soon after her last +installation; 'the neighbours are most kind.' Kingsley was one of +the first to call upon her. 'He took me quite by surprise in his +extraordinary fascination,' says the old lady. + +Mr. Fields, the American publisher, also went to see Miss Mitford at +Swallowfield, and immediately became a very great ally of hers. It was +to him that she gave her own portrait, by Lucas. Mr. Fields has left an +interesting account of her in his 'Yesterdays with Authors'--'Her dogs +and her geraniums,' he says, 'were her great glories! She used to write +me long letters about Fanchon, a dog whose personal acquaintance I had +made some time before, while on a visit to her cottage. Every virtue +under heaven she attributed to that canine individual; and I was obliged +to allow in my return letters that since our planet began to spin, +nothing comparable to Fanchon had ever run on four legs. I had +also known Flush, the ancestor of Fanchon, intimately, and had been +accustomed to hear wonderful things of that dog, but Fanchon had graces +and genius unique. Miss Mitford would have joined with Hamerton, when he +says, 'I humbly thank Divine Providence for having invented dogs, and I +regard that man with wondering pity who can lead a dogless life.' + +Another of Miss Mitford's great friends was John Ruskin,* and one can +well imagine how much they must have had in common. Of Miss Mitford's +writings Ruskin says, 'They have the playfulness and purity of the +"Vicar of Wakefield" without the naughtiness of its occasional wit, or +the dust of the world's great road on the other side of the hedge.... ' + +*It is Mr. Harness who says, writing of Ruskin and Miss Mitford, 'His +kindness cheered her closing days. He sent her every book that would +interest, every delicacy that would strengthen her.' + +Neither the dust nor the ethics of the world of men quite belonged to +Miss Mitford's genius. It is always a sort of relief to turn from her +criticism of people, her praise of Louis Napoleon, her facts about Mr. +Dickens, whom she describes as a dull companion, or about my father, +whom she looked upon as an utter heartless worldling, to the natural +spontaneous sweet flow of nature in which she lived and moved +instinctively. + +Mr. James Payn gives, perhaps, the most charming of all the descriptions +of the author of 'Our Village.' He has many letters from her to quote +from. 'The paper is all odds and ends,' he says, 'and not a scrap of +it but is covered and crossed. The very flaps of the envelopes and the +outsides of them have their message.' + +Mr. Payn went to see her at Swallowfield, and describes the small +apartment lined with books from floor to ceiling and fragrant with +flowers. 'Its tenant rose from her arm-chair with difficulty, but with a +sunny smile and a charming manner bade me welcome. My father had been +an old friend of hers, and she spoke of my home and belongings as only a +woman can speak of such things, then we plunged into medea res, into men +and books. She seemed to me to have known everybody worth knowing from +the Duke of Wellington to the last new verse-maker. And she talked like +an angel, but her views upon poetry as a calling in life, shocked me +not a little. She said she preferred a mariage de convenance to a love +match, because it generally turned out better. "This surprises you," she +said, smiling, "but then I suppose I am the least romantic person that +ever wrote plays." She was much more proud of her plays, even then +well-nigh forgotten, than of the works by which she was well known, +and which at that time brought people from the ends of the earth to see +her.... + +'Nothing ever destroyed her faith in those she loved. If I had not known +all about him from my own folk I should have thought her father had been +a patriot and a martyr. She spoke of him as if there had never been such +a father--which in a sense was true.' + +Mr. Payn quotes Miss Mitford's charming description of K., 'for whom +she had the highest admiration.' 'K. is a great curiosity, by far the +cleverest woman in these parts, not in a literary way [this was not to +disappoint me], but in everything that is useful. She could make a Court +dress for a duchess or cook a dinner for a Lord Mayor, but her principal +talent is shown in managing everybody whom she comes near. Especially +her husband and myself; she keeps the money of both and never allows +either of us to spend sixpence without her knowledge.... You should see +the manner in which she makes Ben reckon with her, and her contempt for +all women who do not manage their husbands.' + +Another delightful quotation is from one of Charles Kingsley's letters +to Mr. Payn. It brings the past before us from another point of view. + +'I can never forget the little figure rolled up in two chairs in the +little Swallowfield room, packed round with books up to the ceiling--the +little figure with clothes on of no recognised or recognisable pattern; +and somewhere, out of the upper end of the heap, gleaming under a great +deep globular brow, two such eyes as I never perhaps saw in any other +Englishwoman--though I believe she must have had French blood in her +veins to breed such eyes and such a tongue, the beautiful speech which +came out of that ugly (it was that) face, and the glitter and depth too +of the eyes, like live coals--perfectly honest the while....' One would +like to go on quoting and copying, but here my preface must cease, for +it is but a preface after all, one of those many prefaces written out of +the past and when everything is over. + + + + +COUNTRY PICTURES. + +Of all situations for a constant residence, that which appears to +me most delightful is a little village far in the country; a small +neighbourhood, not of fine mansions finely peopled, but of cottages and +cottage-like houses, 'messuages or tenements,' as a friend of mine calls +such ignoble and nondescript dwellings, with inhabitants whose faces are +as familiar to us as the flowers in our garden; a little world of our +own, close-packed and insulated like ants in an ant-hill, or bees in a +hive, or sheep in a fold, or nuns in a convent, or sailors in a ship; +where we know every one, are known to every one, interested in every +one, and authorised to hope that every one feels an interest in us. How +pleasant it is to slide into these true-hearted feelings from the kindly +and unconscious influence of habit, and to learn to know and to love the +people about us, with all their peculiarities, just as we learn to know +and to love the nooks and turns of the shady lanes and sunny commons +that we pass every day. Even in books I like a confined locality, and so +do the critics when they talk of the unities. Nothing is so tiresome as +to be whirled half over Europe at the chariot-wheels of a hero, to go +to sleep at Vienna, and awaken at Madrid; it produces a real fatigue, a +weariness of spirit. On the other hand, nothing is so delightful as to +sit down in a country village in one of Miss Austen's delicious novels, +quite sure before we leave it to become intimate with every spot and +every person it contains; or to ramble with Mr. White* over his own +parish of Selborne, and form a friendship with the fields and coppices, +as well as with the birds, mice, and squirrels, who inhabit them; or to +sail with Robinson Crusoe to his island, and live there with him and his +goats and his man Friday;--how much we dread any new comers, any fresh +importation of savage or sailor! we never sympathise for a moment in our +hero's want of company, and are quite grieved when he gets away;--or to +be shipwrecked with Ferdinand on that other lovelier island--the island +of Prospero, and Miranda, and Caliban, and Ariel, and nobody else, +none of Dryden's exotic inventions:--that is best of all. And a small +neighbourhood is as good in sober waking reality as in poetry or prose; +a village neighbourhood, such as this Berkshire hamlet in which I write, +a long, straggling, winding street at the bottom of a fine eminence, +with a road through it, always abounding in carts, horsemen, and +carriages, and lately enlivened by a stage-coach from B---- to S----, +which passed through about ten days ago, and will I suppose return some +time or other. There are coaches of all varieties nowadays; perhaps this +may be intended for a monthly diligence, or a fortnight fly. Will you +walk with me through our village, courteous reader? The journey is not +long. We will begin at the lower end, and proceed up the hill. + +*White's 'Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne;' one of the most +fascinating books ever written. I wonder that no naturalist has adopted +the same plan. + +The tidy, square, red cottage on the right hand, with the long +well-stocked garden by the side of the road, belongs to a retired +publican from a neighbouring town; a substantial person with a comely +wife; one who piques himself on independence and idleness, talks +politics, reads newspapers, hates the minister, and cries out for +reform. He introduced into our peaceful vicinage the rebellious +innovation of an illumination on the Queen's acquittal. Remonstrance and +persuasion were in vain; he talked of liberty and broken windows--so we +all lighted up. Oh! how he shone that night with candles, and laurel, +and white bows, and gold paper, and a transparency (originally designed +for a pocket-handkerchief) with a flaming portrait of her Majesty, +hatted and feathered, in red ochre. He had no rival in the village, that +we all acknowledged; the very bonfire was less splendid; the little boys +reserved their best crackers to be expended in his honour, and he gave +them full sixpence more than any one else. He would like an illumination +once a month; for it must not be concealed that, in spite of gardening, +of newspaper reading, of jaunting about in his little cart, and +frequenting both church and meeting, our worthy neighbour begins to feel +the weariness of idleness. He hangs over his gate, and tries to entice +passengers to stop and chat; he volunteers little jobs all round, +smokes cherry trees to cure the blight, and traces and blows up all the +wasps'-nests in the parish. I have seen a great many wasps in our garden +to-day, and shall enchant him with the intelligence. He even assists his +wife in her sweepings and dustings. Poor man! he is a very respectable +person, and would be a very happy one, if he would add a little +employment to his dignity. It would be the salt of life to him. + +Next to his house, though parted from it by another long garden with a +yew arbour at the end, is the pretty dwelling of the shoemaker, a pale, +sickly-looking, black-haired man, the very model of sober industry. +There he sits in his little shop from early morning till late at night. +An earthquake would hardly stir him: the illumination did not. He stuck +immovably to his last, from the first lighting up, through the long +blaze and the slow decay, till his large solitary candle was the only +light in the place. One cannot conceive anything more perfect than the +contempt which the man of transparencies and the man of shoes must have +felt for each other on that evening. There was at least as much vanity +in the sturdy industry as in the strenuous idleness, for our shoemaker +is a man of substance; he employs three journeymen, two lame, and one +a dwarf, so that his shop looks like an hospital; he has purchased the +lease of his commodious dwelling, some even say that he has bought it +out and out; and he has only one pretty daughter, a light, delicate, +fair-haired girl of fourteen, the champion, protectress, and playfellow +of every brat under three years old, whom she jumps, dances, dandles, +and feeds all day long. A very attractive person is that child-loving +girl. I have never seen any one in her station who possessed so +thoroughly that undefinable charm, the lady-look. See her on a Sunday +in her simplicity and her white frock, and she might pass for an earl's +daughter. She likes flowers too, and has a profusion of white stocks +under her window, as pure and delicate as herself. + +The first house on the opposite side of the way is the blacksmith's; +a gloomy dwelling, where the sun never seems to shine; dark and smoky +within and without, like a forge. The blacksmith is a high officer in +our little state, nothing less than a constable; but, alas! alas! when +tumults arise, and the constable is called for, he will commonly be +found in the thickest of the fray. Lucky would it be for his wife +and her eight children if there were no public-house in the land: +an inveterate inclination to enter those bewitching doors is Mr. +Constable's only fault. + +Next to this official dwelling is a spruce brick tenement, red, high, +and narrow, boasting, one above another, three sash-windows, the only +sash-windows in the village, with a clematis on one side and a rose on +the other, tall and narrow like itself. That slender mansion has a fine, +genteel look. The little parlour seems made for Hogarth's old maid and +her stunted footboy; for tea and card parties,--it would just hold one +table; for the rustle of faded silks, and the splendour of old china; +for the delight of four by honours, and a little snug, quiet scandal +between the deals; for affected gentility and real starvation. This +should have been its destiny; but fate has been unpropitious: it belongs +to a plump, merry, bustling dame, with four fat, rosy, noisy children, +the very essence of vulgarity and plenty. + +Then comes the village shop, like other village shops, multifarious as +a bazaar; a repository for bread, shoes, tea, cheese, tape, ribands, and +bacon; for everything, in short, except the one particular thing which +you happen to want at the moment, and will be sure not to find. The +people are civil and thriving, and frugal withal; they have let the +upper part of their house to two young women (one of them is a pretty +blue-eyed girl) who teach little children their A B C, and make caps and +gowns for their mammas,--parcel schoolmistress, parcel mantua-maker. +I believe they find adorning the body a more profitable vocation than +adorning the mind. + +Divided from the shop by a narrow yard, and opposite the shoemaker's, +is a habitation of whose inmates I shall say nothing. A cottage--no--a +miniature house, with many additions, little odds and ends of places, +pantries, and what not; all angles, and of a charming in-and-outness; +a little bricked court before one half, and a little flower-yard before +the other; the walls, old and weather-stained, covered with hollyhocks, +roses, honeysuckles, and a great apricot-tree; the casements full of +geraniums (ah! there is our superb white cat peeping out from among +them); the closets (our landlord has the assurance to call them rooms) +full of contrivances and corner-cupboards; and the little garden behind +full of common flowers, tulips, pinks, larkspurs, peonies, stocks, and +carnations, with an arbour of privet, not unlike a sentry-box, where one +lives in a delicious green light, and looks out on the gayest of all +gay flower-beds. That house was built on purpose to show in what an +exceeding small compass comfort may be packed. Well, I will loiter there +no longer. + +The next tenement is a place of importance, the Rose Inn: a white-washed +building, retired from the road behind its fine swinging sign, with a +little bow-window room coming out on one side, and forming, with our +stable on the other, a sort of open square, which is the constant resort +of carts, waggons, and return chaises. There are two carts there now, +and mine host is serving them with beer in his eternal red waistcoat. He +is a thriving man and a portly, as his waistcoat attests, which has been +twice let out within this twelvemonth. Our landlord has a stirring wife, +a hopeful son, and a daughter, the belle of the village; not so pretty +as the fair nymph of the shoe-shop, and far less elegant, but ten times +as fine; all curl-papers in the morning, like a porcupine, all curls in +the afternoon, like a poodle, with more flounces than curl-papers, and +more lovers than curls. Miss Phoebe is fitter for town than country; and +to do her justice, she has a consciousness of that fitness, and turns +her steps townward as often as she can. She is gone to B---- to-day with +her last and principal lover, a recruiting sergeant--a man as tall as +Sergeant Kite, and as impudent. Some day or other he will carry off Miss +Phoebe. + +In a line with the bow-window room is a low garden-wall, belonging to a +house under repair:--the white house opposite the collar-maker's shop, +with four lime-trees before it, and a waggon-load of bricks at the door. +That house is the plaything of a wealthy, well-meaning, whimsical person +who lives about a mile off. He has a passion for brick and mortar, and, +being too wise to meddle with his own residence, diverts himself with +altering and re-altering, improving and re-improving, doing and undoing +here. It is a perfect Penelope's web. Carpenters and bricklayers have +been at work for these eighteen months, and yet I sometimes stand and +wonder whether anything has really been done. One exploit in last June +was, however, by no means equivocal. Our good neighbour fancied that the +limes shaded the rooms, and made them dark (there was not a creature in +the house but the workmen), so he had all the leaves stripped from every +tree. There they stood, poor miserable skeletons, as bare as Christmas +under the glowing midsummer sun. Nature revenged herself, in her own +sweet and gracious manner; fresh leaves sprang out, and at nearly +Christmas the foliage was as brilliant as when the outrage was +committed. + +Next door lives a carpenter, 'famed ten miles round, and worthy all his +fame,'--few cabinet-makers surpass him, with his excellent wife, and +their little daughter Lizzy, the plaything and queen of the village, +a child three years old according to the register, but six in size and +strength and intellect, in power and in self-will. She manages everybody +in the place, her schoolmistress included; turns the wheeler's children +out of their own little cart, and makes them draw her; seduces cakes +and lollypops from the very shop window; makes the lazy carry her, the +silent talk to her, the grave romp with her; does anything she pleases; +is absolutely irresistible. Her chief attraction lies in her exceeding +power of loving, and her firm reliance on the love and indulgence of +others. How impossible it would be to disappoint the dear little girl +when she runs to meet you, slides her pretty hand into yours, looks up +gladly in your face, and says 'Come!' You must go: you cannot help it. +Another part of her charm is her singular beauty. Together with a good +deal of the character of Napoleon, she has something of his square, +sturdy, upright form, with the finest limbs in the world, a complexion +purely English, a round laughing face, sunburnt and rosy, large merry +blue eyes, curling brown hair, and a wonderful play of countenance. She +has the imperial attitudes too, and loves to stand with her hands behind +her, or folded over her bosom; and sometimes, when she has a little +touch of shyness, she clasps them together on the top of her head, +pressing down her shining curls, and looking so exquisitely pretty! Yes, +Lizzy is queen of the village! She has but one rival in her dominions, a +certain white greyhound called Mayflower, much her friend, who resembles +her in beauty and strength, in playfulness, and almost in sagacity, and +reigns over the animal world as she over the human. They are both coming +with me, Lizzy and Lizzy's 'pretty May.' We are now at the end of the +street; a cross-lane, a rope-walk shaded with limes and oaks, and a cool +clear pond overhung with elms, lead us to the bottom of the hill. There +is still one house round the corner, ending in a picturesque wheeler's +shop. The dwelling-house is more ambitious. Look at the fine flowered +window-blinds, the green door with the brass knocker, and the somewhat +prim but very civil person, who is sending off a labouring man with sirs +and curtsies enough for a prince of the blood. Those are the curate's +lodgings--apartments his landlady would call them; he lives with his +own family four miles off, but once or twice a week he comes to his neat +little parlour to write sermons, to marry, or to bury, as the case may +require. Never were better or kinder people than his host and hostess; +and there is a reflection of clerical importance about them since +their connection with the Church, which is quite edifying--a decorum, +a gravity, a solemn politeness. Oh, to see the worthy wheeler carry the +gown after his lodger on a Sunday, nicely pinned up in his wife's best +handkerchief!--or to hear him rebuke a squalling child or a squabbling +woman! The curate is nothing to him. He is fit to be perpetual +churchwarden. + +We must now cross the lane into the shady rope-walk. That pretty white +cottage opposite, which stands straggling at the end of the village in +a garden full of flowers, belongs to our mason, the shortest of men, +and his handsome, tall wife: he, a dwarf, with the voice of a giant; one +starts when he begins to talk as if he were shouting through a speaking +trumpet; she, the sister, daughter, and grand-daughter, of a long line +of gardeners, and no contemptible one herself. It is very magnanimous in +me not to hate her; for she beats me in my own way, in chrysanthemums, +and dahlias, and the like gauds. Her plants are sure to live; mine have +a sad trick of dying, perhaps because I love them, 'not wisely, but too +well,' and kill them with over-kindness. Half-way up the hill is another +detached cottage, the residence of an officer, and his beautiful family. +That eldest boy, who is hanging over the gate, and looking with such +intense childish admiration at my Lizzy, might be a model for a Cupid. + +How pleasantly the road winds up the hill, with its broad green borders +and hedgerows so thickly timbered! How finely the evening sun falls on +that sandy excavated bank, and touches the farmhouse on the top of the +eminence! and how clearly defined and relieved is the figure of the +man who is just coming down! It is poor John Evans, the gardener--an +excellent gardener till about ten years ago, when he lost his wife, and +became insane. He was sent to St. Luke's, and dismissed as cured; but +his power was gone and his strength; he could no longer manage a garden, +nor submit to the restraint, nor encounter the fatigue of regular +employment: so he retreated to the workhouse, the pensioner and factotum +of the village, amongst whom he divides his services. His mind often +wanders, intent on some fantastic and impracticable plan, and lost to +present objects; but he is perfectly harmless, and full of a childlike +simplicity, a smiling contentedness, a most touching gratitude. Every +one is kind to John Evans, for there is that about him which must be +loved; and his unprotectedness, his utter defencelessness, have an +irresistible claim on every better feeling. I know nobody who inspires +so deep and tender a pity; he improves all around him. He is useful, +too, to the extent of his little power; will do anything, but loves +gardening best, and still piques himself on his old arts of pruning +fruit-trees, and raising cucumbers. He is the happiest of men just now, +for he has the management of a melon bed--a melon bed!--fie! What a +grand pompous name was that for three melon plants under a hand-light! +John Evans is sure that they will succeed. We shall see: as the +chancellor said, 'I doubt.' + +We are now on the very brow of the eminence, close to the Hill-house and +its beautiful garden. On the outer edge of the paling, hanging over +the bank that skirts the road, is an old thorn--such a thorn! The +long sprays covered with snowy blossoms, so graceful, so elegant, so +lightsome, and yet so rich! There only wants a pool under the thorn to +give a still lovelier reflection, quivering and trembling, like a tuft +of feathers, whiter and greener than the life, and more prettily mixed +with the bright blue sky. There should indeed be a pool; but on the dark +grass-plat, under the high bank, which is crowned by that magnificent +plume, there is something that does almost as well,--Lizzy and Mayflower +in the midst of a game at romps, 'making a sunshine in the shady place;' +Lizzy rolling, laughing, clapping her hands, and glowing like a rose; +Mayflower playing about her like summer lightning, dazzling the eyes +with her sudden turns, her leaps, her bounds, her attacks, and her +escapes. She darts round the lovely little girl, with the same momentary +touch that the swallow skims over the water, and has exactly the same +power of flight, the same matchless ease and strength and grace. What a +pretty picture they would make; what a pretty foreground they do make to +the real landscape! The road winding down the hill with a slight bend, +like that in the High Street at Oxford; a waggon slowly ascending, and a +horseman passing it at a full trot--(ah! Lizzy, Mayflower will certainly +desert you to have a gambol with that blood-horse!) half-way down, just +at the turn, the red cottage of the lieutenant, covered with vines, the +very image of comfort and content; farther down, on the opposite side, +the small white dwelling of the little mason; then the limes and the +rope-walk; then the village street, peeping through the trees, whose +clustering tops hide all but the chimneys, and various roofs of the +houses, and here and there some angle of a wall; farther on, the elegant +town of B----, with its fine old church-towers and spires; the whole +view shut in by a range of chalky hills and over every part of the +picture, trees so profusely scattered, that it appears like a woodland +scene, with glades and villages intermixed. The trees are of all kinds +and all hues, chiefly the finely-shaped elm, of so bright and deep a +green, the tips of whose high outer branches drop down with such a crisp +and garland-like richness, and the oak, whose stately form is just +now so splendidly adorned by the sunny colouring of the young leaves. +Turning again up the hill, we find ourselves on that peculiar charm of +English scenery, a green common, divided by the road; the right side +fringed by hedgerows and trees, with cottages and farmhouses irregularly +placed, and terminated by a double avenue of noble oaks; the left, +prettier still, dappled by bright pools of water, and islands of +cottages and cottage-gardens, and sinking gradually down to cornfields +and meadows, and an old farmhouse, with pointed roofs and clustered +chimneys, looking out from its blooming orchard, and backed by woody +hills. The common is itself the prettiest part of the prospect; half +covered with low furze, whose golden blossoms reflect so intensely the +last beams of the setting sun, and alive with cows and sheep, and two +sets of cricketers; one of young men, surrounded by spectators, some +standing, some sitting, some stretched on the grass, all taking a +delighted interest in the game; the other, a merry group of little boys, +at a humble distance, for whom even cricket is scarcely lively enough, +shouting, leaping, and enjoying themselves to their hearts' content. But +cricketers and country boys are too important persons in our village +to be talked of merely as figures in the landscape. They deserve an +individual introduction--an essay to themselves--and they shall have it. +No fear of forgetting the good-humoured faces that meet us in our walks +every day. + + + + +WALKS IN THE COUNTRY. + +Frost. + +January 23rd.--At noon to-day I and my white greyhound, Mayflower, +set out for a walk into a very beautiful world,--a sort of silent +fairyland,--a creation of that matchless magician the hoar-frost. There +had been just snow enough to cover the earth and all its covers with one +sheet of pure and uniform white, and just time enough since the snow had +fallen to allow the hedges to be freed of their fleecy load, and clothed +with a delicate coating of rime. The atmosphere was deliciously calm; +soft, even mild, in spite of the thermometer; no perceptible air, but +a stillness that might almost be felt, the sky, rather gray than blue, +throwing out in bold relief the snow-covered roofs of our village, +and the rimy trees that rise above them, and the sun shining dimly as +through a veil, giving a pale fair light, like the moon, only brighter. +There was a silence, too, that might become the moon, as we stood at our +little gate looking up the quiet street; a Sabbath-like pause of work +and play, rare on a work-day; nothing was audible but the pleasant +hum of frost, that low monotonous sound, which is perhaps the nearest +approach that life and nature can make to absolute silence. The very +waggons as they come down the hill along the beaten track of crisp +yellowish frost-dust, glide along like shadows; even May's bounding +footsteps, at her height of glee and of speed, fall like snow upon snow. + +But we shall have noise enough presently: May has stopped at Lizzy's +door; and Lizzy, as she sat on the window-sill with her bright rosy +face laughing through the casement, has seen her and disappeared. She +is coming. No! The key is turning in the door, and sounds of evil omen +issue through the keyhole--sturdy 'let me outs,' and 'I will goes,' +mixed with shrill cries on May and on me from Lizzy, piercing through +a low continuous harangue, of which the prominent parts are apologies, +chilblains, sliding, broken bones, lollypops, rods, and gingerbread, +from Lizzy's careful mother. 'Don't scratch the door, May! Don't roar +so, my Lizzy! We'll call for you as we come back.' 'I'll go now! Let +me out! I will go!' are the last words of Miss Lizzy. Mem. Not to spoil +that child--if I can help it. But I do think her mother might have let +the poor little soul walk with us to-day. Nothing worse for children +than coddling. Nothing better for chilblains than exercise. Besides, I +don't believe she has any--and as to breaking her bones in sliding, I +don't suppose there's a slide on the common. These murmuring cogitations +have brought us up the hill, and half-way across the light and airy +common, with its bright expanse of snow and its clusters of cottages, +whose turf fires send such wreaths of smoke sailing up the air, and +diffuse such aromatic fragrance around. And now comes the delightful +sound of childish voices, ringing with glee and merriment almost from +beneath our feet. Ah, Lizzy, your mother was right! They are shouting +from that deep irregular pool, all glass now, where, on two long, +smooth, liny slides, half a dozen ragged urchins are slipping along in +tottering triumph. Half a dozen steps bring us to the bank right above +them. May can hardly resist the temptation of joining her friends, for +most of the varlets are of her acquaintance, especially the rogue who +leads the slide,--he with the brimless hat, whose bronzed complexion and +white flaxen hair, reversing the usual lights and shadows of the human +countenance, give so strange and foreign a look to his flat and comic +features. This hobgoblin, Jack Rapley by name, is May's great crony; and +she stands on the brink of the steep, irregular descent, her black eyes +fixed full upon him, as if she intended him the favour of jumping on his +head. She does: she is down, and upon him; but Jack Rapley is not easily +to be knocked off his feet. He saw her coming, and in the moment of +her leap sprung dexterously off the slide on the rough ice, steadying +himself by the shoulder of the next in the file, which unlucky follower, +thus unexpectedly checked in his career, fell plump backwards, knocking +down the rest of the line like a nest of card-houses. There is no harm +done; but there they lie, roaring, kicking, sprawling, in every attitude +of comic distress, whilst Jack Rapley and Mayflower, sole authors of +this calamity, stand apart from the throng, fondling, and coquetting, +and complimenting each other, and very visibly laughing, May in +her black eyes, Jack in his wide, close-shut mouth, and his whole +monkey-face, at their comrades' mischances. I think, Miss May, you may +as well come up again, and leave Master Rapley to fight your battles. +He'll get out of the scrape. He is a rustic wit--a sort of Robin +Goodfellow--the sauciest, idlest, cleverest, best-natured boy in the +parish; always foremost in mischief, and always ready to do a good turn. +The sages of our village predict sad things of Jack Rapley, so that I am +sometimes a little ashamed to confess, before wise people, that I have +a lurking predilection for him (in common with other naughty ones), and +that I like to hear him talk to May almost as well as she does. 'Come, +May!' and up she springs, as light as a bird. The road is gay now; carts +and post-chaises, and girls in red cloaks, and, afar off, looking almost +like a toy, the coach. It meets us fast and soon. How much happier the +walkers look than the riders--especially the frost-bitten gentleman, +and the shivering lady with the invisible face, sole passengers of that +commodious machine! Hooded, veiled, and bonneted, as she is, one sees +from her attitude how miserable she would look uncovered. + +Another pond, and another noise of children. More sliding? Oh no! This +is a sport of higher pretension. Our good neighbour, the lieutenant, +skating, and his own pretty little boys, and two or three other +four-year-old elves, standing on the brink in an ecstasy of joy and +wonder! Oh what happy spectators! And what a happy performer! They +admiring, he admired, with an ardour and sincerity never excited by all +the quadrilles and the spread-eagles of the Seine and the Serpentine. He +really skates well though, and I am glad I came this way; for, with all +the father's feelings sitting gaily at his heart, it must still gratify +the pride of skill to have one spectator at that solitary pond who has +seen skating before. + +Now we have reached the trees,--the beautiful trees! never so beautiful +as to-day. Imagine the effect of a straight and regular double avenue of +oaks, nearly a mile long, arching overhead, and closing into perspective +like the roof and columns of a cathedral, every tree and branch +incrusted with the bright and delicate congelation of hoar-frost, white +and pure as snow, delicate and defined as carved ivory. How beautiful it +is, how uniform, how various, how filling, how satiating to the eye and +to the mind--above all, how melancholy! There is a thrilling awfulness, +an intense feeling of simple power in that naked and colourless beauty, +which falls on the earth like the thoughts of death--death pure, and +glorious, and smiling,--but still death. Sculpture has always the same +effect on my imagination, and painting never. Colour is life.--We are +now at the end of this magnificent avenue, and at the top of a steep +eminence commanding a wide view over four counties--a landscape of snow. +A deep lane leads abruptly down the hill; a mere narrow cart-track, +sinking between high banks clothed with fern and furze and low broom, +crowned with luxuriant hedgerows, and famous for their summer smell +of thyme. How lovely these banks are now--the tall weeds and the gorse +fixed and stiffened in the hoar-frost, which fringes round the bright +prickly holly, the pendent foliage of the bramble, and the deep orange +leaves of the pollard oaks! Oh, this is rime in its loveliest form! And +there is still a berry here and there on the holly, 'blushing in its +natural coral' through the delicate tracery, still a stray hip or haw +for the birds, who abound here always. The poor birds, how tame they +are, how sadly tame! There is the beautiful and rare crested wren, 'that +shadow of a bird,' as White of Selborne calls it, perched in the middle +of the hedge, nestling as it were amongst the cold bare boughs, seeking, +poor pretty thing, for the warmth it will not find. And there, farther +on, just under the bank, by the slender runlet, which still trickles +between its transparent fantastic margin of thin ice, as if it were a +thing of life,--there, with a swift, scudding motion, flits, in short +low flights, the gorgeous kingfisher, its magnificent plumage of scarlet +and blue flashing in the sun, like the glories of some tropical bird. +He is come for water to this little spring by the hillside,--water which +even his long bill and slender head can hardly reach, so nearly do the +fantastic forms of those garland-like icy margins meet over the tiny +stream beneath. It is rarely that one sees the shy beauty so close or +so long; and it is pleasant to see him in the grace and beauty of his +natural liberty, the only way to look at a bird. We used, before we +lived in a street, to fix a little board outside the parlour window, and +cover it with bread crumbs in the hard weather. It was quite delightful +to see the pretty things come and feed, to conquer their shyness, and +do away their mistrust. First came the more social tribes, 'the robin +red-breast and the wren,' cautiously, suspiciously, picking up a crumb +on the wing, with the little keen bright eye fixed on the window; then +they would stop for two pecks; then stay till they were satisfied. The +shyer birds, tamed by their example, came next; and at last one saucy +fellow of a blackbird--a sad glutton, he would clear the board in two +minutes,--used to tap his yellow bill against the window for more. How +we loved the fearless confidence of that fine, frank-hearted creature! +And surely he loved us. I wonder the practice is not more general. 'May! +May! naughty May!' She has frightened away the kingfisher; and now, in +her coaxing penitence, she is covering me with snow. 'Come, pretty May! +it is time to go home.' + +Thaw. + +January 28th.--We have had rain, and snow, and frost, and rain again +four days of absolute confinement. Now it is a thaw and a flood; but +our light gravelly soil, and country boots, and country hardihood, will +carry us through. What a dripping, comfortless day it is! just like +the last days of November: no sun, no sky, gray or blue; one low, +overhanging, dark, dismal cloud, like London smoke; Mayflower is out +coursing too, and Lizzy gone to school. Never mind. Up the hill again! +Walk we must. Oh what a watery world to look back upon! Thames, Kennet, +Loddon--all overflowed; our famous town, inland once, turned into a +sort of Venice; C. park converted into an island; and the long range of +meadows from B. to W. one huge unnatural lake, with trees growing out +of it. Oh what a watery world!--I will look at it no longer. I will +walk on. The road is alive again. Noise is reborn. Waggons creak, horses +splash, carts rattle, and pattens paddle through the dirt with more than +their usual clink. The common has its old fine tints of green and brown, +and its old variety of inhabitants, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, and +donkeys. The ponds are unfrozen, except where some melancholy piece +of melting ice floats sullenly on the water; and cackling geese and +gabbling ducks have replaced the lieutenant and Jack Rapley. The avenue +is chill and dark, the hedges are dripping, the lanes knee-deep, and all +nature is in a state of 'dissolution and thaw.' + + + + +THE FIRST PRIMROSE. + +March 6th.--Fine March weather: boisterous, blustering, much wind and +squalls of rain; and yet the sky, where the clouds are swept away, +deliciously blue, with snatches of sunshine, bright, and clear, and +healthful, and the roads, in spite of the slight glittering showers, +crisply dry. Altogether the day is tempting, very tempting. It will not +do for the dear common, that windmill of a walk; but the close sheltered +lanes at the bottom of the hill, which keep out just enough of the +stormy air, and let in all the sun, will be delightful. Past our old +house, and round by the winding lanes, and the workhouse, and across the +lea, and so into the turnpike-road again,--that is our route for to-day. +Forth we set, Mayflower and I, rejoicing in the sunshine, and still +more in the wind, which gives such an intense feeling of existence, +and, co-operating with brisk motion, sets our blood and our spirits in a +glow. For mere physical pleasure, there is nothing perhaps equal to the +enjoyment of being drawn, in a light carriage, against such a wind as +this, by a blood-horse at his height of speed. Walking comes next to it; +but walking is not quite so luxurious or so spiritual, not quite so +much what one fancies of flying, or being carried above the clouds in a +balloon. + +Nevertheless, a walk is a good thing; especially under this southern +hedgerow, where nature is just beginning to live again; the periwinkles, +with their starry blue flowers, and their shining myrtle-like leaves, +garlanding the bushes; woodbines and elder-trees pushing out their small +swelling buds; and grasses and mosses springing forth in every variety +of brown and green. Here we are at the corner where four lanes meet, or +rather where a passable road of stones and gravel crosses an impassable +one of beautiful but treacherous turf, and where the small white +farmhouse, scarcely larger than a cottage, and the well-stocked +rick-yard behind, tell of comfort and order, but leave all unguessed the +great riches of the master. How he became so rich is almost a puzzle; +for, though the farm be his own, it is not large; and though prudent and +frugal on ordinary occasions, Farmer Barnard is no miser. His horses, +dogs, and pigs are the best kept in the parish,--May herself, although +her beauty be injured by her fatness, half envies the plight of his +bitch Fly: his wife's gowns and shawls cost as much again as any shawls +or gowns in the village; his dinner parties (to be sure they are not +frequent) display twice the ordinary quantity of good things--two +couples of ducks, two dishes of green peas, two turkey poults, two +gammons of bacon, two plum-puddings; moreover, he keeps a single-horse +chaise, and has built and endowed a Methodist chapel. Yet is he the +richest man in these parts. Everything prospers with him. Money drifts +about him like snow. He looks like a rich man. There is a sturdy +squareness of face and figure; a good-humoured obstinacy; a civil +importance. He never boasts of his wealth, or gives himself undue +airs; but nobody can meet him at market or vestry without finding out +immediately that he is the richest man there. They have no child to all +this money; but there is an adopted nephew, a fine spirited lad, who +may, perhaps, some day or other, play the part of a fountain to the +reservoir. + +Now turn up the wide road till we come to the open common, with its +park-like trees, its beautiful stream, wandering and twisting along, and +its rural bridge. Here we turn again, past that other white farmhouse, +half hidden by the magnificent elms which stand before it. Ah! riches +dwell not there, but there is found the next best thing--an industrious +and light-hearted poverty. Twenty years ago Rachel Hilton was the +prettiest and merriest lass in the country. Her father, an old +gamekeeper, had retired to a village alehouse, where his good beer, his +social humour, and his black-eyed daughter, brought much custom. She had +lovers by the score; but Joseph White, the dashing and lively son of an +opulent farmer, carried off the fair Rachel. They married and settled +here, and here they live still, as merrily as ever, with fourteen +children of all ages and sizes, from nineteen years to nineteen months, +working harder than any people in the parish, and enjoying themselves +more. I would match them for labour and laughter against any family in +England. She is a blithe, jolly dame, whose beauty has amplified into +comeliness; he is tall, and thin, and bony, with sinews like whipcord, a +strong lively voice, a sharp weather-beaten face, and eyes and lips that +smile and brighten when he speaks into a most contagious hilarity. They +are very poor, and I often wish them richer; but I don't know--perhaps +it might put them out. + +Quite close to Farmer White's is a little ruinous cottage, white-washed +once, and now in a sad state of betweenity, where dangling stockings and +shirts, swelled by the wind, drying in a neglected garden, give signal +of a washerwoman. There dwells, at present in single blessedness, Betty +Adams, the wife of our sometimes gardener. I never saw any one who so +much reminded me in person of that lady whom everybody knows, +Mistress Meg Merrilies;--as tall, as grizzled, as stately, as dark, as +gipsy-looking, bonneted and gowned like her prototype, and almost as +oracular. Here the resemblance ceases. Mrs. Adams is a perfectly honest, +industrious, painstaking person, who earns a good deal of money by +washing and charing, and spends it in other luxuries than tidiness,--in +green tea, and gin, and snuff. Her husband lives in a great family, ten +miles off. He is a capital gardener--or rather he would be so, if he +were not too ambitious. He undertakes all things, and finishes none. But +a smooth tongue, a knowing look, and a great capacity of labour, carry +him through. Let him but like his ale and his master and he will do work +enough for four. Give him his own way, and his full quantum, and nothing +comes amiss to him. + +Ah, May is bounding forward! Her silly heart leaps at the sight of +the old place--and so in good truth does mine. What a pretty place it +was--or rather, how pretty I thought it! I suppose I should have thought +any place so where I had spent eighteen happy years. But it was really +pretty. A large, heavy, white house, in the simplest style, surrounded +by fine oaks and elms, and tall massy plantations shaded down into +a beautiful lawn by wild overgrown shrubs, bowery acacias, ragged +sweet-briers, promontories of dogwood, and Portugal laurel, and bays, +over-hung by laburnum and bird-cherry; a long piece of water letting +light into the picture, and looking just like a natural stream, the +banks as rude and wild as the shrubbery, interspersed with broom, and +furze, and bramble, and pollard oaks covered with ivy and honeysuckle; +the whole enclosed by an old mossy park paling, and terminating in a +series of rich meadows, richly planted. This is an exact description of +the home which, three years ago, it nearly broke my heart to leave. +What a tearing up by the root it was! I have pitied cabbage-plants and +celery, and all transplantable things, ever since; though, in +common with them, and with other vegetables, the first agony of the +transportation being over, I have taken such firm and tenacious hold of +my new soil, that I would not for the world be pulled up again, even +to be restored to the old beloved ground;--not even if its beauty were +undiminished, which is by no means the case; for in those three years it +has thrice changed masters, and every successive possessor has brought +the curse of improvement upon the place; so that between filling up the +water to cure dampness, cutting down trees to let in prospects, planting +to keep them out, shutting up windows to darken the inside of the house +(by which means one end looks precisely as an eight of spades would do +that should have the misfortune to lose one of his corner pips), and +building colonnades to lighten the out, added to a general clearance of +pollards, and brambles, and ivy, and honeysuckles, and park palings, and +irregular shrubs, the poor place is so transmogrified, that if it had +its old looking-glass, the water, back again, it would not know its +own face. And yet I love to haunt round about it: so does May. Her +particular attraction is a certain broken bank full of rabbit burrows, +into which she insinuates her long pliant head and neck, and tears her +pretty feet by vain scratchings: mine is a warm sunny hedgerow, in +the same remote field, famous for early flowers. Never was a spot more +variously flowery: primroses yellow, lilac white, violets of either hue, +cowslips, oxslips, arums, orchises, wild hyacinths, ground ivy, pansies, +strawberries, heart's-ease, formed a small part of the Flora of that +wild hedgerow. How profusely they covered the sunny open slope under the +weeping birch, 'the lady of the woods'--and how often have I started to +see the early innocent brown snake, who loved the spot as well as I did, +winding along the young blossoms, or rustling amongst the fallen leaves! +There are primrose leaves already, and short green buds, but no flowers; +not even in that furze cradle so full of roots, where they used to blow +as in a basket. No, my May, no rabbits! no primroses! We may as well +get over the gate into the woody winding lane, which will bring us home +again. + +Here we are making the best of our way between the old elms that arch so +solemnly over head, dark and sheltered even now. They say that a spirit +haunts this deep pool--a white lady without a head. I cannot say that I +have seen her, often as I have paced this lane at deep midnight, to hear +the nightingales, and look at the glow-worms;--but there, better +and rarer than a thousand ghosts, dearer even than nightingales or +glow-worms, there is a primrose, the first of the year; a tuft of +primroses, springing in yonder sheltered nook, from the mossy roots +of an old willow, and living again in the clear bright pool. Oh, how +beautiful they are--three fully blown, and two bursting buds! How glad I +am I came this way! They are not to be reached. Even Jack Rapley's love +of the difficult and the unattainable would fail him here: May herself +could not stand on that steep bank. So much the better. Who would wish +to disturb them? There they live in their innocent and fragrant beauty, +sheltered from the storms, and rejoicing in the sunshine, and looking as +if they could feel their happiness. Who would disturb them? Oh, how glad +I am I came this way home! + + + + +VIOLETING. + +March 27th.--It is a dull gray morning, with a dewy feeling in the air; +fresh, but not windy; cool, but not cold;--the very day for a person +newly arrived from the heat, the glare, the noise, and the fever of +London, to plunge into the remotest labyrinths of the country, and +regain the repose of mind, the calmness of heart, which has been lost in +that great Babel. I must go violeting--it is a necessity--and I must go +alone: the sound of a voice, even my Lizzy's, the touch of Mayflower's +head, even the bounding of her elastic foot, would disturb the serenity +of feeling which I am trying to recover. I shall go quite alone, with +my little basket, twisted like a bee-hive, which I love so well, because +SHE gave it to me, and kept sacred to violets and to those whom I love; +and I shall get out of the high-road the moment I can. I would not meet +any one just now, even of those whom I best like to meet. + +Ha!--Is not that group--a gentleman on a blood-horse, a lady keeping +pace with him so gracefully and easily--see how prettily her veil waves +in the wind created by her own rapid motion!--and that gay, gallant +boy, on the gallant white Arabian, curveting at their side, but ready to +spring before them every instant--is not that chivalrous-looking party +Mr. and Mrs. M. and dear R? No! the servant is in a different livery. It +is some of the ducal family, and one of their young Etonians. I may go +on. I shall meet no one now; for I have fairly left the road, and am +crossing the lea by one of those wandering paths, amidst the gorse, and +the heath, and the low broom, which the sheep and lambs have made--a +path turfy, elastic, thymy, and sweet, even at this season. + +We have the good fortune to live in an unenclosed parish, and may +thank the wise obstinacy of two or three sturdy farmers, and the lucky +unpopularity of a ranting madcap lord of the manor, for preserving the +delicious green patches, the islets of wilderness amidst cultivation, +which form, perhaps, the peculiar beauty of English scenery. The common +that I am passing now--the lea, as it is called--is one of the loveliest +of these favoured spots. It is a little sheltered scene, retiring, as it +were, from the village; sunk amidst higher lands, hills would be +almost too grand a word; edged on one side by one gay high-road, and +intersected by another; and surrounded by a most picturesque confusion +of meadows, cottages, farms, and orchards; with a great pond in one +corner, unusually bright and clear, giving a delightful cheerfulness +and daylight to the picture. The swallows haunt that pond; so do the +children. There is a merry group round it now; I have seldom seen it +without one. Children love water, clear, bright, sparkling water; it +excites and feeds their curiosity; it is motion and life. + +The path that I am treading leads to a less lively spot, to that large +heavy building on one side of the common, whose solid wings, jutting +out far beyond the main body, occupy three sides of a square, and give a +cold, shadowy look to the court. On one side is a gloomy garden, with +an old man digging in it, laid out in straight dark beds of vegetables, +potatoes, cabbages, onions, beans; all earthy and mouldy as a newly-dug +grave. Not a flower or flowering shrub! Not a rose-tree or currant-bush! +Nothing but for sober, melancholy use. Oh, different from the long +irregular slips of the cottage-gardens, with their gay bunches of +polyanthuses and crocuses, their wallflowers sending sweet odours +through the narrow casement, and their gooseberry-trees bursting into a +brilliancy of leaf, whose vivid greenness has the effect of a blossom on +the eye! Oh, how different! On the other side of this gloomy abode is a +meadow of that deep, intense emerald hue, which denotes the presence of +stagnant water, surrounded by willows at regular distances, and like the +garden, separated from the common by a wide, moat-like ditch. That is +the parish workhouse. All about it is solid, substantial, useful;--but +so dreary! so cold! so dark! There are children in the court, and yet +all is silent. I always hurry past that place as if it were a prison. +Restraint, sickness, age, extreme poverty, misery, which I have no power +to remove or alleviate,--these are the ideas, the feelings, which the +sight of those walls excites; yet, perhaps, if not certainly, they +contain less of that extreme desolation than the morbid fancy is apt to +paint. There will be found order, cleanliness, food, clothing, warmth, +refuge for the homeless, medicine and attendance for the sick, rest +and sufficiency for old age, and sympathy, the true and active sympathy +which the poor show to the poor, for the unhappy. There may be worse +places than a parish workhouse--and yet I hurry past it. The feeling, +the prejudice, will not be controlled. + +The end of the dreary garden edges off into a close-sheltered lane, +wandering and winding, like a rivulet, in gentle 'sinuosities' (to use +a word once applied by Mr. Wilberforce to the Thames at Henley), amidst +green meadows, all alive with cattle, sheep, and beautiful lambs, in the +very spring and pride of their tottering prettiness; or fields of arable +land, more lively still with troops of stooping bean-setters, women +and children, in all varieties of costume and colour; and ploughs and +harrows, with their whistling boys and steady carters, going through, +with a slow and plodding industry, the main business of this busy +season. What work beansetting is! What a reverse of the position +assigned to man to distinguish him from the beasts of the field! Only +think of stooping for six, eight, ten hours a day, drilling holes in the +earth with a little stick, and then dropping in the beans one by one. +They are paid according to the quantity they plant; and some of the poor +women used to be accused of clumping them--that is to say, of dropping +more than one bean into a hole. It seems to me, considering the +temptation, that not to clump is to be at the very pinnacle of human +virtue. + +Another turn in the lane, and we come to the old house standing amongst +the high elms--the old farm-house, which always, I don't know why, +carries back my imagination to Shakspeare's days. It is a long, low, +irregular building, with one room, at an angle from the house, covered +with ivy, fine white-veined ivy; the first floor of the main building +projecting and supported by oaken beams, and one of the windows below, +with its old casement and long narrow panes, forming the half of a +shallow hexagon. A porch, with seats in it, surmounted by a pinnacle, +pointed roofs, and clustered chimneys, complete the picture! Alas! it is +little else but a picture! The very walls are crumbling to decay under a +careless landlord and ruined tenant. + +Now a few yards farther, and I reach the bank. Ah! I smell them +already--their exquisite perfume steams and lingers in this moist, heavy +air. Through this little gate, and along the green south bank of this +green wheat-field, and they burst upon me, the lovely violets, in +tenfold loveliness. The ground is covered with them, white and purple, +enamelling the short dewy grass, looking but the more vividly coloured +under the dull, leaden sky. There they lie by hundreds, by thousands. +In former years I have been used to watch them from the tiny green bud, +till one or two stole into bloom. They never came on me before in such +a sudden and luxuriant glory of simple beauty,--and I do really owe one +pure and genuine pleasure to feverish London! How beautifully they are +placed too, on this sloping bank, with the palm branches waving over +them, full of early bees, and mixing their honeyed scent with the more +delicate violet odour! How transparent and smooth and lusty are the +branches, full of sap and life! And there, just by the old mossy root, +is a superb tuft of primroses, with a yellow butterfly hovering over +them, like a flower floating on the air. What happiness to sit on this +tufty knoll, and fill my basket with the blossoms! What a renewal of +heart and mind! To inhabit such a scene of peace and sweetness is again +to be fearless, gay, and gentle as a child. Then it is that thought +becomes poetry, and feeling religion. Then it is that we are happy and +good. Oh, that my whole life could pass so, floating on blissful and +innocent sensation, enjoying in peace and gratitude the common blessings +of Nature, thankful above all for the simple habits, the healthful +temperament, which render them so dear! Alas! who may dare expect a life +of such happiness? But I can at least snatch and prolong the fleeting +pleasure, can fill my basket with pure flowers, and my heart with pure +thoughts; can gladden my little home with their sweetness; can divide my +treasures with one, a dear one, who cannot seek them; can see them when +I shut my eyes and dream of them when I fall asleep. + + + + +THE COPSE. + +April 18th.--Sad wintry weather; a northeast wind; a sun that puts out +one's eyes, without affording the slightest warmth; dryness that chaps +lips and hands like a frost in December; rain that comes chilly and +arrowy like hail in January; nature at a dead pause; no seeds up in +the garden; no leaves out in the hedgerows; no cowslips swinging their +pretty bells in the fields; no nightingales in the dingles; no swallows +skimming round the great pond; no cuckoos (that ever I should miss that +rascally sonneteer!) in any part. Nevertheless there is something of a +charm in this wintry spring, this putting-back of the seasons. If the +flower-clock must stand still for a month or two, could it choose a +better time than that of the primroses and violets? I never remember +(and for such gauds my memory, if not very good for aught of wise or +useful, may be trusted) such an affluence of the one or such a duration +of the other. Primrosy is the epithet which this year will retain in +my recollection. Hedge, ditch, meadow, field, even the very paths and +highways, are set with them; but their chief habitat is a certain copse, +about a mile off, where they are spread like a carpet, and where I go to +visit them rather oftener than quite comports with the dignity of a lady +of mature age. I am going thither this very afternoon, and May and her +company are going too. + +This Mayflower of mine is a strange animal. Instinct and imitation make +in her an approach to reason which is sometimes almost startling. She +mimics all that she sees us do, with the dexterity of a monkey, and far +more of gravity and apparent purpose; cracks nuts and eats them; gathers +currants and severs them from the stalk with the most delicate nicety; +filches and munches apples and pears; is as dangerous in an orchard as +a schoolboy; smells to flowers; smiles at meeting; answers in a pretty +lively voice when spoken to (sad pity that the language should be +unknown!) and has greatly the advantage of us in a conversation, +inasmuch as our meaning is certainly clear to her;--all this and a +thousand amusing prettinesses (to say nothing of her canine feat of +bringing her game straight to her master's feet, and refusing to resign +it to any hand but his), does my beautiful greyhound perform untaught, +by the mere effect of imitation and sagacity. Well, May, at the end +of the coursing season, having lost Brush, our old spaniel, her great +friend, and the blue greyhound, Mariette, her comrade and rival, both of +which four-footed worthies were sent out to keep for the summer, began +to find solitude a weary condition, and to look abroad for company. Now +it so happened that the same suspension of sport which had reduced our +little establishment from three dogs to one, had also dispersed the +splendid kennel of a celebrated courser in our neighbourhood, three +of whose finest young dogs came home to 'their walk' (as the sporting +phrase goes) at the collarmaker's in our village. May, accordingly, on +the first morning of her solitude (she had never taken the slightest +notice of her neighbours before, although they had sojourned in our +street upwards of a fortnight), bethought herself of the timely resource +offered to her by the vicinity of these canine beaux, and went up boldly +and knocked at their stable door, which was already very commodiously +on the half-latch. The three dogs came out with much alertness and +gallantry, and May, declining apparently to enter their territories, +brought them off to her own. This manoeuvre has been repeated every day, +with one variation; of the three dogs, the first a brindle, the second +a yellow, and the third a black, the two first only are now allowed to +walk or consort with her, and the last, poor fellow, for no fault that +I can discover except May's caprice, is driven away not only by the fair +lady, but even by his old companions--is, so to say, sent to Coventry. +Of her two permitted followers, the yellow gentleman, Saladin by name, +is decidedly the favourite. He is, indeed, May's shadow, and will walk +with me whether I choose or not. It is quite impossible to get rid of +him unless by discarding Miss May also;--and to accomplish a walk in the +country without her, would be like an adventure of Don Quixote without +his faithful 'squire Sancho. + +So forth we set, May and I, and Saladin and the brindle; May and myself +walking with the sedateness and decorum befitting our sex and age (she +is five years old this grass, rising six)--the young things, for the +soldan and the brindle are (not meaning any disrespect) little better +than puppies, frisking and frolicking as best pleased them. + +Our route lay for the first part along the sheltered quiet lanes which +lead to our old habitation; a way never trodden by me without peculiar +and homelike feelings, full of the recollections, the pains and +pleasures, of other days. But we are not to talk sentiment now;--even +May would not understand that maudlin language. We must get on. What +a wintry hedgerow this is for the eighteenth of April! Primrosy to be +sure, abundantly spangled with those stars of the earth,--but so bare, +so leafless, so cold! The wind whistles through the brown boughs as +in winter. Even the early elder shoots, which do make an approach to +springiness, look brown, and the small leaves of the woodbine, which +have also ventured to peep forth, are of a sad purple, frost-bitten, +like a dairymaid's elbows on a snowy morning. The very birds, in this +season of pairing and building, look chilly and uncomfortable, and their +nests!--'Oh, Saladin! come away from the hedge! Don't you see that what +puzzles you and makes you leap up in the air is a redbreast's nest? +Don't you see the pretty speckled eggs? Don't you hear the poor hen +calling as it were for help? Come here this moment, sir!' And by good +luck Saladin (who for a paynim has tolerable qualities) comes, before +he has touched the nest, or before his playmate the brindle, the less +manageable of the two, has espied it. + +Now we go round the corner and cross the bridge, where the common, with +its clear stream winding between clumps of elms, assumes so park-like +an appearance. Who is this approaching so slowly and majestically, this +square bundle of petticoat and cloak, this road-waggon of a woman? It +is, it must be Mrs. Sally Mearing, the completest specimen within my +knowledge of farmeresses (may I be allowed that innovation in language?) +as they were. It can be nobody else. + +Mrs. Sally Mearing, when I first became acquainted with her, occupied, +together with her father (a superannuated man of ninety), a large +farm very near our former habitation. It had been anciently a great +manor-farm or court-house, and was still a stately, substantial +building, whose lofty halls and spacious chambers gave an air of +grandeur to the common offices to which they were applied. Traces of +gilding might yet be seen on the panels which covered the walls, and on +the huge carved chimney-pieces which rose almost to the ceilings; and +the marble tables and the inlaid oak staircase still spoke of the former +grandeur of the court. Mrs. Sally corresponded well with the date of her +mansion, although she troubled herself little with its dignity. She was +thoroughly of the old school, and had a most comfortable contempt for +the new: rose at four in winter and summer, breakfasted at six, dined at +eleven in the forenoon, supped at five, and was regularly in bed before +eight, except when the hay-time or the harvest imperiously required her +to sit up till sunset, a necessity to which she submitted with no +very good grace. To a deviation from these hours, and to the modern +iniquities of white aprons, cotton stockings, and muslin handkerchiefs +(Mrs. Sally herself always wore check, black worsted, and a sort of +yellow compound which she was wont to call 'susy'), together with the +invention of drill plough and thrashing-machines, and other agricultural +novelties, she failed not to attribute all the mishaps or misdoings of +the whole parish. The last-mentioned discovery especially aroused her +indignation. Oh to hear her descant on the merits of the flail, wielded +by a stout right arm, such as she had known in her youth (for by her +account there was as great a deterioration in bones and sinews as in +the other implements of husbandry), was enough to make the very inventor +break his machine. She would even take up her favourite instrument, and +thrash the air herself by way of illustrating her argument, and, to say +truth, few men in these degenerate days could have matched the stout, +brawny, muscular limb which Mrs. Sally displayed at sixty-five. + +In spite of this contumacious rejection of agricultural improvements, +the world went well with her at Court Farm. A good landlord, an easy +rent, incessant labour, unremitting frugality, and excellent times, +insured a regular though moderate profit; and she lived on, grumbling +and prospering, flourishing and complaining, till two misfortunes befell +her at once--her father died, and her lease expired. The loss of her +father although a bedridden man, turned of ninety, who could not in the +course of nature have been expected to live long, was a terrible shock +to a daughter, who was not so much younger as to be without fears for +her own life, and who had besides been so used to nursing the good old +man, and looking to his little comforts, that she missed him as a mother +would miss an ailing child. The expiration of the lease was a grievance +and a puzzle of a different nature. Her landlord would have willingly +retained his excellent tenant, but not on the terms on which she then +held the land, which had not varied for fifty years; so that poor Mrs. +Sally had the misfortune to find rent rising and prices sinking both at +the same moment--a terrible solecism in political economy. Even this, +however, I believe she would have endured, rather than have quitted the +house where she was born, and to which all her ways and notions were +adapted, had not a priggish steward, as much addicted to improvement +and reform as she was to precedent and established usages, insisted on +binding her by lease to spread a certain number of loads of chalk on +every field. This tremendous innovation, for never had that novelty in +manure whitened the crofts and pightles of Court Farm, decided her at +once. She threw the proposals into the fire, and left the place in a +week. + +Her choice of a habitation occasioned some wonder, and much amusement +in our village world. To be sure, upon the verge of seventy, an old maid +may be permitted to dispense with the more rigid punctilio of her class, +but Mrs. Sally had always been so tenacious on the score of character, +so very a prude, so determined an avoider of the 'men folk' (as she +was wont contemptuously to call them), that we all were conscious of +something like astonishment, on finding that she and her little handmaid +had taken up their abode in one end of a spacious farmhouse belonging to +the bluff old bachelor, George Robinson, of the Lea. Now Farmer Robinson +was quite as notorious for his aversion to petticoated things, as Mrs. +Sally for her hatred to the unfeathered bipeds who wear doublet and +hose, so that there was a little astonishment in that quarter too, and +plenty of jests, which the honest farmer speedily silenced, by telling +all who joked on the subject that he had given his lodger fair warning, +that, let people say what they would, he was quite determined not to +marry her: so that if she had any views that way, it would be better for +her to go elsewhere. This declaration, which must be admitted to have +been more remarkable for frankness than civility, made, however, no ill +impression on Mrs. Sally. To the farmer's she went, and at his house she +lives still, with her little maid, her tabby cat, a decrepit sheep-dog, +and much of the lumber of Court Farm, which she could not find in her +heart to part from. There she follows her old ways and her old hours, +untempted by matrimony, and unassailed (as far as I hear) by love or by +scandal, with no other grievance than an occasional dearth of employment +for herself and her young lass (even pewter dishes do not always want +scouring), and now and then a twinge of the rheumatism. + +Here she is, that good relique of the olden time--for, in spite of her +whims and prejudices, a better and a kinder woman never lived--here she +is, with the hood of her red cloak pulled over her close black bonnet, +of that silk which once (it may be presumed) was fashionable, since +it is still called mode, and her whole stout figure huddled up in a +miscellaneous and most substantial covering of thick petticoats, gowns, +aprons, shawls, and cloaks--a weight which it requires the strength of a +thrasher to walk under--here she is, with her square honest visage, +and her loud frank voice;--and we hold a pleasant disjointed chat of +rheumatisms and early chickens, bad weather, and hats with feathers in +them;--the last exceedingly sore subject being introduced by poor Jane +Davis (a cousin of Mrs. Sally), who, passing us in a beaver bonnet, on +her road from school, stopped to drop her little curtsy, and was soundly +scolded for her civility. Jane, who is a gentle, humble, smiling +lass, about twelve years old, receives so many rebukes from her worthy +relative, and bears them so meekly, that I should not wonder if they +were to be followed by a legacy: I sincerely wish they may. Well, at +last we said good-bye; when, on inquiring my destination, and hearing +that I was bent to the ten-acre copse (part of the farm which she ruled +so long), she stopped me to tell a dismal story of two sheep-stealers +who, sixty years ago, were found hidden in that copse, and only +taken after great difficulty and resistance, and the maiming of a +peace-officer.--'Pray don't go there, Miss! For mercy's sake don't be so +venturesome! Think if they should kill you!' were the last words of Mrs. +Sally. + +Many thanks for her care and kindness! But, without being at all +foolhardy in general, I have no great fear of the sheep-stealers of +sixty years ago. Even if they escaped hanging for that exploit, I should +greatly doubt their being in case to attempt another. So on we go: down +the short shady lane, and out on the pretty retired green, shut in by +fields and hedgerows, which we must cross to reach the copse. How lively +this green nook is to-day, half covered with cows, and horses, and +sheep! And how glad these frolicsome greyhounds are to exchange the hard +gravel of the high road for this pleasant short turf, which seems made +for their gambols! How beautifully they are at play, chasing each +other round and round in lessening circles, darting off at all kinds of +angles, crossing and recrossing May, and trying to win her sedateness +into a game at romps, turning round on each other with gay defiance, +pursuing the cows and the colts, leaping up as if to catch the crows +in their flight;--all in their harmless and innocent--'Ah, wretches! +villains! rascals! four-footed mischiefs! canine plagues! Saladin! +Brindle!'--They are after the sheep--'Saladin, I say!'--They have +actually singled out that pretty spotted lamb--'Brutes, if I catch you! +Saladin! Brindle!' We shall be taken up for sheep-stealing presently +ourselves. They have chased the poor little lamb into a ditch, and are +mounting guard over it, standing at bay.--'Ah, wretches, I have you now! +for shame, Saladin! Get away, Brindle! See how good May is. Off with +you, brutes! For shame! For shame!' and brandishing a handkerchief, +which could hardly be an efficient instrument of correction, I succeeded +in driving away the two puppies, who after all meant nothing more than +play, although it was somewhat rough, and rather too much in the style +of the old fable of the boys and the frogs. May is gone after them, +perhaps to scold them: for she has been as grave as a judge during the +whole proceeding, keeping ostentatiously close to me, and taking no part +whatever in the mischief. + +The poor little pretty lamb! here it lies on the bank quite motionless, +frightened I believe to death, for certainly those villains never +touched it. It does not stir. Does it breathe? Oh yes, it does! It is +alive, safe enough. Look, it opens its eyes, and, finding the coast +clear and its enemies far away, it springs up in a moment and gallops +to its dam, who has stood bleating the whole time at a most respectful +distance. Who would suspect a lamb of so much simple cunning? I really +thought the pretty thing was dead--and now how glad the ewe is to +recover her curling spotted little one! How fluttered they look! Well! +this adventure has flurried me too; between fright and running, I +warrant you my heart beats as fast as the lamb's. + +Ah! here is the shameless villain Saladin, the cause of the commotion, +thrusting his slender nose into my hand to beg pardon and make up! 'Oh +wickedest of soldans! Most iniquitous pagan! Soul of a Turk!'--but there +is no resisting the good-humoured creature's penitence. I must pat him. +'There! there! Now we will go to the copse; I am sure we shall find no +worse malefactors than ourselves--shall we, May?--and the sooner we +get out of sight of the sheep the better; for Brindle seems meditating +another attack. Allons, messieurs, over this gate, across this meadow, +and here is the copse.' + +How boldly that superb ash-tree with its fine silver bark rises from the +bank, and what a fine entrance it makes with the holly beside it, which +also deserves to be called a tree! But here we are in the copse. Ah! +only one half of the underwood was cut last year, and the other is +at its full growth: hazel, brier, woodbine, bramble, forming one +impenetrable thicket, and almost uniting with the lower branches of the +elms, and oaks, and beeches, which rise at regular distances overhead. +No foot can penetrate that dense and thorny entanglement; but there is +a walk all round by the side of the wide sloping bank, walk and bank and +copse carpeted with primroses, whose fresh and balmy odour impregnates +the very air. Oh how exquisitely beautiful! and it is not the primroses +only, those gems of flowers, but the natural mosaic of which they form +a part; that network of ground-ivy, with its lilac blossoms and the +subdued tint of its purplish leaves, those rich mosses, those enamelled +wild hyacinths, those spotted arums, and above all those wreaths of ivy +linking all those flowers together with chains of leaves more beautiful +than blossoms, whose white veins seem swelling amidst the deep green +or splendid brown;--it is the whole earth that is so beautiful! Never +surely were primroses so richly set, and never did primroses better +deserve such a setting. There they are of their own lovely yellow, the +hue to which they have given a name, the exact tint of the butterfly +that overhangs them (the first I have seen this year! can spring really +be coming at last?)--sprinkled here and there with tufts of a reddish +purple, and others of the purest white, as some accident of soil affects +that strange and inscrutable operation of nature, the colouring of +flowers. Oh how fragrant they are, and how pleasant it is to sit in this +sheltered copse, listening to the fine creaking of the wind amongst the +branches, the most unearthly of sounds, with this gay tapestry under our +feet, and the wood-pigeons flitting from tree to tree, and mixing the +deep note of love with the elemental music. + +Yes! spring is coming. Wood-pigeons, butterflies, and sweet flowers, all +give token of the sweetest of the seasons. Spring is coming. The hazel +stalks are swelling and putting forth their pale tassels, the satin +palms with their honeyed odours are out on the willow, and the last +lingering winter berries are dropping from the hawthorn, and making way +for the bright and blossomy leaves. + + + + +THE WOOD. + +April 20th.--Spring is actually come now, with the fulness and almost +the suddenness of a northern summer. To-day is completely April;--clouds +and sunshine, wind and showers; blossoms on the trees, grass in the +fields, swallows by the ponds, snakes in the hedgerows, nightingales in +the thickets, and cuckoos everywhere. My young friend Ellen G. is going +with me this evening to gather wood-sorrel. She never saw that most +elegant plant, and is so delicate an artist that the introduction will +be a mutual benefit; Ellen will gain a subject worthy of her pencil, +and the pretty weed will live;--no small favour to a flower almost as +transitory as the gum cistus: duration is the only charm which it +wants, and that Ellen will give it. The weather is, to be sure, a little +threatening, but we are not people to mind the weather when we have an +object in view; we shall certainly go in quest of the wood-sorrel, and +will take May, provided we can escape May's followers; for since the +adventure of the lamb, Saladin has had an affair with a gander, furious +in defence of his goslings, in which rencontre the gander came off +conqueror; and as geese abound in the wood to which we are going (called +by the country people the Pinge), and the victory may not always incline +to the right side, I should be very sorry to lead the Soldan to fight +his battles over again. We will take nobody but May. + +So saying, we proceeded on our way through winding lanes, between +hedgerows tenderly green, till we reached the hatch-gate, with the white +cottage beside it embosomed in fruit-trees, which forms the entrance to +the Pinge, and in a moment the whole scene was before our eyes. + +'Is not this beautiful, Ellen?' The answer could hardly be other than +a glowing rapid 'Yes!'--A wood is generally a pretty place; but +this wood--Imagine a smaller forest, full of glades and sheep-walks, +surrounded by irregular cottages with their blooming orchards, a clear +stream winding about the brakes, and a road intersecting it, and giving +life and light to the picture; and you will have a faint idea of the +Pinge. Every step was opening a new point of view, a fresh combination +of glade and path and thicket. The accessories too were changing every +moment. Ducks, geese, pigs, and children, giving way, as we advanced +into the wood, to sheep and forest ponies; and they again disappearing +as we became more entangled in its mazes, till we heard nothing but the +song of the nightingale, and saw only the silent flowers. + +What a piece of fairy land! The tall elms overhead just bursting into +tender vivid leaf, with here and there a hoary oak or a silver-barked +beech, every twig swelling with the brown buds, and yet not quite +stripped of the tawny foliage of autumn; tall hollies and hawthorn +beneath, with their crisp brilliant leaves mixed with the white +blossoms of the sloe, and woven together with garlands of woodbines and +wild-briers;--what a fairy land! + +Primroses, cowslips, pansies, and the regular open-eyed white blossom +of the wood anemone (or, to use the more elegant Hampshire name, the +windflower), were set under our feet as thick as daisies in a meadow; +but the pretty weed that we came to seek was coyer; and Ellen began +to fear that we had mistaken the place or the season.--At last she had +herself the pleasure of finding it under a brake of holly--'Oh, look! +look! I am sure that this is the wood-sorrel! Look at the pendent white +flower, shaped like a snowdrop and veined with purple streaks, and the +beautiful trefoil leaves folded like a heart,--some, the young ones, so +vividly yet tenderly green that the foliage of the elm and the hawthorn +would show dully at their side,--others of a deeper tint, and lined, as +it were, with a rich and changeful purple!--Don't you see them?' pursued +my dear young friend, who is a delightful piece of life and sunshine, +and was half inclined to scold me for the calmness with which, amused by +her enthusiasm, I stood listening to her ardent exclamations--'Don't you +see them? Oh how beautiful! and in what quantity! what profusion! +See how the dark shade of the holly sets off the light and delicate +colouring of the flower!--And see that other bed of them springing from +the rich moss in the roots of that old beech-tree! Pray, let us gather +some. Here are baskets.' So, quickly and carefully we began gathering, +leaves, blossoms, roots and all, for the plant is so fragile that +it will not brook separation;--quickly and carefully we gathered, +encountering divers petty misfortunes in spite of all our care, now +caught by the veil in a holly bush, now hitching our shawls in a +bramble, still gathering on, in spite of scratched fingers, till we had +nearly filled our baskets and began to talk of our departure:-- + +'But where is May? May! May! No going home without her. May! Here she +comes galloping, the beauty!'--(Ellen is almost as fond of May as I +am.)--'What has she got in her mouth? that rough, round, brown substance +which she touches so tenderly? What can it be? A bird's nest? Naughty +May!' + +'No! as I live, a hedgehog! Look, Ellen, how it has coiled itself into a +thorny ball! Off with it, May! Don't bring it to me!'--And May, somewhat +reluctant to part with her prickly prize, however troublesome of +carriage, whose change of shape seemed to me to have puzzled her +sagacity more than any event I ever witnessed, for in general she has +perfectly the air of understanding all that is going forward--May +at last dropt the hedgehog; continuing, however, to pat it with her +delicate cat-like paw, cautiously and daintily applied, and caught back +suddenly and rapidly after every touch, as if her poor captive had been +a red-hot coal. Finding that these pats entirely failed in solving the +riddle (for the hedgehog shammed dead, like the lamb the other day, and +appeared entirely motionless), she gave him so spirited a nudge with +her pretty black nose, that she not only turned him over, but sent him +rolling some little way along the turfy path,--an operation which that +sagacious quadruped endured with the most perfect passiveness, the most +admirable non-resistance. No wonder that May's discernment was at fault, +I myself, if I had not been aware of the trick, should have said that +the ugly rough thing which she was trundling along, like a bowl or a +cricket-ball, was an inanimate substance, something devoid of sensation +and of will. At last my poor pet, thoroughly perplexed and tired out, +fairly relinquished the contest, and came slowly away, turning back once +or twice to look at the object of her curiosity, as if half inclined +to return and try the event of another shove. The sudden flight of a +wood-pigeon effectually diverted her attention; and Ellen amused herself +by fancying how the hedgehog was scuttling away, till our notice was +also attracted by a very different object. + +We had nearly threaded the wood, and were approaching an open grove +of magnificent oaks on the other side, when sounds other than of +nightingales burst on our ear, the deep and frequent strokes of the +woodman's axe, and emerging from the Pinge we discovered the havoc which +that axe had committed. Above twenty of the finest trees lay stretched +on the velvet turf. There they lay in every shape and form of +devastation: some, bare trunks stripped ready for the timber carriage, +with the bark built up in long piles at the side; some with the spoilers +busy about them, stripping, hacking, hewing; others with their noble +branches, their brown and fragrant shoots all fresh as if they were +alive--majestic corses, the slain of to-day! The grove was like a field +of battle. The young lads who were stripping the bark, the very children +who were picking up the chips, seemed awed and silent, as if conscious +that death was around them. The nightingales sang faintly and +interruptedly--a few low frightened notes like a requiem. + +Ah! here we are at the very scene of murder, the very tree that they +are felling; they have just hewn round the trunk with those slaughtering +axes, and are about to saw it asunder. After all, it is a fine and +thrilling operation, as the work of death usually is. Into how grand an +attitude was that young man thrown as he gave the final strokes round +the root; and how wonderful is the effect of that supple and apparently +powerless saw, bending like a riband, and yet overmastering that giant +of the woods, conquering and overthrowing that thing of life! Now it has +passed half through the trunk, and the woodman has begun to calculate +which way the tree will fall; he drives a wedge to direct its +course;--now a few more movements of the noiseless saw; and then a +larger wedge. See how the branches tremble! Hark how the trunk begins +to crack! Another stroke of the huge hammer on the wedge, and the tree +quivers, as with a mortal agony, shakes, reels, and falls. How slow, +and solemn, and awful it is! How like to death, to human death in its +grandest form! Caesar in the Capitol, Seneca in the bath, could not fall +more sublimely than that oak. + +Even the heavens seem to sympathise with the devastation. The clouds +have gathered into one thick low canopy, dark and vapoury as the smoke +which overhangs London; the setting sun is just gleaming underneath with +a dim and bloody glare, and the crimson rays spreading upward with a +lurid and portentous grandeur, a subdued and dusky glow, like the light +reflected on the sky from some vast conflagration. The deep flush fades +away, and the rain begins to descend; and we hurry homeward rapidly, yet +sadly, forgetful alike of the flowers, the hedgehog, and the wetting, +thinking and talking only of the fallen tree. + + + + +THE DELL. + +May 2nd.--A delicious evening;--bright sunshine; light summer air; a sky +almost cloudless; and a fresh yet delicate verdure on the hedges and +in the fields;--an evening that seems made for a visit to my +newly-discovered haunt, the mossy dell, one of the most beautiful spots +in the neighbourhood, which after passing, times out of number, the +field which it terminates, we found out about two months ago from the +accident of May's killing a rabbit there. May has had a fancy for the +place ever since; and so have I. + +Thither accordingly we bend our way;--through the village;--up the +hill;--along the common;--past the avenue;--across the bridge; and by +the hill. How deserted the road is to-night! We have not seen a single +acquaintance, except poor blind Robert, laden with his sack of grass +plucked from the hedges, and the little boy that leads him. A singular +division of labour! Little Jem guides Robert to the spots where the long +grass grows, and tells him where it is most plentiful; and then the old +man cuts it close to the roots, and between them they fill the sack, and +sell the contents in the village. Half the cows in the street--for our +baker, our wheelwright, and our shoemaker has each his Alderney--owe the +best part of their maintenance to blind Robert's industry. + +Here we are at the entrance of the cornfield which leads to the dell, +and which commands so fine a view of the Loddon, the mill, the great +farm, with its picturesque outbuildings, and the range of woody hills +beyond. It is impossible not to pause a moment at that gate, the +landscape, always beautiful, is so suited to the season and the +hour,--so bright, and gay, and spring-like. But May, who has the chance +of another rabbit in her pretty head, has galloped forward to the +dingle, and poor May, who follows me so faithfully in all my wanderings, +has a right to a little indulgence in hers. So to the dingle we go. + +At the end of the field, which when seen from the road seems terminated +by a thick dark coppice, we come suddenly to the edge of a ravine, on +one side fringed with a low growth of alder, birch, and willow, on +the other mossy, turfy, and bare, or only broken by bright tufts of +blossomed broom. One or two old pollards almost conceal the winding road +that leads down the descent, by the side of which a spring as bright as +crystal runs gurgling along. The dell itself is an irregular piece of +broken ground, in some parts very deep, intersected by two or three +high banks of equal irregularity, now abrupt and bare, and rocklike, +now crowned with tufts of the feathery willow or magnificent old thorns. +Everywhere the earth is covered by short, fine turf, mixed with mosses, +soft, beautiful, and various, and embossed with the speckled leaves and +lilac flowers of the arum, the paler blossoms of the common orchis, the +enamelled blue of the wild hyacinth, so splendid in this evening light, +and large tufts of oxslips and cowslips rising like nosegays from the +short turf. + +The ground on the other side of the dell is much lower than the +field through which we came, so that it is mainly to the labyrinthine +intricacy of these high banks that it owes its singular character of +wildness and variety. Now we seem hemmed in by those green cliffs, shut +out from all the world, with nothing visible but those verdant mounds +and the deep blue sky; now by some sudden turn we get a peep at an +adjoining meadow, where the sheep are lying, dappling its sloping +surface like the small clouds on the summer heaven. Poor harmless, quiet +creatures, how still they are! Some socially lying side by side; some +grouped in threes and fours; some quite apart. Ah! there are lambs +amongst them--pretty, pretty lambs--nestled in by their mothers. Soft, +quiet, sleepy things! Not all so quiet, though! There is a party of +these young lambs as wide awake as heart can desire; half a dozen of +them playing together, frisking, dancing, leaping, butting, and crying +in the young voice, which is so pretty a diminutive of the full-grown +bleat. How beautiful they are with their innocent spotted faces, their +mottled feet, their long curly tails, and their light flexible forms, +frolicking like so many kittens, but with a gentleness, an assurance of +sweetness and innocence, which no kitten, nothing that ever is to be a +cat, can have. How complete and perfect is their enjoyment of existence! +Ah! little rogues! your play has been too noisy; you have awakened your +mammas; and two or three of the old ewes are getting up; and one of them +marching gravely to the troop of lambs has selected her own, given her +a gentle butt, and trotted off; the poor rebuked lamb following meekly, +but every now and then stopping and casting a longing look at its +playmates; who, after a moment's awed pause, had resumed their gambols; +whilst the stately dame every now and then looked back in her turn, to +see that her little one was following. At last she lay down, and the +lamb by her side. I never saw so pretty a pastoral scene in my life.* + +*I have seen one which affected me much more. Walking in the Church-lane +with one of the young ladies of the vicarage, we met a large flock of +sheep, with the usual retinue of shepherds and dogs. Lingering after +them and almost out of sight, we encountered a straggling ewe, now +trotting along, now walking, and every now and then stopping to look +back, and bleating. A little behind her came a lame lamb, bleating +occasionally, as if in answer to its dam, and doing its very best to +keep up with her. It was a lameness of both the fore-feet; the knees +were bent, and it seemed to walk on the very edge of the hoof--on +tip-toe, if I may venture such an expression. My young friend thought +that the lameness proceeded from original malformation, I am rather +of opinion that it was accidental, and that the poor creature was +wretchedly foot-sore. However that might be, the pain and difficulty +with which it took every step were not to be mistaken; and the distress +and fondness of the mother, her perplexity as the flock passed gradually +out of sight, the effort with which the poor lamb contrived to keep up +a sort of trot, and their mutual calls and lamentations were really +so affecting, that Ellen and I, although not at all lachrymose sort of +people, had much ado not to cry. We could not find a boy to carry the +lamb, which was too big for us to manage;--but I was quite sure that the +ewe would not desert it, and as the dark was coming on, we both trusted +that the shepherds on folding their flock would miss them and return for +them;--and so I am happy to say it proved. + +Another turning of the dell gives a glimpse of the dark coppice by which +it is backed, and from which we are separated by some marshy, rushy +ground, where the springs have formed into a pool, and where the +moor-hen loves to build her nest. Ay, there is one scudding away now;--I +can hear her plash into the water, and the rustling of her wings amongst +the rushes. This is the deepest part of the wild dingle. How uneven +the ground is! Surely these excavations, now so thoroughly clothed with +vegetation, must originally have been huge gravel pits; there is no +other way of accounting for the labyrinth, for they do dig gravel in +such capricious meanders; but the quantity seems incredible. Well! there +is no end of guessing! We are getting amongst the springs, and must +turn back. Round this corner, where on ledges like fairy terraces the +orchises and arums grow, and we emerge suddenly on a new side of the +dell, just fronting the small homestead of our good neighbour Farmer +Allen. + +This rustic dwelling belongs to what used to be called in this part +of the country 'a little bargain': thirty or forty acres, perhaps, of +arable land, which the owner and his sons cultivated themselves, whilst +the wife and daughters assisted in the husbandry, and eked out the +slender earnings by the produce of the dairy, the poultry yard, and the +orchard;--an order of cultivators now passing rapidly away, but in +which much of the best part of the English character, its industry, +its frugality, its sound sense, and its kindness might be found. Farmer +Allen himself is an excellent specimen, the cheerful venerable old man +with his long white hair, and his bright grey eye, and his wife is a +still finer. They have had a hard struggle to win through the world +and keep their little property undivided; but good management and good +principles, and the assistance afforded them by an admirable son, who +left our village a poor 'prentice boy, and is now a partner in a great +house in London have enabled them to overcome all the difficulties of +these trying times, and they are now enjoying the peaceful evenings of +a well-spent life as free from care and anxiety as their best friends +could desire. + +Ah! there is Mr. Allen in the orchard, the beautiful orchard, with its +glorious gardens of pink and white, its pearly pear-blossoms and coral +apple-buds. What a flush of bloom it is! How brightly delicate +it appears, thrown into strong relief by the dark house and the +weather-stained barn, in this soft evening light! The very grass is +strewed with the snowy petals of the pear and the cherry. And there sits +Mrs. Allen, feeding her poultry, with her three little grand-daughters +from London, pretty fairies from three years old to five (only +two-and-twenty months elapsed between the birth of the eldest and the +youngest) playing round her feet. + +Mrs. Allen, my dear Mrs. Allen, has been that rare thing a beauty, and +although she be now an old woman I had almost said that she is so +still. Why should I not say so? Nobleness of feature and sweetness of +expression are surely as delightful in age as in youth. Her face and +figure are much like those which are stamped indelibly on the memory of +every one who ever saw that grand specimen of woman--Mrs. Siddons. The +outline of Mrs. Allen's face is exactly the same; but there is more +softness, more gentleness, a more feminine composure in the eye and in +the smile. Mrs. Allen never played Lady Macbeth. Her hair, almost as +black as at twenty, is parted on her large fair forehead, and combed +under her exquisitely neat and snowy cap; a muslin neckerchief, a grey +stuff gown and a white apron complete the picture. + +There she sits under an old elder-tree which flings its branches over +her like a canopy, whilst the setting sun illumines her venerable figure +and touches the leaves with an emerald light; there she sits, placid and +smiling, with her spectacles in her hand and a measure of barley on +her lap, into which the little girls are dipping their chubby hands +and scattering the corn amongst the ducks and chickens with unspeakable +glee. But those ingrates the poultry don't seem so pleased and thankful +as they ought to be; they mistrust their young feeders. All domestic +animals dislike children, partly from an instinctive fear of their +tricks and their thoughtlessness; partly, I suspect, from jealousy. +Jealousy seems a strange tragic passion to attribute to the inmates of +the basse cour,--but only look at that strutting fellow of a bantam cock +(evidently a favourite), who sidles up to his old mistress with an +air half affronted and half tender, turning so scornfully from the +barley-corns which Annie is flinging towards him, and say if he be not +as jealous as Othello? Nothing can pacify him but Mrs. Allen's notice +and a dole from her hand. See, she is calling to him and feeding him, +and now how he swells out his feathers, and flutters his wings, and +erects his glossy neck, and struts and crows and pecks, proudest and +happiest of bantams, the pet and glory of the poultry yard! + +In the meantime my own pet May, who has all this while been peeping into +every hole, and penetrating every nook and winding of the dell, in hopes +to find another rabbit, has returned to my side, and is sliding her +snake-like head into my hand, at once to invite the caress which she +likes so well, and to intimate, with all due respect, that it is time to +go home. The setting sun gives the same warning; and in a moment we are +through the dell, the field, and the gate, past the farm and the mill, +and hanging over the bridge that crosses the Loddon river. + +What a sunset! how golden! how beautiful! The sun just disappearing, and +the narrow liny clouds, which a few minutes ago lay like soft vapoury +streaks along the horizon, lighted up with a golden splendour that the +eye can scarcely endure, and those still softer clouds which floated +above them wreathing and curling into a thousand fantastic forms, +as thin and changeful as summer smoke, now defined and deepened into +grandeur, and edged with ineffable, insufferable light! Another minute +and the brilliant orb totally disappears, and the sky above grows every +moment more varied and more beautiful as the dazzling golden lines are +mixed with glowing red and gorgeous purple, dappled with small dark +specks, and mingled with such a blue as the egg of the hedge-sparrow. To +look up at that glorious sky, and then to see that magnificent picture +reflected in the clear and lovely Loddon water, is a pleasure never to +be described and never forgotten. My heart swells and my eyes fill as +I write of it, and think of the immeasurable majesty of nature, and the +unspeakable goodness of God, who has spread an enjoyment so pure, so +peaceful, and so intense before the meanest and the lowliest of His +creatures. + + + + +THE COWSLIP-BALL. + +May 16th.--There are moments in life when, without any visible or +immediate cause, the spirits sink and fail, as it were, under the mere +pressure of existence: moments of unaccountable depression, when one +is weary of one's very thoughts, haunted by images that will not +depart--images many and various, but all painful; friends lost, or +changed, or dead; hopes disappointed even in their accomplishment; +fruitless regrets, powerless wishes, doubt and fear, and self-distrust, +and self-disapprobation. They who have known these feelings (and who is +there so happy as not to have known some of them?) will understand why +Alfieri became powerless, and Froissart dull; and why even needle-work, +the most effectual sedative, that grand soother and composer of woman's +distress, fails to comfort me to-day. I will go out into the air this +cool, pleasant afternoon, and try what that will do. I fancy that +exercise or exertion of any kind, is the true specific for nervousness. +'Fling but a stone, the giant dies.' I will go to the meadows, the +beautiful meadows! and I will have my materials of happiness, Lizzy and +May, and a basket for flowers, and we will make a cowslip-ball. 'Did +you ever see a cowslip-ball, my Lizzy?'--'No.'--'Come away, then; make +haste! run, Lizzy!' + +And on we go, fast, fast! down the road, across the lea, past the +workhouse, along by the great pond, till we slide into the deep narrow +lane, whose hedges seem to meet over the water, and win our way to the +little farmhouse at the end. 'Through the farmyard, Lizzy; over the +gate; never mind the cows; they are quiet enough.'--'I don't mind 'em,' +said Miss Lizzy, boldly and truly, and with a proud affronted air, +displeased at being thought to mind anything, and showing by her +attitude and manner some design of proving her courage by an attack on +the largest of the herd, in the shape of a pull by the tail. 'I don't +mind 'em.'--'I know you don't, Lizzy; but let them alone, and don't +chase the turkey-cock. Come to me, my dear!' and, for a wonder, Lizzy +came. + +In the meantime, my other pet, Mayflower, had also gotten into a scrape. +She had driven about a huge unwieldy sow, till the animal's grunting +had disturbed the repose of a still more enormous Newfoundland dog, the +guardian of the yard. Out he sallied, growling, from the depth of his +kennel, erecting his tail, and shaking his long chain. May's attention +was instantly diverted from the sow to this new playmate, friend or foe, +she cared not which; and he of the kennel, seeing his charge unhurt, and +out of danger, was at leisure to observe the charms of his fair enemy, +as she frolicked round him, always beyond the reach of his chain, yet +always, with the natural instinctive coquetry of her sex, alluring +him to the pursuit which she knew to be vain. I never saw a prettier +flirtation. At last the noble animal, wearied out, retired to the inmost +recesses of his habitation, and would not even approach her when she +stood right before the entrance. 'You are properly served, May. Come +along, Lizzy. Across this wheatfield, and now over the gate. Stop! let +me lift you down. No jumping, no breaking of necks, Lizzy!' And here we +are in the meadows, and out of the world. Robinson Crusoe, in his lonely +island, had scarcely a more complete, or a more beautiful solitude. + +These meadows consist of a double row of small enclosures of rich +grass-land, a mile or two in length, sloping down from high arable +grounds on either side, to a little nameless brook that winds between +them with a course which, in its infinite variety, clearness, and +rapidity, seems to emulate the bold rivers of the north, of whom, far +more than of our lazy southern streams, our rivulet presents a miniature +likeness. Never was water more exquisitely tricksy:--now darting over +the bright pebbles, sparkling and flashing in the light with a bubbling +music, as sweet and wild as the song of the woodlark; now stretching +quietly along, giving back the rich tufts of the golden marsh-marigolds +which grow on its margin; now sweeping round a fine reach of green +grass, rising steeply into a high mound, a mimic promontory, whilst the +other side sinks softly away, like some tiny bay, and the water +flows between, so clear, so wide, so shallow, that Lizzy, longing for +adventure, is sure she could cross unwetted; now dashing through two +sand-banks, a torrent deep and narrow, which May clears at a bound; +now sleeping, half hidden, beneath the alders, and hawthorns, and wild +roses, with which the banks are so profusely and variously fringed, +whilst flags,* lilies, and other aquatic plants, almost cover the +surface of the stream. In good truth, it is a beautiful brook, and one +that Walton himself might have sitten by and loved, for trout are there; +we see them as they dart up the stream, and hear and start at the sudden +plunge when they spring to the surface for the summer flies. Izaak +Walton would have loved our brook and our quiet meadows; they breathe +the very spirit of his own peacefulness, a soothing quietude that sinks +into the soul. There is no path through them, not one; we might wander +a whole spring day, and not see a trace of human habitation. They belong +to a number of small proprietors, who allow each other access through +their respective grounds, from pure kindness and neighbourly feeling; +a privilege never abused: and the fields on the other side of the water +are reached by a rough plank, or a tree thrown across, or some such +homely bridge. We ourselves possess one of the most beautiful; so +that the strange pleasure of property, that instinct which makes Lizzy +delight in her broken doll, and May in the bare bone which she has +pilfered from the kennel of her recreant admirer of Newfoundland, is +added to the other charms of this enchanting scenery; a strange pleasure +it is, when one so poor as I can feel it! Perhaps it is felt most by the +poor, with the rich it may be less intense--too much diffused and spread +out, becoming thin by expansion, like leaf-gold; the little of the poor +may be not only more precious, but more pleasant to them: certain that +bit of grassy and blossomy earth, with its green knolls and tufted +bushes, its old pollards wreathed with ivy, and its bright and babbling +waters, is very dear to me. But I must always have loved these meadows, +so fresh, and cool, and delicious to the eye and to the tread, full +of cowslips, and of all vernal flowers: Shakspeare's 'Song of Spring' +bursts irrepressibly from our lips as we step on them. + +*Walking along these meadows one bright sunny afternoon, a year or two +back, and rather later in the season, I had an opportunity of noticing +a curious circumstance in natural history. Standing close to the edge of +the stream, I remarked a singular appearance on a large tuft of flags. +It looked like bunches of flowers, the leaves of which seemed dark, yet +transparent, intermingled with brilliant tubes of bright blue or shining +green. On examining this phenomenon more closely, it turned out to +be several clusters of dragon-flies, just emerged from their deformed +chrysalis state, and still torpid and motionless from the wetness of +their filmy wings. Half an hour later we returned to the spot and they +were gone. We had seen them at the very moment when beauty was complete +and animation dormant. I have since found nearly a similar account of +this curious process in Mr. Bingley's very entertaining work, called +'Animal Biography.' + + 'When daisies pied and violets blue + And lady-smocks all silver-white + And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue + Do paint the meadows with delight, + The cuckoo then, on every tree--' + +'Cuckoo! cuckoo!' cried Lizzy, breaking in with her clear childish +voice; and immediately, as if at her call, the real bird, from a +neighbouring tree (for these meadows are dotted with timber like a +park), began to echo my lovely little girl, 'cuckoo! cuckoo!' I have a +prejudice very unpastoral and unpoetical (but I cannot help it, I +have many such) against this 'harbinger of spring.' His note is so +monotonous, so melancholy; and then the boys mimic him; one hears +'cuckoo! cuckoo!' in dirty streets, amongst smoky houses, and the bird +is hated for faults not his own. But prejudices of taste, likings and +dislikings, are not always vanquishable by reason; so, to escape the +serenade from the tree, which promised to be of considerable duration +(when once that eternal song begins, on it goes ticking like a +clock)--to escape that noise I determined to excite another, and +challenged Lizzy to a cowslip-gathering; a trial of skill and speed, +to see which should soonest fill her basket. My stratagem succeeded +completely. What scrambling, what shouting, what glee from Lizzy! twenty +cuckoos might have sung unheard whilst she was pulling her own flowers, +and stealing mine, and laughing, screaming, and talking through all. + +At last the baskets were filled, and Lizzy declared victor: and down +we sat, on the brink of the stream, under a spreading hawthorn, just +disclosing its own pearly buds, and surrounded with the rich and +enamelled flowers of the wild hyacinth, blue and white, to make our +cowslip-ball. Every one knows the process: to nip off the tuft of +flowerets just below the top of the stalk, and hang each cluster nicely +balanced across a riband, till you have a long string like a garland; +then to press them closely together, and tie them tightly up. We went on +very prosperously, CONSIDERING; as people say of a young lady's drawing, +or a Frenchman's English, or a woman's tragedy, or of the poor little +dwarf who works without fingers, or the ingenious sailor who writes with +his toes, or generally of any performance which is accomplished by means +seemingly inadequate to its production. To be sure we met with a few +accidents. First, Lizzy spoiled nearly all her cowslips by snapping them +off too short; so there was a fresh gathering; in the next place, May +overset my full basket, and sent the blossoms floating, like so many +fairy favours, down the brook; then, when we were going on pretty +steadily, just as we had made a superb wreath, and were thinking of +tying it together, Lizzy, who held the riband, caught a glimpse of a +gorgeous butterfly, all brown and red and purple, and, skipping off to +pursue the new object, let go her hold; so all our treasures were +abroad again. At last, however, by dint of taking a branch of alder as +a substitute for Lizzy, and hanging the basket in a pollard-ash, out +of sight of May, the cowslip-ball was finished. What a concentration of +fragrance and beauty it was! golden and sweet to satiety! rich to sight, +and touch, and smell! Lizzy was enchanted, and ran off with her prize, +hiding amongst the trees in the very coyness of ecstasy, as if any human +eye, even mine, would be a restraint on her innocent raptures. + +In the meanwhile I sat listening, not to my enemy the cuckoo, but to a +whole concert of nightingales, scarcely interrupted by any meaner bird, +answering and vying with each other in those short delicious strains +which are to the ear as roses to the eye: those snatches of lovely sound +which come across us as airs from heaven. Pleasant thoughts, delightful +associations, awoke as I listened; and almost unconsciously I repeated +to myself the beautiful story of the Lutist and the Nightingale, from +Ford's 'Lover's Melancholy.' Here it is. Is there in English poetry +anything finer? + + 'Passing from Italy to Greece, the tales + Which poets of an elder time have feign'd + To glorify their Tempe, bred in me + Desire of visiting Paradise. + To Thessaly I came, and living private, + Without acquaintance of more sweet companions + Than the old inmates to my love, my thoughts, + I day by day frequented silent groves + And solitary walks. One morning early + This accident encounter'd me: I heard + The sweetest and most ravishing contention + That art and nature ever were at strife in. + A sound of music touch'd mine ears, or rather + Indeed entranced my soul; as I stole nearer, + Invited by the melody, I saw + This youth, this fair-faced youth, upon his lute + With strains of strange variety and harmony + Proclaiming, as it seem'd, so bold a challenge + To the clear choristers of the woods, the birds, + That as they flock'd about him, all stood silent, + Wondering at what they heard. I wonder'd too. + A nightingale, + Nature's best skill'd musician, undertakes + The challenge; and for every several strain + The well-shaped youth could touch, she sang him down. + He could not run divisions with more art + Upon his quaking instrument than she, + The nightingale, did with her various notes + Reply to. + + Some time thus spent, the young man grew at last + Into a pretty anger, that a bird, + Whom art had never taught cliffs, moods, or notes + Should vie with him for mastery, whose study + Had busied many hours to perfect practice. + To end the controversy, in a rapture + Upon his instrument he plays so swiftly, + So many voluntaries, and so quick, + That there was curiosity and cunning, + Concord in discord, lines of differing method + Meeting in one full centre of delight. + The bird (ordain'd to be + Music's first martyr) strove to imitate + These several sounds; which when her warbling throat + Fail'd in, for grief down dropt she on his lute, + And brake her heart. It was the quaintest sadness + To see the conqueror upon her hearse + To weep a funeral elegy of tears. + He look'd upon the trophies of his art, + Then sigh'd, then wiped his eyes; then sigh'd, and cry'd + "Alas! poor creature, I will soon revenge + This cruelty upon the author of it. + Henceforth this lute, guilty of innocent blood, + Shall never more betray a harmless peace + To an untimely end:" and in that sorrow, + As he was pashing it against a tree, + I suddenly stept in.' + +When I had finished the recitation of this exquisite passage, the sky, +which had been all the afternoon dull and heavy, began to look more +and more threatening; darker clouds, like wreaths of black smoke, flew +across the dead leaden tint; a cooler, damper air blew over the meadows, +and a few large heavy drops splashed in the water. 'We shall have a +storm. Lizzy! May! where are ye? Quick, quick, my Lizzy! run, run! +faster, faster!' + +And off we ran; Lizzy not at all displeased at the thoughts of a +wetting, to which indeed she is almost as familiar as a duck; May, on +the other hand, peering up at the weather, and shaking her pretty ears +with manifest dismay. Of all animals, next to a cat, a greyhound dreads +rain. She might have escaped it; her light feet would have borne her +home long before the shower; but May is too faithful for that, too true +a comrade, understands too well the laws of good-fellowship; so she +waited for us. She did, to be sure, gallop on before, and then stop and +look back, and beckon, as it were, with some scorn in her black eyes at +the slowness of our progress. We in the meanwhile got on as fast as we +could, encouraging and reproaching each other. 'Faster, my Lizzy! Oh, +what a bad runner!'--'Faster, faster! Oh, what a bad runner!' echoed my +saucebox. 'You are so fat, Lizzy, you make no way!'--'Ah! who else is +fat?' retorted the darling. Certainly her mother is right; I do spoil +that child. + +By this time we were thoroughly soaked, all three. It was a pelting +shower, that drove through our thin summer clothing and poor May's short +glossy coat in a moment. And then, when we were wet to the skin, the sun +came out, actually the sun, as if to laugh at our plight; and then, more +provoking still, when the sun was shining, and the shower over, came a +maid and a boy to look after us, loaded with cloaks and umbrellas enough +to fence us against a whole day's rain. Never mind! on we go, faster +and faster; Lizzy obliged to be most ignobly carried, having had the +misfortune to lose a shoe in the mud, which we left the boy to look +after. + +Here we are at home--dripping; but glowing and laughing, and bearing our +calamity most manfully. May, a dog of excellent sense, went instantly +to bed in the stable, and is at this moment over head and ears in straw; +Lizzy is gone to bed too, coaxed into that wise measure by a promise of +tea and toast, and of not going home till to-morrow, and the story of +Little Red Riding Hood; and I am enjoying the luxury of dry clothing by +a good fire. Really getting wet through now and then is no bad thing, +finery apart; for one should not like spoiling a new pelisse, or a +handsome plume; but when there is nothing in question but a white gown +and a straw bonnet, as was the case to-day, it is rather pleasant than +not. The little chill refreshes, and our enjoyment of the subsequent +warmth and dryness is positive and absolute. Besides, the stimulus and +exertion do good to the mind as well as body. How melancholy I was all +the morning! how cheerful I am now! Nothing like a shower-bath--a real +shower-bath, such as Lizzy and May and I have undergone, to cure low +spirits. Try it, my dear readers, if ever ye be nervous--I will answer +for its success. + + + + +THE OLD HOUSE AT ABERLEIGH. + +June 25th.--What a glowing glorious day! Summer in its richest prime, +noon in its most sparkling brightness, little white clouds dappling +the deep blue sky, and the sun, now partially veiled, and now bursting +through them with an intensity of light! It would not do to walk to-day, +professedly to walk,--we should be frightened at the very sound! and yet +it is probable that we may be beguiled into a pretty long stroll before +we return home. We are going to drive to the old house at Aberleigh, to +spend the morning under the shade of those balmy firs, and amongst those +luxuriant rose trees, and by the side of that brimming Loddon river. 'Do +not expect us before six o'clock,' said I, as I left the house; 'Six at +soonest!' added my charming companion; and off we drove in our little +pony chaise, drawn by our old mare, and with the good humoured urchin, +Henry's successor, a sort of younger Scrub, who takes care of horse and +chaise, and cow and garden, for our charioteer. + +My comrade in this homely equipage was a young lady of high family +and higher endowments, to whom the novelty of the thing, and her own +naturalness of character and simplicity of taste, gave an unspeakable +enjoyment. She danced the little chaise up and down as she got into it, +and laughed for very glee like a child, Lizzy herself could not have +been more delighted. She praised the horse and the driver, and the roads +and the scenery, and gave herself fully up to the enchantment of a rural +excursion in the sweetest weather of this sweet season. I enjoyed all +this too; for the road was pleasant to every sense, winding through +narrow lanes, under high elms, and between hedges garlanded with +woodbine and rose trees, whilst the air was scented with the delicious +fragrance of blossomed beans. I enjoyed it all,--but, I believe, my +principal pleasure was derived from my companion herself. + +Emily I. is a person whom it is a privilege to know. She is quite like +a creation of the older poets, and might pass for one of Shakspeare's +or Fletcher's women stepped into life; just as tender, as playful, as +gentle, and as kind. She is clever too, and has all the knowledge and +accomplishments that a carefully-conducted education, acting on a mind +of singular clearness and ductility, matured and improved by the very +best company, can bestow. But one never thinks of her acquirements. It +is the charming artless character, the bewitching sweetness of manner, +the real and universal sympathy, the quick taste and the ardent feeling, +that one loves in Emily. She is Irish by birth, and has in perfection +the melting voice and soft caressing accent by which her fair +countrywomen are distinguished. Moreover she is pretty--I think her +beautiful, and so do all who have heard as well as seen her,--but +pretty, very pretty, all the world must confess; and perhaps that is a +distinction more enviable, because less envied, than the 'palmy state' +of beauty. Her prettiness is of the prettiest kind--that of which the +chief character is youthfulness. A short but pleasing figure, all +grace and symmetry, a fair blooming face, beaming with intelligence +and good-humour; the prettiest little feet and the whitest hands in the +world;--such is Emily I. + +She resides with her maternal grandmother, a venerable old lady, +slightly shaken with the palsy; and when together (and they are so +fondly attached to each other that they are seldom parted), it is one of +the loveliest combinations of youth and age ever witnessed. There is +no seeing them without feeling an increase of respect and affection for +both grandmother and granddaughter--always one of the tenderest and most +beautiful of natural connections--as Richardson knew when he made such +exquisite use of it in his matchless book. I fancy that grandmamma +Shirley must have been just such another venerable lady as Mrs. S., and +our sweet Emily--Oh no! Harriet Byron is not half good enough for her! +There is nothing like her in the whole seven volumes. + +But here we are at the bridge! Here we must alight! 'This is the Loddon, +Emily. Is it not a beautiful river? rising level with its banks, so +clear, and smooth, and peaceful, giving back the verdant landscape +and the bright blue sky, and bearing on its pellucid stream the snowy +water-lily, the purest of flowers, which sits enthroned on its own cool +leaves, looking chastity itself, like the lady in Comus. That queenly +flower becomes the water, and so do the stately swans who are sailing so +majestically down the stream, like those who + + "'On St. Mary's lake + Float double, swan and shadow." + +We must dismount here, and leave Richard to take care of our equipage +under the shade of these trees, whilst we walk up to the house:--See, +there it is! We must cross this stile; there is no other way now.' + +And crossing the stile we were immediately in what had been a drive +round a spacious park, and still retained something of the character, +though the park itself had long been broken into arable fields,--and in +full view of the Great House, a beautiful structure of James the First's +time, whose glassless windows and dilapidated doors form a melancholy +contrast with the strength and entireness of the rich and massive front. + +The story of that ruin--for such it is--is always to me singularly +affecting. It is that of the decay of an ancient and distinguished +family, gradually reduced from the highest wealth and station to actual +poverty. The house and park, and a small estate around it, were entailed +on a distant cousin, and could not be alienated; and the late owner, +the last of his name and lineage, after long struggling with debt and +difficulty, farming his own lands, and clinging to his magnificent home +with a love of place almost as tenacious as that of the younger Foscari, +was at last forced to abandon it, retired to a paltry lodging in a +paltry town, and died there about twenty years ago, broken-hearted. +His successor, bound by no ties of association to the spot, and rightly +judging the residence to be much too large for the diminished estate, +immediately sold the superb fixtures, and would have entirely taken down +the house, if, on making the attempt, the masonry had not been found +so solid that the materials were not worth the labour. A great part, +however, of one side is laid open, and the splendid chambers, with their +carving and gilding, are exposed to the wind and rain--sad memorials +of past grandeur! The grounds have been left in a merciful neglect; the +park, indeed, is broken up, the lawn mown twice a year like a common +hayfield, the grotto mouldering into ruin, and the fishponds choked +with rushes and aquatic plants; but the shrubs and flowering trees are +undestroyed, and have grown into a magnificence of size and wildness of +beauty, such as we may imagine them to attain in their native forests. +Nothing can exceed their luxuriance, especially in the spring, when +the lilac, and laburnum, and double-cherry put forth their gorgeous +blossoms. There is a sweet sadness in the sight of such floweriness +amidst such desolation; it seems the triumph of nature over the +destructive power of man. The whole place, in that season more +particularly, is full of a soft and soothing melancholy, reminding me, I +scarcely know why, of some of the descriptions of natural scenery in the +novels of Charlotte Smith, which I read when a girl, and which, perhaps, +for that reason hang on my memory. + +But here we are, in the smooth grassy ride, on the top of a steep turfy +slope descending to the river, crowned with enormous firs and limes of +equal growth, looking across the winding waters into a sweet peaceful +landscape of quiet meadows, shut in by distant woods. What a fragrance +is in the air from the balmy fir trees and the blossomed limes! What an +intensity of odour! And what a murmur of bees in the lime trees! What a +coil those little winged people make over our heads! And what a pleasant +sound it is! the pleasantest of busy sounds, that which comes associated +with all that is good and beautiful--industry and forecast, and sunshine +and flowers. Surely these lime trees might store a hundred hives; the +very odour is of a honeyed richness, cloying, satiating. + +Emily exclaimed in admiration as we stood under the deep, strong, +leafy shadow, and still more when honeysuckles trailed their untrimmed +profusion in our path, and roses, really trees, almost intercepted our +passage. + +'On, Emily! farther yet! Force your way by that jessamine--it will +yield; I will take care of this stubborn white rose bough.'--'Take care +of yourself! Pray take care,' said my fairest friend; 'let me hold back +the branches.'--After we had won our way through the strait, at some +expense of veils and flounces, she stopped to contemplate and admire +the tall, graceful shrub, whose long thorny stems, spreading in every +direction, had opposed our progress, and now waved their delicate +clusters over our heads. 'Did I ever think,' exclaimed she, 'of standing +under the shadow of a white rose tree! What an exquisite fragrance! And +what a beautiful flower! so pale, and white, and tender, and the petals +thin and smooth as silk! What rose is it?'--'Don't you know? Did you +never see it before? It is rare now, I believe, and seems rarer than it +is, because it only blossoms in very hot summers; but this, Emily, is +the musk rose,--that very musk rose of which Titania talks, and which is +worthy of Shakspeare and of her. Is it not?--No! do not smell to it; it +is less sweet so than other roses; but one cluster in a vase, or even +that bunch in your bosom, will perfume a large room, as it does the +summer air.'--'Oh! we will take twenty clusters,' said Emily. 'I wish +grandmamma were here! She talks so often of a musk rose tree that grew +against one end of her father's house. I wish she were here to see +this!' + +Echoing her wish, and well laden with musk roses, planted perhaps in +the days of Shakspeare, we reached the steps that led to a square +summer-house or banqueting-room, overhanging the river: the under part +was a boat-house, whose projecting roof, as well as the walls and the +very top of the little tower, was covered with ivy and woodbine, and +surmounted by tufted barberries, bird cherries, acacias, covered with +their snowy chains, and other pendent and flowering trees. Beyond rose +two poplars of unrivalled magnitude, towering like stately columns over +the dark tall firs, and giving a sort of pillared and architectural +grandeur to the scene. + +We were now close to the mansion; but it looked sad and desolate, and +the entrance, choked with brambles and nettles, seemed almost to repel +our steps. The summer-house, the beautiful summer-house, was free and +open, and inviting, commanding from the unglazed windows, which hung +high above the water, a reach of the river terminated by a rustic mill. + +There we sat, emptying our little basket of fruit and country cakes, +till Emily was seized with a desire of viewing, from the other side of +the Loddon, the scenery which had so much enchanted her. 'I must,' said +she, 'take a sketch of the ivied boat-house, and of this sweet room, and +this pleasant window;--grandmamma would never be able to walk from the +road to see the place itself, but she must see its likeness.' So forth +we sallied, not forgetting the dear musk roses. + +We had no way of reaching the desired spot but by retracing our steps a +mile, during the heat of the hottest hour of the day, and then following +the course of the river to an equal distance on the other side; nor +had we any materials for sketching, except the rumpled paper which had +contained our repast, and a pencil without a point which I happened to +have about me. But these small difficulties are pleasures to gay and +happy youth. Regardless of such obstacles, the sweet Emily bounded on +like a fawn, and I followed delighting in her delight. The sun went in, +and the walk was delicious; a reviving coolness seemed to breathe over +the water, wafting the balmy scent of the firs and limes; we found a +point of view presenting the boat-house, the water, the poplars, and the +mill, in a most felicitous combination; the little straw fruit basket +made a capital table; and refreshed and sharpened and pointed by our +trusty lacquey's excellent knife (your country boy is never without +a good knife, it is his prime treasure), the pencil did double +duty;--first in the skilful hands of Emily, whose faithful and spirited +sketch does equal honour to the scene and to the artist, and then in the +humbler office of attempting a faint transcript of my own impressions in +the following sonnet:-- + + It was an hour of calmest noon, at day + Of ripest summer: o'er the deep blue sky + White speckled clouds came sailing peacefully, + Half-shrouding in a chequer'd veil the ray + Of the sun, too ardent else,--what time we lay + By the smooth Loddon, opposite the high + Steep bank, which as a coronet gloriously + Wore its rich crest of firs and lime trees, gay + With their pale tassels; while from out a bower + Of ivy (where those column'd poplars rear + Their heads) the ruin'd boat-house, like a tower, + Flung its deep shadow on the waters clear. + My Emily! forget not that calm hour, + Nor that fair scene, by thee made doubly dear! + + + + +THE HARD SUMMER. + +August 15th.--Cold, cloudy, windy, wet. Here we are, in the midst of +the dog-days, clustering merrily round the warm hearth like so many +crickets, instead of chirruping in the green fields like that other +merry insect the grasshopper; shivering under the influence of the +Jupiter Pluvius of England, the watery St. Swithin; peering at that +scarce personage the sun, when he happens to make his appearance, as +intently as astronomers look after a comet, or the common people stare +at a balloon; exclaiming against the cold weather, just as we used to +exclaim against the warm. 'What a change from last year!' is the first +sentence you hear, go where you may. Everybody remarks it, and everybody +complains of it; and yet in my mind it has its advantages, or at least +its compensations, as everything in nature has, if we would only take +the trouble to seek for them. + +Last year, in spite of the love which we are now pleased to profess +towards that ardent luminary, not one of the sun's numerous admirers had +courage to look him in the face: there was no bearing the world till he +had said 'Good-night' to it. Then we might stir: then we began to wake +and to live. All day long we languished under his influence in a strange +dreaminess, too hot to work, too hot to read, too hot to write, too hot +even to talk; sitting hour after hour in a green arbour, embowered +in leafiness, letting thought and fancy float as they would. Those +day-dreams were pretty things in their way; there is no denying that. +But then, if one half of the world were to dream through a whole summer, +like the sleeping Beauty in the wood, what would become of the other? + +The only office requiring the slightest exertion, which I performed in +that warm weather, was watering my flowers. Common sympathy called for +that labour. The poor things withered, and faded, and pined away; they +almost, so to say, panted for draught. Moreover, if I had not watered +them myself, I suspect that no one else would; for water last year was +nearly as precious hereabout as wine. Our land-springs were dried up; +our wells were exhausted; our deep ponds were dwindling into mud; and +geese, and ducks, and pigs, and laundresses, used to look with a jealous +and suspicious eye on the few and scanty half-buckets of that impure +element, which my trusty lacquey was fain to filch for my poor geraniums +and campanulas and tuberoses. We were forced to smuggle them in through +my faithful adherent's territories, the stable, to avoid lectures within +doors and at last even that resource failed; my garden, my blooming +garden, the joy of my eyes, was forced to go waterless like its +neighbours, and became shrivelled, scorched, and sunburnt, like them. It +really went to my heart to look at it. + +On the other side of the house matters were still worse. What a dusty +world it was, when about sunset we became cool enough to creep into +it! Flowers in the court looking fit for a 'hortus siccus;' mummies of +plants, dried as in an oven; hollyhocks, once pink, turned into Quakers; +cloves smelling of dust. Oh, dusty world! May herself looked of that +complexion; so did Lizzy; so did all the houses, windows, chickens, +children, trees, and pigs in the village; so above all did the shoes. +No foot could make three plunges into that abyss of pulverised gravel, +which had the impudence to call itself a hard road, without being +clothed with a coat a quarter of an inch thick. Woe to white gowns! woe +to black! Drab was your only wear. + +Then, when we were out of the street, what a toil it was to mount the +hill, climbing with weary steps and slow upon the brown turf by the +wayside, slippery, hot, and hard as a rock! And then if we happened to +meet a carriage coming along the middle of the road,--the bottomless +middle,--what a sandy whirlwind it was! What choking! what suffocation! +No state could be more pitiable, except indeed that of the travellers +who carried this misery about with them. I shall never forget the plight +in which we met the coach one evening in last August, full an hour after +its time, steeds and driver, carriage and passengers, all one dust. The +outsides, and the horses, and the coachman, seemed reduced to a torpid +quietness, the resignation of despair. They had left off trying +to better their condition, and taken refuge in a wise and patient +hopelessness, bent to endure in silence the extremity of ill. The six +insides, on the contrary, were still fighting against their fate, +vainly struggling to ameliorate their hapless destiny. They were visibly +grumbling at the weather, scolding at the dust, and heating themselves +like a furnace, by striving against the heat. How well I remember the +fat gentleman without his coat, who was wiping his forehead, heaving up +his wig, and certainly uttering that English ejaculation, which, to +our national reproach, is the phrase of our language best known on the +continent. And that poor boy, red-hot, all in a flame, whose mamma, +having divested her own person of all superfluous apparel, was trying to +relieve his sufferings by the removal of his neckerchief--an operation +which he resisted with all his might. How perfectly I remember him, as +well as the pale girl who sat opposite, fanning herself with her bonnet +into an absolute fever! They vanished after a while into their own dust; +but I have them all before my eyes at this moment, a companion picture +to Hogarth's 'Afternoon,' a standing lesson to the grumblers at cold +summers. + +For my part, I really like this wet season. It keeps us within, to be +sure, rather more than is quite agreeable; but then we are at least +awake and alive there, and the world out of doors is so much the +pleasanter when we can get abroad. Everything does well, except those +fastidious bipeds, men and women; corn ripens, grass grows, fruit is +plentiful; there is no lack of birds to eat it, and there has not been +such a wasp-season these dozen years. My garden wants no watering, and +is more beautiful than ever, beating my old rival in that primitive art, +the pretty wife of the little mason, out and out. Measured with mine, +her flowers are naught. Look at those hollyhocks, like pyramids of +roses; those garlands of the convolvulus major of all colours, hanging +around that tall pole, like the wreathy hop-bine; those magnificent +dusky cloves, breathing of the Spice Islands; those flaunting double +dahlias; those splendid scarlet geraniums, and those fierce and warlike +flowers the tiger-lilies. Oh, how beautiful they are! Besides, the +weather clears sometimes--it has cleared this evening; and here are +we, after a merry walk up the hill, almost as quick as in the winter, +bounding lightly along the bright green turf of the pleasant common, +enticed by the gay shouts of a dozen clear young voices, to linger +awhile, and see the boys play at cricket. + +I plead guilty to a strong partiality towards that unpopular class of +beings, country boys: I have a large acquaintance amongst them, and I +can almost say, that I know good of many and harm of none. In general +they are an open, spirited, good-humoured race, with a proneness +to embrace the pleasures and eschew the evils of their condition, a +capacity for happiness, quite unmatched in man, or woman, or a girl. +They are patient, too, and bear their fate as scape-goats (for all sins +whatsoever are laid as matters of course to their door), whether at home +or abroad, with amazing resignation and, considering the many lies of +which they are the objects, they tell wonderfully few in return. The +worst that can be said of them is, that they seldom, when grown to +man's estate, keep the promise of their boyhood; but that is a fault to +come--a fault that may not come, and ought not to be anticipated. It is +astonishing how sensible they are to notice from their betters, or those +whom they think such. I do not speak of money, or gifts, or praise, or +the more coarse and common briberies--they are more delicate courtiers; +a word, a nod, a smile, or the mere calling of them by their names, is +enough to ensure their hearts and their services. Half a dozen of them, +poor urchins, have run away now to bring us chairs from their several +homes. 'Thank you, Joe Kirby!--you are always first--yes, that is +just the place--I shall see everything there. Have you been in yet, +Joe?'--'No, ma'am! I go in next.'--'Ah, I am glad of that--and now's +the time. Really that was a pretty ball of Jem Eusden's!--I was sure it +would go to the wicket. Run, Joe! They are waiting for you.' There +was small need to bid Joe Kirby make haste; I think he is, next to +a race-horse, or a greyhound, or a deer, the fastest creature that +runs--the most completely alert and active. Joe is mine especial friend, +and leader of the 'tender juveniles,' as Joel Brent is of the adults. +In both instances this post of honour was gained by merit, even more +remarkably so in Joe's case than in Joel's; for Joe is a less boy than +many of his companions (some of whom are fifteeners and sixteeners, +quite as tall and nearly as old as Tom Coper), and a poorer than all, +as may be conjectured from the lamentable state of that patched round +frock, and the ragged condition of those unpatched shoes, which would +encumber, if anything could, the light feet that wear them. But why +should I lament the poverty that never troubles him? Joe is the merriest +and happiest creature that ever lived twelve years in this wicked world. +Care cannot come near him. He hath a perpetual smile on his round ruddy +face, and a laugh in his hazel eye, that drives the witch away. He works +at yonder farm on the top of the hill, where he is in such repute for +intelligence and good-humour, that he has the honour of performing all +the errands of the house, of helping the maid, the mistress, and the +master, in addition to his own stated office of carter's boy. There he +works hard from five till seven, and then he comes here to work still +harder, under the name of play--batting, bowling, and fielding, as if +for life, filling the place of four boys; being, at a pinch, a whole +eleven. The late Mr. Knyvett, the king's organist, who used in his own +person to sing twenty parts at once of the Hallelujah Chorus, so that +you would have thought he had a nest of nightingales in his throat, +was but a type of Joe Kirby. There is a sort of ubiquity about him; he +thinks nothing of being in two places at once, and for pitching a ball, +William Grey himself is nothing to him. It goes straight to the mark +like a bullet. He is king of the cricketers from eight to sixteen, +both inclusive, and an excellent ruler he makes. Nevertheless, in the +best-ordered states there will be grumblers, and we have an opposition +here in the shape of Jem Eusden. + +Jem Eusden is a stunted lad of thirteen, or thereabout, lean, small, and +short, yet strong and active. His face is of an extraordinary ugliness, +colourless, withered, haggard, with a look of extreme age, much +increased by hair so light that it might rather pass for white than +flaxen. He is constantly arrayed in the blue cap and old-fashioned coat, +the costume of an endowed school to which he belongs; where he sits +still all day, and rushes into the field at night, fresh, untired, and +ripe for action, to scold and brawl, and storm, and bluster. He hates +Joe Kirby, whose immovable good-humour, broad smiles, and knowing nods, +must certainly be very provoking to so fierce and turbulent a spirit; +and he has himself (being, except by rare accident, no great player) the +preposterous ambition of wishing to be manager of the sports. In short, +he is a demagogue in embryo, with every quality necessary to a splendid +success in that vocation,--a strong voice, a fluent utterance, an +incessant iteration, and a frontless impudence. He is a great 'scholar' +too, to use the country phrase; his 'piece,' as our village schoolmaster +terms a fine sheet of flourishing writing, something between a valentine +and a sampler, enclosed within a border of little coloured prints--his +last, I remember, was encircled by an engraved history of Moses, +beginning at the finding in the bulrushes, with Pharaoh's daughter +dressed in a rose-coloured gown and blue feathers--his piece is not +only the admiration of the school, but of the parish, and is sent +triumphantly round from house to house at Christmas, to extort halfpence +and sixpences from all encouragers of learning--Montem in miniature. +The Mosaic history was so successful, that the produce enabled Jem to +purchase a bat and ball, which, besides adding to his natural arrogance +(for the little pedant actually began to mutter against being eclipsed +by a dunce, and went so far as to challenge Joe Kirby to a trial in +Practice, or the Rule of Three), gave him, when compared with the +general poverty, a most unnatural preponderance in the cricket state. He +had the ways and means in his hands (for alas! the hard winter had made +sad havoc among the bats, and the best ball was a bad one)--he had the +ways and means, could withhold the supplies, and his party was beginning +to wax strong, when Joe received a present of two bats and a ball for +the youngsters in general and himself in particular--and Jem's adherents +left him on the spot--they ratted, to a man, that very evening. +Notwithstanding this desertion, their forsaken leader has in nothing +relaxed from his pretensions, or his ill-humour. He stills quarrels +and brawls as if he had a faction to back him, and thinks nothing of +contending with both sides, the ins and the outs, secure of out-talking +the whole field. He has been squabbling these ten minutes, and is just +marching off now with his own bat (he has never deigned to use one of +Joe's) in his hand. What an ill-conditioned hobgoblin it is! And yet +there is something bold and sturdy about him too. I should miss Jem +Eusden. + +Ah, there is another deserter from the party! my friend the little +hussar--I do not know his name, and call him after his cap and jacket. +He is a very remarkable person, about the age of eight years, the +youngest piece of gravity and dignity I ever encountered; short, +and square, and upright, and slow, with a fine bronzed flat +visage, resembling those convertible signs the Broad-Face and the +Saracen's-Head, which, happening to be next-door neighbours in the +town of B., I never knew apart, resembling, indeed, any face that is +open-eyed and immovable, the very sign of a boy! He stalks about with +his hands in his breeches pockets, like a piece of machinery; sits +leisurely down when he ought to field, and never gets farther in batting +than to stop the ball. His is the only voice never heard in the melee: +I doubt, indeed, if he have one, which may be partly the reason of a +circumstance that I record to his honour, his fidelity to Jem Eusden, +to whom he has adhered through every change of fortune, with a tenacity +proceeding perhaps from an instinctive consciousness that the loquacious +leader talks enough for two. He is the only thing resembling a follower +that our demagogue possesses, and is cherished by him accordingly. +Jem quarrels for him, scolds for him, pushes for him; and but for +Joe Kirby's invincible good-humour, and a just discrimination of the +innocent from the guilty, the activity of Jem's friendship would get the +poor hussar ten drubbings a day. + +But it is growing late. The sun has set a long time. Only see what a +gorgeous colouring has spread itself over those parting masses of clouds +in the west,--what a train of rosy light! We shall have a fine sunshiny +day to-morrow,--a blessing not to be undervalued, in spite of my late +vituperation of heat. Shall we go home now? And shall we take the +longest but prettiest road, that by the green lanes? This way, to the +left, round the corner of the common, past Mr. Welles's cottage, and +our path lies straight before us. How snug and comfortable that cottage +looks! Its little yard all alive with the cow, and the mare, and the +colt almost as large as the mare, and the young foal, and the great +yard-dog, all so fat! Fenced in with hay-rick, and wheat-rick, and +bean-stack, and backed by the long garden, the spacious drying-ground, +the fine orchard, and that large field quartered into four different +crops. How comfortable this cottage looks, and how well the owners earn +their comforts! They are the most prosperous pair in the parish--she +a laundress with twenty times more work than she can do, unrivalled in +flounces and shirt-frills, and such delicacies of the craft; he, partly +a farmer, partly a farmer's man, tilling his own ground, and then +tilling other people's;--affording a proof, even in this declining age, +when the circumstances of so many worthy members of the community seem +to have 'an alacrity in sinking,' that it is possible to amend them +by sheer industry. He, who was born in the workhouse, and bred up as +a parish boy, has now, by mere manual labour, risen to the rank of a +land-owner, pays rates and taxes, grumbles at the times, and is called +Master Welles,--the title next to Mister--that by which Shakspeare was +called;--what would man have more? His wife, besides being the best +laundress in the county, is a comely woman still. There she stands at +the spring, dipping up water for to-morrow,--the clear, deep, silent +spring, which sleeps so peacefully under its high flowery bank, red with +the tall spiral stalks of the foxglove and their rich pendent bells, +blue with the beautiful forget-me-not, that gem-like blossom, which +looks like a living jewel of turquoise and topaz. It is almost too late +to see its beauty; and here is the pleasant shady lane, where the high +elms will shut out the little twilight that remains. Ah, but we shall +have the fairies' lamps to guide us, the stars of the earth, the +glow-worms! Here they are, three almost together. Do you not see them? +One seems tremulous, vibrating, as if on the extremity of a leaf of +grass; the others are deeper in the hedge, in some green cell on +which their light falls with an emerald lustre. I hope my friends the +cricketers will not come this way home. I would not have the pretty +creatures removed for more than I care to say, and in this matter I +would hardly trust Joe Kirby--boys so love to stick them in their hats. +But this lane is quite deserted. It is only a road from field to field. +No one comes here at this hour. They are quite safe; and I shall walk +here to-morrow and visit them again. And now, goodnight! beautiful +insects, lamps of the fairies, good-night! + + + + +THE SHAW. + +September 9th.--A bright sunshiny afternoon. What a comfort it is to +get out again--to see once more that rarity of rarities, a fine day! We +English people are accused of talking overmuch of the weather; but the +weather, this summer, has forced people to talk of it. Summer! did +I say? Oh! season most unworthy of that sweet, sunny name! Season of +coldness and cloudiness, of gloom and rain! A worse November!--for in +November the days are short; and shut up in a warm room, lighted by that +household sun, a lamp, one feels through the long evenings comfortably +independent of the out-of-door tempests. But though we may have, and did +have, fires all through the dog-days, there is no shutting out daylight; +and sixteen hours of rain, pattering against the windows and dripping +from the eaves--sixteen hours of rain, not merely audible, but visible +for seven days in the week--would be enough to exhaust the patience of +Job or Grizzel; especially if Job were a farmer, and Grizzel a country +gentlewoman. Never was known such a season! Hay swimming, cattle +drowning, fruit rotting, corn spoiling! and that naughty river, the +Loddon, who never can take Puff's advice, and 'keep between its banks,' +running about the country, fields, roads, gardens, and houses, like +mad! The weather would be talked of. Indeed, it was not easy to talk of +anything else. A friend of mine having occasion to write me a letter, +thought it worth abusing in rhyme, and bepommelled it through three +pages of Bath-guide verse; of which I subjoin a specimen:-- + + 'Aquarius surely REIGNS over the world, + And of late he his water-pot strangely has twirl'd; + Or he's taken a cullender up by mistake, + And unceasingly dips it in some mighty lake; + Though it is not in Lethe--for who can forget + The annoyance of getting most thoroughly wet? + It must be in the river called Styx, I declare, + For the moment it drizzles it makes the men swear. + "It did rain to-morrow," is growing good grammar; + Vauxhall and camp-stools have been brought to the hammer; + A pony-gondola is all I can keep, + And I use my umbrella and pattens in sleep: + Row out of my window, whene'er 'tis my whim + To visit a friend, and just ask, "Can you swim?"' + +So far my friend. * In short, whether in prose or in verse, everybody +railed at the weather. But this is over now. The sun has come to dry the +world; mud is turned into dust; rivers have retreated to their proper +limits; farmers have left off grumbling; and we are about to take a +walk, as usual, as far as the Shaw, a pretty wood about a mile off. But +one of our companions being a stranger to the gentle reader, we must do +him the honour of an introduction. + + *This friend of mine is a person of great quickness and + talent, who, if she were not a beauty and a woman of + fortune--that is to say, if she were prompted by either of + those two powerful stimuli, want of money or want of + admiration, to take due pains--would inevitably become a + clever writer. As it is, her notes and 'jeux d'esprit' + struck off 'a trait de plume,' have great point and + neatness. Take the following billet, which formed the label + to a closed basket, containing the ponderous present alluded + to, last Michaelmas day:-- + + 'To Miss M. + "When this you see + Remember me," + Was long a phrase in use; + And so I send + To you, dear friend, + My proxy, "What?"--A goose!' + + +Dogs, when they are sure of having their own way, have sometimes ways as +odd as those of the unfurred, unfeathered animals, who walk on two +legs, and talk, and are called rational. My beautiful white greyhound, +Mayflower,* for instance, is as whimsical as the finest lady in the +land. Amongst her other fancies, she has taken a violent affection for +a most hideous stray dog, who made his appearance here about six months +ago, and contrived to pick up a living in the village, one can hardly +tell how. Now appealing to the charity of old Rachael Strong, the +laundress--a dog-lover by profession; now winning a meal from the +lightfooted and open-hearted lasses at the Rose; now standing on his +hind-legs, to extort by sheer beggary a scanty morsel from some pair of +'drouthy cronies,' or solitary drover, discussing his dinner or supper +on the alehouse-bench; now catching a mouthful, flung to him in pure +contempt by some scornful gentleman of the shoulder-knot, mounted on +his throne, the coach-box, whose notice he had attracted by dint of +ugliness; now sharing the commons of Master Keep the shoemaker's pigs; +now succeeding to the reversion of the well-gnawed bone of Master Brown +the shopkeeper's fierce house-dog; now filching the skim-milk of Dame +Wheeler's cat:--spit at by the cat; worried by the mastiff; chased by +the pigs; screamed at by the dame; stormed at by the shoemaker; flogged +by the shopkeeper; teased by all the children, and scouted by all the +animals of the parish;--but yet living through his griefs, and bearing +them patiently, 'for sufferance is the badge of all his tribe;'--and +even seeming to find, in an occasional full meal, or a gleam of +sunshine, or a wisp of dry straw on which to repose his sorry carcase, +some comfort in his disconsolate condition. + +*Dead, alas, since this was written. + +In this plight was he found by May, the most high-blooded and +aristocratic of greyhounds; and from this plight did May rescue +him;--invited him into her territory, the stable; resisted all attempts +to turn him out; reinstated him there, in spite of maid and boy, and +mistress and master; wore out everybody's opposition, by the activity of +her protection, and the pertinacity of her self-will; made him sharer +of her bed and of her mess; and, finally, established him as one of the +family as firmly as herself. + +Dash--for he has even won himself a name amongst us, before he was +anonymous--Dash is a sort of a kind of a spaniel; at least there is in +his mongrel composition some sign of that beautiful race. Besides his +ugliness, which is of the worst sort--that is to say, the shabbiest--he +has a limp on one leg that gives a peculiar one-sided awkwardness to his +gait; but independently of his great merit in being May's pet, he has +other merits which serve to account for that phenomenon--being, beyond +all comparison, the most faithful, attached, and affectionate animal +that I have ever known; and that is saying much. He seems to think it +necessary to atone for his ugliness by extra good conduct, and does so +dance on his lame leg, and so wag his scrubby tail, that it does any one +who has a taste for happiness good to look at him--so that he may now be +said to stand on his own footing. We are all rather ashamed of him when +strangers come in the way, and think it necessary to explain that he +is May's pet; but amongst ourselves, and those who are used to his +appearance, he has reached the point of favouritism in his own person. +I have, in common with wiser women, the feminine weakness of loving +whatever loves me--and, therefore, I like Dash. His master has found out +that he is a capital finder, and in spite of his lameness will hunt a +field or beat a cover with any spaniel in England--and, therefore, HE +likes Dash. The boy has fought a battle, in defence of his beauty, +with another boy, bigger than himself, and beat his opponent most +handsomely--and, therefore, HE likes Dash; and the maids like him, or +pretend to like him, because we do--as is the fashion of that pliant +and imitative class. And now Dash and May follow us everywhere, and are +going with us to the Shaw, as I said before--or rather to the cottage by +the Shaw, to bespeak milk and butter of our little dairy-woman, Hannah +Bint--a housewifely occupation, to which we owe some of our pleasantest +rambles. + +And now we pass the sunny, dusty village street--who would have thought, +a month ago, that we should complain of sun and dust again!--and turn +the corner where the two great oaks hang so beautifully over the clear +deep pond, mixing their cool green shadows with the bright blue sky, and +the white clouds that flit over it; and loiter at the wheeler's shop, +always picturesque, with its tools, and its work, and its materials, all +so various in form, and so harmonious in colour; and its noise, merry +workmen, hammering and singing, and making a various harmony also. The +shop is rather empty to-day, for its usual inmates are busy on the green +beyond the pond--one set building a cart, another painting a waggon. And +then we leave the village quite behind, and proceed slowly up the cool, +quiet lane, between tall hedgerows of the darkest verdure, overshadowing +banks green and fresh as an emerald. + +Not so quick as I expected, though--for they are shooting here to-day, +as Dash and I have both discovered: he with great delight, for a gun +to him is as a trumpet to a war-horse; I with no less annoyance, for +I don't think that a partridge itself, barring the accident of being +killed, can be more startled than I at that abominable explosion. Dash +has certainly better blood in his veins than any one would guess to +look at him. He even shows some inclination to elope into the fields, +in pursuit of those noisy iniquities. But he is an orderly person after +all, and a word has checked him. + +Ah! here is a shriller din mingling with the small artillery--a shriller +and more continuous. We are not yet arrived within sight of Master +Weston's cottage, snugly hidden behind a clump of elms; but we are in +full hearing of Dame Weston's tongue, raised as usual to scolding pitch. +The Westons are new arrivals in our neighbourhood, and the first thing +heard of them was a complaint from the wife to our magistrate of +her husband's beating her: it was a regular charge of assault--an +information in full form. A most piteous case did Dame Weston make of +it, softening her voice for the nonce into a shrill tremulous whine, and +exciting the mingled pity and anger--pity towards herself, anger towards +her husband--of the whole female world, pitiful and indignant as the +female world is wont to be on such occasions. Every woman in the parish +railed at Master Weston; and poor Master Weston was summoned to attend +the bench on the ensuing Saturday, and answer the charge; and such was +the clamour abroad and at home, that the unlucky culprit, terrified at +the sound of a warrant and a constable, ran away, and was not heard of +for a fortnight. + +At the end of that time he was discovered, and brought to the bench; and +Dame Weston again told her story, and, as before, on the full cry. +She had no witnesses, and the bruises of which she made complaint had +disappeared, and there were no women present to make common cause with +the sex. Still, however, the general feeling was against Master Weston; +and it would have gone hard with him when he was called in, if a most +unexpected witness had not risen up in his favour. His wife had brought +in her arms a little girl about eighteen months old, partly perhaps to +move compassion in her favour; for a woman with a child in her arms is +always an object that excites kind feelings. The little girl had looked +shy and frightened, and had been as quiet as a lamb during her mother's +examination; but she no sooner saw her father, from whom she had been a +fortnight separated, than she clapped her hands, and laughed, and cried, +'Daddy! daddy!' and sprang into his arms, and hung round his neck, +and covered him with kisses--again shouting, 'Daddy, come home! daddy! +daddy!'--and finally nestled her little head in his bosom, with a +fulness of contentment, an assurance of tenderness and protection such +as no wife-beating tyrant ever did inspire, or ever could inspire, since +the days of King Solomon. Our magistrates acted in the very spirit of +the Jewish monarch: they accepted the evidence of nature, and dismissed +the complaint. And subsequent events have fully justified their +decision; Mistress Weston proving not only renowned for the feminine +accomplishment of scolding (tongue-banging, it is called in our parts, +a compound word which deserves to be Greek), but is actually herself +addicted to administering the conjugal discipline, the infliction of +which she was pleased to impute to her luckless husband. + +Now we cross the stile, and walk up the fields to the Shaw. How +beautifully green this pasture looks! and how finely the evening sun +glances between the boles of that clump of trees, beech, and ash, and +aspen! and how sweet the hedgerows are with woodbine and wild scabious, +or, as the country people call it, the gipsy-rose! Here is little Dolly +Weston, the unconscious witness, with cheeks as red as a real rose, +tottering up the path to meet her father. And here is the carroty-poled +urchin, George Coper, returning from work, and singing 'Home! sweet +Home!' at the top of his voice; and then, when the notes prove too +high for him, continuing the air in a whistle, until he has turned the +impassable corner; then taking up again the song and the words, 'Home! +sweet Home!' and looking as if he felt their full import, ploughboy +though he be. And so he does; for he is one of a large, an honest, a +kind, and an industrious family, where all goes well, and where the poor +ploughboy is sure of finding cheerful faces and coarse comforts--all +that he has learned to desire. Oh, to be as cheaply and as thoroughly +contented as George Coper! All his luxuries a cricket-match!--all his +wants satisfied in 'home! sweet home!' + +Nothing but noises to-day! They are clearing Farmer Brooke's great +bean-field, and crying the 'Harvest Home!' in a chorus, before which all +other sounds--the song, the scolding, the gunnery--fade away, and become +faint echoes. A pleasant noise is that! though, for one's ears' sake, +one makes some haste to get away from it. And here, in happy time, is +that pretty wood, the Shaw, with its broad pathway, its tangled dingles, +its nuts and its honeysuckles;--and, carrying away a faggot of those +sweetest flowers, we reach Hannah Bint's: of whom, and of whose doings, +we shall say more another time. + +NOTE.--Poor Dash is also dead. We did not keep him long, indeed I +believe that he died of the transition from starvation to good feed, +as dangerous to a dog's stomach, and to most stomachs, as the less +agreeable change from good feed to starvation. He has been succeeded in +place and favour by another Dash, not less amiable in demeanour and far +more creditable in appearance, bearing no small resemblance to the +pet spaniel of my friend Master Dinely, he who stole the bone from the +magpies, and who figures as the first Dash of this volume. Let not the +unwary reader opine, that in assigning the same name to three several +individuals, I am acting as an humble imitator of the inimitable writer +who has given immortality to the Peppers and the Mustards, on the one +hand; or showing a poverty of invention or a want of acquaintance with +the bead-roll of canine appellations on the other. I merely, with my +usual scrupulous fidelity, take the names as I find them. The fact is +that half the handsome spaniels in England are called Dash, just as half +the tall footmen are called Thomas. The name belongs to the species. +Sitting in an open carriage one day last summer at the door of a +farmhouse where my father had some business, I saw a noble and beautiful +animal of this kind lying in great state and laziness on the steps, and +felt an immediate desire to make acquaintance with him. My father, who +had had the same fancy, had patted him and called him 'poor fellow' in +passing, without eliciting the smallest notice in return. 'Dash!' cried +I at a venture, 'good Dash! noble Dash!' and up he started in a moment, +making but one spring from the door into the gig. Of course I was right +in my guess. The gentleman's name was Dash. + + + + +NUTTING. + +September 26th.--One of those delicious autumnal days, when the air, the +sky, and the earth seem lulled into a universal calm, softer and milder +even than May. We sallied forth for a walk, in a mood congenial to the +weather and the season, avoiding, by mutual consent, the bright +and sunny common, and the gay highroad, and stealing through shady, +unfrequented lanes, where we were not likely to meet any one,--not even +the pretty family procession which in other years we used to contemplate +with so much interest--the father, mother, and children, returning from +the wheat-field, the little ones laden with bristling close-tied bunches +of wheat-ears, their own gleanings, or a bottle and a basket which had +contained their frugal dinner, whilst the mother would carry her babe +hushing and lulling it, and the father and an elder child trudged after +with the cradle, all seeming weary and all happy. We shall not see such +a procession as this to-day; for the harvest is nearly over, the fields +are deserted, the silence may almost be felt. Except the wintry notes +of the redbreast, nature herself is mute. But how beautiful, how gentle, +how harmonious, how rich! The rain has preserved to the herbage all +the freshness and verdure of spring, and the world of leaves has lost +nothing of its midsummer brightness, and the harebell is on the banks, +and the woodbine in the hedges, and the low furze, which the lambs +cropped in the spring, has burst again into its golden blossoms. + +All is beautiful that the eye can see; perhaps the more beautiful for +being shut in with a forest-like closeness. We have no prospect in +this labyrinth of lanes, cross-roads, mere cart-ways, leading to the +innumerable little farms into which this part of the parish is divided. +Up-hill or down, these quiet woody lanes scarcely give us a peep at the +world, except when, leaning over a gate, we look into one of the small +enclosures, hemmed in with hedgerows, so closely set with growing +timber, that the meady opening looks almost like a glade in a wood; +or when some cottage, planted at a corner of one of the little greens +formed by the meeting of these cross-ways, almost startles us by the +unexpected sight of the dwellings of men in such a solitude. But that +we have more of hill and dale, and that our cross-roads are excellent in +their kind, this side of our parish would resemble the description given +of La Vendee, in Madame Laroche-Jacquelin's most interesting book.* I am +sure if wood can entitle a country to be called Le Bocage, none can +have a better right to the name. Even this pretty snug farmhouse on +the hillside, with its front covered with the rich vine, which goes +wreathing up to the very top of the clustered chimney, and its sloping +orchard full of fruit--even this pretty quiet nest can hardly peep out +of its leaves. Ah! they are gathering in the orchard harvest. Look at +that young rogue in the old mossy apple-tree--that great tree, bending +with the weight of its golden-rennets--see how he pelts his little +sister beneath with apples as red and as round as her own cheeks, while +she, with her outstretched frock, is trying to catch them, and laughing +and offering to pelt again as often as one bobs against her; and look at +that still younger imp, who, as grave as a judge, is creeping on +hands and knees under the tree, picking up the apples as they fall so +deedily,** and depositing them so honestly in the great basket on the +grass, already fixed so firmly and opened so widely, and filled almost +to overflowing by the brown rough fruitage of the golden-rennet's next +neighbour the russeting; and see that smallest urchin of all, seated +apart in infantine state on the turfy bank, with that toothsome piece +of deformity a crumpling in each hand, now biting from one sweet, hard, +juicy morsel and now from another--Is not that a pretty English picture? +And then, farther up the orchard, that bold hardy lad, the eldest born, +who has scaled (Heaven knows how) the tall, straight upper branch +of that great pear-tree, and is sitting there as securely and as +fearlessly, in as much real safety and apparent danger, as a sailor on +the top-mast. Now he shakes the tree with a mighty swing that brings +down a pelting shower of stony bergamots, which the father gathers +rapidly up, whilst the mother can hardly assist for her motherly fear--a +fear which only spurs the spirited boy to bolder ventures. Is not that a +pretty picture? And they are such a handsome family too, the Brookers. +I do not know that there is any gipsy blood, but there is the true +gipsy complexion, richly brown, with cheeks and lips so red, black +hair curling close to their heads in short crisp rings, white shining +teeth--and such eyes!--That sort of beauty entirely eclipses your mere +roses and lilies. Even Lizzy, the prettiest of fair children, would look +poor and watery by the side of Willy Brooker, the sober little personage +who is picking up the apples with his small chubby hands, and filling +the basket so orderly, next to his father the most useful man in the +field. 'Willy!' He hears without seeing; for we are quite hidden by +the high bank, and a spreading hawthorn bush that overtops it, though +between the lower branches and the grass we have found a convenient +peep-hole. 'Willy!' The voice sounds to him like some fairy dream, and +the black eyes are raised from the ground with sudden wonder, the long +silky eyelashes thrown back till they rest on the delicate brow, and a +deeper blush is burning on those dark cheeks, and a smile is dimpling +about those scarlet lips. But the voice is silent now, and the little +quiet boy, after a moment's pause, is gone coolly to work again. He +is indeed a most lovely child. I think some day or other he must marry +Lizzy; I shall propose the match to their respective mammas. At present +the parties are rather too young for a wedding--the intended bridegroom +being, as I should judge, six, or thereabout, and the fair bride +barely five,--but at least we might have a betrothment after the royal +fashion,--there could be no harm in that. Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, +would be as demure and coquettish as if ten winters more had gone over +her head, and poor Willy would open his innocent black eyes, and wonder +what was going forward. They would be the very Oberon and Titania of the +village, the fairy king and queen. + +*An almost equally interesting account of that very peculiar and +interesting scenery, may be found in The Maid of La Vendee, an English +novel, remarkable for its simplicity and truth of painting, written by +Mrs. Le Noir, the daughter of Christopher Smart, an inheritrix of much +of his talent. Her works deserve to be better known. + +**'Deedily,'--I am not quite sure that this word is good English; but it +is genuine Hampshire, and is used by the most correct of female writers, +Miss Austen. It means (and it is no small merit that it has no exact +synonym) anything done with a profound and plodding attention, an action +which engrosses all the powers of mind and body. + +Ah! here is the hedge along which the periwinkle wreathes and twines so +profusely, with its evergreen leaves shining like the myrtle, and its +starry blue flowers. It is seldom found wild in this part of England; +but, when we do meet with it, it is so abundant and so welcome,--the +very robin-redbreast of flowers, a winter friend. Unless in those +unfrequent frosts which destroy all vegetation, it blossoms from +September to June, surviving the last lingering crane's-bill, +forerunning the earliest primrose, hardier even than the mountain +daisy,--peeping out from beneath the snow, looking at itself in the ice, +smiling through the tempests of life, and yet welcoming and enjoying the +sunbeams. Oh, to be like that flower! + +The little spring that has been bubbling under the hedge all along +the hillside, begins, now that we have mounted the eminence and are +imperceptibly descending, to deviate into a capricious variety of clear +deep pools and channels, so narrow and so choked with weeds, that a +child might overstep them. The hedge has also changed its character. It +is no longer the close compact vegetable wall of hawthorn, and maple, +and brier-roses, intertwined with bramble and woodbine, and crowned with +large elms or thickly-set saplings. No! the pretty meadow which rises +high above us, backed and almost surrounded by a tall coppice, needs +no defence on our side but its own steep bank, garnished with tufts of +broom, with pollard oaks wreathed with ivy, and here and there with long +patches of hazel overhanging the water. 'Ah, there are still nuts on +that bough!' and in an instant my dear companion, active and eager and +delighted as a boy, has hooked down with his walking-stick one of the +lissome hazel stalks, and cleared it of its tawny clusters, and in +another moment he has mounted the bank, and is in the midst of the +nuttery, now transferring the spoil from the lower branches into that +vast variety of pockets which gentlemen carry about them, now bending +the tall tops into the lane, holding them down by main force, so that +I might reach them and enjoy the pleasure of collecting some of the +plunder myself. A very great pleasure he knew it would be. I doffed my +shawl, tucked up my flounces, turned my straw bonnet into a basket, and +began gathering and scrambling--for, manage it how you may, nutting is +scrambling work,--those boughs, however tightly you may grasp them by +the young fragrant twigs and the bright green leaves, will recoil +and burst away; but there is a pleasure even in that: so on we go, +scrambling and gathering with all our might and all our glee. Oh, what +an enjoyment! All my life long I have had a passion for that sort of +seeking which implies finding (the secret, I believe, of the love of +field-sports, which is in man's mind a natural impulse)--therefore I +love violeting,--therefore, when we had a fine garden, I used to love +to gather strawberries, and cut asparagus, and above all, to collect +the filberts from the shrubberies: but this hedgerow nutting beats that +sport all to nothing. That was a make-believe thing, compared with +this; there was no surprise, no suspense, no unexpectedness--it was as +inferior to this wild nutting, as the turning out of a bag-fox is to +unearthing the fellow, in the eyes of a staunch foxhunter. + +Oh, what enjoyment this nut-gathering is! They are in such abundance, +that it seems as if there were not a boy in the parish, nor a young man, +nor a young woman,--for a basket of nuts is the universal tribute of +country gallantry; our pretty damsel Harriet has had at least half a +dozen this season; but no one has found out these. And they are so full +too, we lose half of them from over-ripeness; they drop from the socket +at the slightest motion. If we lose, there is one who finds. May is as +fond of nuts as a squirrel, and cracks the shell and extracts the kernel +with equal dexterity. Her white glossy head is upturned now to watch +them as they fall. See how her neck is thrown back like that of a swan, +and how beautifully her folded ears quiver with expectation, and how her +quick eye follows the rustling noise, and her light feet dance and pat +the ground, and leap up with eagerness, seeming almost sustained in the +air, just as I have seen her when Brush is beating a hedgerow, and she +knows from his questing that there is a hare afoot. See, she has caught +that nut just before it touched the water; but the water would have +been no defence,--she fishes them from the bottom, she delves after them +amongst the matted grass--even my bonnet--how beggingly she looks at +that! 'Oh, what a pleasure nutting is!--Is it not, May? But the pockets +are almost full, and so is the basket-bonnet, and that bright watch the +sun says it is late; and after all it is wrong to rob the poor boys--is +it not, May?'--May shakes her graceful head denyingly, as if she +understood the question--'And we must go home now--must we not? But we +will come nutting again some time or other--shall we not, my May?' + + + + +THE VISIT. + +October 27th.--A lovely autumnal day; the air soft, balmy, genial; +the sky of that softened and delicate blue upon which the eye loves to +rest,--the blue which gives such relief to the rich beauty of the earth, +all around glowing in the ripe and mellow tints of the most gorgeous +of the seasons. Really such an autumn may well compensate our English +climate for the fine spring of the south, that spring of which the poets +talk, but which we so seldom enjoy. Such an autumn glows upon us like +a splendid evening; it is the very sunset of the year; and I have been +tempted forth into a wider range of enjoyment than usual. This WALK (if +I may use the Irish figure of speech called a bull) will be a RIDE. A +very dear friend has beguiled me into accompanying her in her pretty +equipage to her beautiful home, four miles off; and having sent forward +in the style of a running footman the servant who had driven her, she +assumes the reins, and off we set. + +My fair companion is a person whom nature and fortune would have spoiled +if they could. She is one of those striking women whom a stranger cannot +pass without turning to look again; tall and finely proportioned, with a +bold Roman contour of figure and feature, a delicate English +complexion, and an air of distinction altogether her own. Her beauty is +duchess-like. She seems born to wear feathers and diamonds, and to +form the grace and ornament of a court; and the noble frankness and +simplicity of her countenance and manner confirm the impression. Destiny +has, however, dealt more kindly by her. She is the wife of a rich +country gentleman of high descent and higher attainments, to whom she +is most devotedly attached,--the mother of a little girl as lovely +as herself, and the delight of all who have the happiness of her +acquaintance, to whom she is endeared not merely by her remarkable +sweetness of temper and kindness of heart, but by the singular +ingenuousness and openness of character which communicate an +indescribable charm to her conversation. She is as transparent as water. +You may see every colour, every shade of a mind as lofty and beautiful +as her person. Talking with her is like being in the Palace of Truth +described by Madame de Genlis; and yet so kindly are her feelings, so +great her indulgence to the little failings and foibles of our common +nature, so intense her sympathy with the wants, the wishes, the +sorrows, and the happiness of her fellow-creatures, that, with all her +frank-speaking, I never knew her make an enemy or lose a friend. + +But we must get on. What would she say if she knew I was putting her +into print? We must get on up the hill. Ah! that is precisely what we +are not likely to do! This horse, this beautiful and high-bred horse, +well-fed, and fat and glossy, who stood prancing at our gate like an +Arabian, has suddenly turned sulky. He does not indeed stand quite +still, but his way of moving is little better--the slowest and +most sullen of all walks. Even they who ply the hearse at funerals, +sad-looking beasts who totter under black feathers, go faster. It is of +no use to admonish him by whip, or rein, or word. The rogue has found +out that it is a weak and tender hand that guides him now. Oh, for one +pull, one stroke of his old driver, the groom! how he would fly! But +there is the groom half a mile before us, out of earshot, clearing the +ground at a capital rate, beating us hollow. He has just turned the +top of the hill;--and in a moment--ay, NOW he is out of sight, and will +undoubtedly so continue till he meets us at the lawn gate. Well! +there is no great harm. It is only prolonging the pleasure of enjoying +together this charming scenery in this fine weather. If once we make up +our minds not to care how slowly our steed goes, not to fret ourselves +by vain exertions, it is no matter what his pace may be. There is little +doubt of his getting home by sunset, and that will content us. He is, +after all, a fine noble animal; and perhaps when he finds that we are +determined to give him his way, he may relent and give us ours. All his +sex are sticklers for dominion, though, when it is undisputed, some +of them are generous enough to abandon it. Two or three of the most +discreet wives of my acquaintance contrive to manage their husbands +sufficiently with no better secret than this seeming submission; and in +our case the example has the more weight since we have no possible way +of helping ourselves. + +Thus philosophising, we reached the top of the hill, and viewed with +'reverted eyes' the beautiful prospect that lay bathed in golden +sunshine behind us. Cowper says, with that boldness of expressing in +poetry the commonest and simplest feelings, which is perhaps one great +secret of his originality, + + 'Scenes must be beautiful, which, daily seen, + Please daily, and whose novelty survives + Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years.' + +Every day I walk up this hill--every day I pause at the top to admire +the broad winding road with the green waste on each side, uniting it +with the thickly timbered hedgerows; the two pretty cottages at unequal +distances, placed so as to mark the bends; the village beyond, with its +mass of roofs and clustered chimneys peeping through the trees; and the +rich distance, where cottages, mansions, churches, towns, seem embowered +in some wide forest, and shut in by blue shadowy hills. Every day I +admire this most beautiful landscape; yet never did it seem to me so +fine or so glowing as now. All the tints of the glorious autumn, orange, +tawny, yellow, red, are poured in profusion among the bright greens of +the meadows and turnip fields, till the eyes are satiated with colour; +and then before us we have the common with its picturesque roughness of +surface tufted with cottages, dappled with water, edging off on one side +into fields and farms and orchards, and terminated on the other by the +princely oak avenue. What a richness and variety the wild broken ground +gives to the luxuriant cultivation of the rest of the landscape! Cowper +has described it for me. How perpetually, as we walk in the country, his +vivid pictures recur to the memory! Here is his common and mine! + + 'The common overgrown with fern, and rough + With prickly gorse, that, shapeless and deform'd + And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom, + And decks itself with ornaments of gold;-- + --------------- there the turf + Smells fresh, and, rich in odoriferous herbs + And fungous fruits of earth, regales the sense + With luxury of unexpected sweets.' + +The description is exact. There, too, to the left is my cricket-ground +(Cowper's common wanted that finishing grace); and there stands one +solitary urchin, as if in contemplation of its past and future glories; +for, alas! cricket is over for the season. Ah! it is Ben Kirby, next +brother to Joe, king of the youngsters, and probably his successor--for +this Michaelmas has cost us Joe! He is promoted from the farm to the +mansion-house, two miles off; there he cleans shoes, rubs knives, +and runs on errands, and is, as his mother expresses it, 'a sort of +'prentice to the footman.' I should not wonder if Joe, some day or +other, should overtop the footman, and rise to be butler; and his +splendid prospects must be our consolation for the loss of this great +favourite. In the meantime we have Ben. + +Ben Kirby is a year younger than Joe, and the school-fellow and rival of +Jem Eusden. To be sure his abilities lie in rather a different line: Jem +is a scholar, Ben is a wag: Jem is great in figures and writing, Ben in +faces and mischief. His master says of him, that, if there were two such +in the school, he must resign his office; and as far as my observation +goes, the worthy pedagogue is right. Ben is, it must be confessed, a +great corrupter of gravity. He hath an exceeding aversion to authority +and decorum, and a wonderful boldness and dexterity in overthrowing the +one and puzzling the other. His contortions of visage are astounding. +His 'power over his own muscles and those of other people' is almost +equal to that of Liston; and indeed the original face, flat and square +and Chinese in its shape, of a fine tan complexion, with a snub +nose, and a slit for a mouth, is nearly as comical as that matchless +performer's. When aided by Ben's singular mobility of feature, his +knowing winks and grins and shrugs and nods, together with a certain +dry shrewdness, a habit of saying sharp things, and a marvellous gift of +impudence, it forms as fine a specimen as possible of a humorous country +boy, an oddity in embryo. Everybody likes Ben, except his butts (which +may perhaps comprise half his acquaintance); and of them no one so +thoroughly hates and dreads him as our parish schoolmaster, a most +worthy King Log, whom Ben dumbfounds twenty times a day. He is a great +ornament of the cricket-ground, has a real genius for the game, +and displays it after a very original manner, under the disguise of +awkwardness--as the clown shows off his agility in a pantomime. Nothing +comes amiss to him. By the bye, he would have been the very lad for us +in our present dilemma; not a horse in England could master Ben Kirby. +But we are too far from him now--and perhaps it is as well that we are +so. I believe the rogue has a kindness for me, in remembrance of certain +apples and nuts, which my usual companion, who delights in his wit, +is accustomed to dole out to him. But it is a Robin Goodfellow +nevertheless, a perfect Puck, that loves nothing on earth so well as +mischief. Perhaps the horse may be the safer conductor of the two. + +The avenue is quite alive to-day. Old women are picking up twigs and +acorns, and pigs of all sizes doing their utmost to spare them the +latter part of the trouble; boys and girls groping for beech-nuts under +yonder clump; and a group of younger elves collecting as many dead +leaves as they can find to feed the bonfire which is smoking away so +briskly amongst the trees,--a sort of rehearsal of the grand bonfire +nine days hence; of the loyal conflagration of the arch-traitor Guy +Vaux, which is annually solemnised in the avenue, accompanied with as +much of squibbery and crackery as our boys can beg or borrow--not to say +steal. Ben Kirby is a great man on the 5th of November. All the +savings of a month, the hoarded halfpence, the new farthings, the very +luck-penny, go off in fumo on that night. For my part, I like this +daylight mockery better. There is no gunpowder--odious gunpowder! no +noise but the merry shouts of the small fry, so shrill and happy, and +the cawing of the rooks, who are wheeling in large circles overhead, +and wondering what is going forward in their territory--seeming in +their loud clamour to ask what that light smoke may mean that curls +so prettily amongst their old oaks, towering as if to meet the clouds. +There is something very intelligent in the ways of that black people +the rooks, particularly in their wonder. I suppose it results from their +numbers and their unity of purpose, a sort of collective and corporate +wisdom. Yet geese congregate also; and geese never by any chance look +wise. But then geese are a domestic fowl; we have spoiled them; and +rooks are free commoners of nature, who use the habitations we provide +for them, tenant our groves and our avenues, but never dream of becoming +our subjects. + +What a labyrinth of a road this is! I do think there are four turnings +in the short half-mile between the avenue and the mill. And what a pity, +as my companion observes--not that our good and jolly miller, the very +representative of the old English yeomanry, should be so rich, but +that one consequence of his riches should be the pulling down of the +prettiest old mill that ever looked at itself in the Loddon, with +the picturesque, low-browed, irregular cottage, which stood with its +light-pointed roof, its clustered chimneys, and its ever-open door, +looking like the real abode of comfort and hospitality, to build this +huge, staring, frightful, red-brick mill, as ugly as a manufactory, and +this great square house, ugly and red to match, just behind. The old +buildings always used to remind me of Wollett's beautiful engraving of +a scene in the Maid of the Mill. It will be long before any artist will +make a drawing of this. Only think of this redness in a picture! this +boiled lobster of a house! Falstaff's description of Bardolph's nose +would look pale in the comparison. + +Here is that monstrous machine of a tilted waggon, with its load of +flour, and its four fat horses. I wonder whether our horse will have the +decency to get out of the way. If he does not, I am sure we cannot make +him; and that enormous ship upon wheels, that ark on dry land, would +roll over us like the car of Juggernaut. Really--Oh no! there is no +danger now. I should have remembered that it is my friend Samuel Long +who drives the mill team. He will take care of us. 'Thank you, Samuel!' +And Samuel has put us on our way, steered us safely past his waggon, +escorted us over the bridge and now, having seen us through our +immediate difficulties, has parted from us with a very civil bow and +good-humoured smile, as one who is always civil and good-humoured, but +with a certain triumphant masterful look in his eyes, which I have +noted in men, even the best of them, when a woman gets into straits by +attempting manly employments. He has done us great good though, and +may be allowed his little feeling of superiority. The parting salute he +bestowed on our steed, in the shape of an astounding crack of his huge +whip, has put that refractory animal on his mettle. On we go! past the +glazier's pretty house, with its porch and its filbert walk; along the +narrow lane bordered with elms, whose fallen leaves have made the road +one yellow; past that little farmhouse with the horse-chestnut trees +before, glowing like oranges; past the whitewashed school on the other +side, gay with October roses; past the park, and the lodge, and the +mansion, where once dwelt the great Earl of Clarendon;--and now the +rascal has begun to discover that Samuel Long and his whip are a mile +off, and that his mistress is driving him, and he slackens his pace +accordingly. Perhaps he feels the beauty of the road just here, and +goes slowly to enjoy it. Very beautiful it certainly is. The park paling +forms the boundary on one side, with fine clumps of oak, and deer in all +attitudes; the water, tufted with alders, flowing along on the other. +Another turn, and the water winds away, succeeded by a low hedge, and a +sweep of green meadows; whilst the park and its palings are replaced +by a steep bank, on which stands a small, quiet, village alehouse; and +higher up, embosomed in wood, is the little country church, with its +sloping churchyard and its low white steeple, peeping out from amongst +magnificent yew-trees:-- + + 'Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth + Of intertwisted fibres serpentine + Up-coiling, and invet'rately convolved.' + WORDSWORTH. + +No village church was ever more happily placed. It is the very image of +the peace and humbleness inculcated within its walls. + +Ah! here is a higher hill rising before us, almost like a mountain. How +grandly the view opens as we ascend over that wild bank, overgrown with +fern, and heath, and gorse, and between those tall hollies, glowing with +their coral berries! What an expanse! But we have little time to gaze at +present; for that piece of perversity, our horse, who has walked over so +much level ground, has now, inspired, I presume, by a desire to revisit +his stable, taken it into that unaccountable noddle of his to trot up +this, the very steepest hill in the county. Here we are on the top; and +in five minutes we have reached the lawn gate, and are in the very midst +of that beautiful piece of art or nature (I do not know to which class +it belongs), the pleasure-ground of F. Hill. Never was the 'prophetic +eye of taste' exerted with more magical skill than in these +plantations. Thirty years ago this place had no existence; it was a mere +undistinguished tract of field and meadow and common land; now it is a +mimic forest, delighting the eye with the finest combinations of trees +and shrubs, the rarest effects of form and foliage, and bewildering +the mind with its green glades, and impervious recesses, and apparently +interminable extent. It is the triumph of landscape gardening, and never +more beautiful than in this autumn sunset, lighting up the ruddy beech +and the spotted sycamore, and gilding the shining fir-cones that hang so +thickly amongst the dark pines. The robins are singing around us, as +if they too felt the magic of the hour. How gracefully the road +winds through the leafy labyrinth, leading imperceptibly to the +more ornamented sweep. Here we are at the door amidst geraniums, and +carnations, and jasmines, still in flower. Ah! here is a flower sweeter +than all, a bird gayer than the robin, the little bird that chirps to +the tune of 'mamma! mamma!', the bright-faced fairy, whose tiny feet +come pattering along, making a merry music, mamma's own Frances! And +following her guidance, here we are in the dear round room time enough +to catch the last rays of the sun, as they light the noble landscape +which lies like a panorama around us, lingering longest on that long +island of old thorns and stunted oaks, the oasis of B. Heath, and then +vanishing in a succession of gorgeous clouds. + +October 28th.--Another soft and brilliant morning. But the pleasures +of to-day must be written in shorthand. I have left myself no room for +notes of admiration. + +First we drove about the coppice: an extensive wood of oak, and elm, and +beech, chiefly the former, which adjoins the park-paling of F. Hill, of +which demesne, indeed, it forms one of the most delightful parts. The +roads through the coppice are studiously wild; so that they have the +appearance of mere cart-tracks: and the manner in which the ground +is tumbled about, the steep declivities, the sunny slopes, the sudden +swells and falls, now a close narrow valley, then a sharp ascent to an +eminence commanding an immense extent of prospect, have a striking air +of natural beauty, developed and heightened by the perfection of art. +All this, indeed, was familiar to me; the colouring only was new. I had +been there in early spring, when the fragrant palms were on the willow, +and the yellow tassels on the hazel, and every twig was swelling +with renewed life; and I had been there again and again in the green +leafiness of midsummer; but never as now, when the dark verdure of the +fir-plantations, hanging over the picturesque and unequal paling, partly +covered with moss and ivy, contrasts so remarkably with the shining +orange-leaves of the beech, already half fallen, the pale yellow of the +scattering elm, the deeper and richer tints of the oak, and the glossy +stems of the 'lady of the woods,' the delicate weeping birch. The +underwood is no less picturesque. The red-spotted leaves and redder +berries of the old thorns, the scarlet festoons of the bramble, the tall +fern of every hue, seem to vie with the brilliant mosaic of the ground, +now covered with dead leaves and strewn with fir-cones, now, where a +little glade intervenes, gay with various mosses and splendid fungi. How +beautiful is this coppice to-day! especially where the little spring, +as clear as crystal, comes bubbling out from the old 'fantastic' beech +root, and trickles over the grass, bright and silent as the dew in a +May morning. The wood-pigeons (who are just returned from their summer +migration, and are cropping the ivy berries) add their low cooings, the +very note of love, to the slight fluttering of the falling leaves in the +quiet air, giving a voice to the sunshine and the beauty. This coppice +is a place to live and die in. But we must go. And how fine is the +ascent which leads us again into the world, past those cottages hidden +as in a pit, and by that hanging orchard and that rough heathy bank! The +scenery in this one spot has a wildness, an abruptness of rise and fall, +rare in any part of England, rare above all in this rich and lovely but +monotonous county. It is Switzerland in miniature. + +And now we cross the hill to pay a morning visit to the family at the +great house,--another fine place, commanding another fine sweep of +country. The park, studded with old trees, and sinking gently into +a valley, rich in wood and water, is in the best style of ornamental +landscape, though more according to the common routine of gentlemen's +seats than the singularly original place which we have just left. +There is, however, one distinctive beauty in the grounds of the great +house;--the magnificent firs which shade the terraces and surround the +sweep, giving out in summer odours really Sabaean, and now in this low +autumn sun producing an effect almost magical, as the huge red trunks, +garlanded with ivy, stand out from the deep shadows like an army of +giants. Indoors--Oh I must not take my readers indoors, or we shall +never get away! Indoors the sunshine is brighter still; for there, in a +lofty, lightsome room, sat a damsel fair and arch and piquante, one +whom Titian or Velasquez should be born again to paint, leaning over an +instrument* as sparkling and fanciful as herself, singing pretty French +romances, and Scottish Jacobite songs, and all sorts of graceful and +airy drolleries picked up I know not where--an English improvisatrice! +a gayer Annot Lyle! whilst her sister, of a higher order of beauty, and +with an earnest kindness in her smile that deepens its power, lends to +the piano, as her father to the violin, an expression, a sensibility, a +spirit, an eloquence almost superhuman--almost divine! Oh to hear these +two instruments accompanying my dear companion (I forgot to say that she +is a singer worthy to be so accompanied) in Haydn's exquisite canzonet, +"She never told her love,"--to hear her voice, with all its power, its +sweetness, its gush of sound, so sustained and assisted by modulations +that rivalled its intensity of expression; to hear at once such poetry, +such music, such execution, is a pleasure never to be forgotten, or +mixed with meaner things. I seem to hear it still. + + As in the bursting spring time o'er the eye + Of one who haunts the fields fair visions creep + Beneath the closed lids (afore dull sleep + Dims the quick fancy) of sweet flowers that lie + On grassy banks, oxlip of orient dye, + And palest primrose and blue violet, + All in their fresh and dewy beauty set, + Pictured within the sense, and will not fly: + So in mine ear resounds and lives again + One mingled melody,--a voice, a pair + Of instruments most voice-like! Of the air + Rather than of the earth seems that high strain, + A spirit's song, and worthy of the train + That soothed old Prospero with music rare. + + *The dital harp. + + + + +HANNAH BINT. + +The Shaw, leading to Hannah Bint's habitation, is, as I perhaps have +said before, a very pretty mixture of wood and coppice; that is to say, +a tract of thirty or forty acres covered with fine growing timber--ash, +and oak, and elm, very regularly planted; and interspersed here and +there with large patches of underwood, hazel, maple, birch, holly, and +hawthorn, woven into almost impenetrable thickets by long wreaths of the +bramble, the briony, and the brier-rose, or by the pliant and twisting +garlands of the wild honeysuckle. In other parts, the Shaw is quite +clear of its bosky undergrowth, and clothed only with large beds of +feathery fern, or carpets of flowers, primroses, orchises, cowslips, +ground-ivy, crane's-bill, cotton-grass, Solomon's seal, and +forget-me-not, crowded together with a profusion and brilliancy of +colour, such as I have rarely seen equalled even in a garden. Here +the wild hyacinth really enamels the ground with its fresh and lovely +purple; there, + + 'On aged roots, with bright green mosses clad, + Dwells the wood-sorrel, with its bright thin leaves + Heart-shaped and triply folded, and its root + Creeping like beaded coral; whilst around + Flourish the copse's pride, anemones, + With rays like golden studs on ivory laid + Most delicate; but touch'd with purple clouds, + Fit crown for April's fair but changeful brow.' + +The variety is much greater than I have enumerated; for the ground is +so unequal, now swelling in gentle ascents, now dimpling into dells and +hollows, and the soil so different in different parts, that the sylvan +Flora is unusually extensive and complete. + +The season is, however, now too late for this floweriness; and except +the tufted woodbines, which have continued in bloom during the whole +of this lovely autumn, and some lingering garlands of the purple wild +vetch, wreathing round the thickets, and uniting with the ruddy leaves +of the bramble, and the pale festoons of the briony, there is little +to call one's attention from the grander beauties of the trees--the +sycamore, its broad leaves already spotted--the oak, heavy with +acorns--and the delicate shining rind of the weeping birch, 'the lady of +the woods,' thrown out in strong relief from a background of holly and +hawthorn, each studded with coral berries, and backed with old beeches, +beginning to assume the rich tawny hue which makes them perhaps the most +picturesque of autumnal trees, as the transparent freshness of their +young foliage is undoubtedly the choicest ornament of the forest in +spring. + +A sudden turn round one of these magnificent beeches brings us to the +boundary of the Shaw, and leaning upon a rude gate, we look over an open +space of about ten acres of ground, still more varied and broken +than that which we have passed, and surrounded on all sides by thick +woodland. As a piece of colour, nothing can be well finer. The ruddy +glow of the heath-flower, contrasting, on the one hand, with the +golden-blossomed furze--on the other, with a patch of buck-wheat, +of which the bloom is not past, although the grain be ripening, the +beautiful buck-wheat, whose transparent leaves and stalks are so +brightly tinged with vermilion, while the delicate pink-white of the +flower, a paler persicaria, has a feathery fall, at once so rich and so +graceful, and a fresh and reviving odour, like that of birch trees +in the dew of a May evening. The bank that surmounts this attempt at +cultivation is crowned with the late foxglove and the stately mullein; +the pasture of which so great a part of the waste consists, looks as +green as an emerald; a clear pond, with the bright sky reflected in it, +lets light into the picture; the white cottage of the keeper peeps from +the opposite coppice; and the vine-covered dwelling of Hannah Bint rises +from amidst the pretty garden, which lies bathed in the sunshine around +it. + +The living and moving accessories are all in keeping with the +cheerfulness and repose of the landscape. Hannah's cow grazing quietly +beside the keeper's pony; a brace of fat pointer puppies holding +amicable intercourse with a litter of young pigs; ducks, geese, cocks, +hens, and chickens scattered over the turf; Hannah herself sallying +forth from the cottage-door, with her milk-bucket in her hand, and her +little brother following with the milking-stool. + +My friend, Hannah Bint, is by no means an ordinary person. Her father, +Jack Bint (for in all his life he never arrived at the dignity of being +called John, indeed in our parts he was commonly known by the cognomen +of London Jack), was a drover of high repute in his profession. No man, +between Salisbury Plain and Smithfield, was thought to conduct a flock +of sheep so skilfully through all the difficulties of lanes and commons, +streets and high-roads, as Jack Bint, aided by Jack Bint's famous dog, +Watch; for Watch's rough, honest face, black, with a little white about +the muzzle, and one white ear, was as well known at fairs and markets +as his master's equally honest and weather-beaten visage. Lucky was +the dealer that could secure their services; Watch being renowned +for keeping a flock together better than any shepherd's dog on +the road--Jack, for delivering them more punctually, and in better +condition. No man had a more thorough knowledge of the proper night +stations, where good feed might be procured for his charge, and good +liquor for Watch and himself; Watch, like other sheep dogs, being +accustomed to live chiefly on bread and beer. His master, though not +averse to a pot of good double X, preferred gin; and they who plod +slowly along, through wet and weary ways, in frost and in fog, have +undoubtedly a stronger temptation to indulge in that cordial and +reviving stimulus, than we water-drinkers, sitting in warm and +comfortable rooms, can readily imagine. For certain, our drover could +never resist the gentle seduction of the gin-bottle, and being of a +free, merry, jovial temperament, one of those persons commonly called +good fellows, who like to see others happy in the same way with +themselves, he was apt to circulate it at his own expense, to the great +improvement of his popularity, and the great detriment of his finances. + +All this did vastly well whilst his earnings continued proportionate to +his spendings, and the little family at home were comfortably supported +by his industry: but when a rheumatic fever came on, one hard winter, +and finally settled in his limbs, reducing the most active and hardy +man in the parish to the state of a confirmed cripple, then his reckless +improvidence stared him in the face; and poor Jack, a thoughtless, +but kind creature, and a most affectionate father, looked at his three +motherless children with the acute misery of a parent who has brought +those whom he loves best in the world to abject destitution. He found +help, where he probably least expected it, in the sense and spirit of +his young daughter, a girl of twelve years old. + +Hannah was the eldest of the family, and had, ever since her mother's +death, which event had occurred two or three years before, been +accustomed to take the direction of their domestic concerns, to manage +her two brothers, to feed the pigs and the poultry, and to keep house +during the almost constant absence of her father. She was a quick, +clever lass, of a high spirit, a firm temper, some pride, and a horror +of accepting parochial relief, which is every day becoming rarer amongst +the peasantry; but which forms the surest safeguard to the sturdy +independence of the English character. Our little damsel possessed this +quality in perfection; and when her father talked of giving up their +comfortable cottage, and removing to the workhouse, whilst she and +her brothers must go to service, Hannah formed a bold resolution, and +without disturbing the sick man by any participation of her hopes and +fears, proceeded after settling their trifling affairs to act at once on +her own plans and designs. + +Careless of the future as the poor drover had seemed, he had yet kept +clear of debt, and by subscribing constantly to a benefit club, had +secured a pittance that might at least assist in supporting him during +the long years of sickness and helplessness to which he was doomed to +look forward. This his daughter knew. She knew also, that the employer +in whose service his health had suffered so severely, was a rich and +liberal cattle-dealer in the neighbourhood, who would willingly aid an +old and faithful servant, and had, indeed, come forward with offers of +money. To assistance from such a quarter Hannah saw no objection. Farmer +Oakley and the parish were quite distinct things. Of him, accordingly, +she asked, not money, but something much more in his own way--'a cow! +any cow! old or lame, or what not, so that it were a cow! she would be +bound to keep it well; if she did not, he might take it back again. She +even hoped to pay for it by and by, by instalments, but that she would +not promise!' and, partly amused, partly interested by the child's +earnestness, the wealthy yeoman gave her, not as a purchase, but as a +present, a very fine young Alderney. She then went to the lord of the +manor, and, with equal knowledge of character, begged his permission +to keep her cow on the Shaw common. 'Farmer Oakley had given her a fine +Alderney, and she would be bound to pay the rent, and keep her father +off the parish, if he would only let it graze on the waste;' and he too, +half from real good nature--half, not to be outdone in liberality by his +tenant, not only granted the requested permission, but reduced the rent +so much, that the produce of the vine seldom fails to satisfy their kind +landlord. + +Now Hannah showed great judgment in setting up as a dairy-woman. She +could not have chosen an occupation more completely unoccupied, or more +loudly called for. One of the most provoking of the petty difficulties +which beset people with a small establishment in this neighbourhood, +is the trouble, almost the impossibility, of procuring the pastoral +luxuries of milk, eggs, and butter, which rank, unfortunately, amongst +the indispensable necessaries of housekeeping. To your thoroughbred +Londoner, who, whilst grumbling over his own breakfast, is apt to fancy +that thick cream, and fresh butter, and new-laid eggs, grow, so to say, +in the country--form an actual part of its natural produce--it may be +some comfort to learn, that in this great grazing district, however the +calves and the farmers may be the better for cows, nobody else is; +that farmers' wives have ceased to keep poultry; and that we unlucky +villagers sit down often to our first meal in a state of destitution, +which may well make him content with his thin milk and his Cambridge +butter, when compared to our imputed pastoralities. + +Hannah's Alderney restored us to one rural privilege. Never was so +cleanly a little milkmaid. She changed away some of the cottage finery, +which, in his prosperous days, poor Jack had pleased himself with +bringing home, the china tea-service, the gilded mugs, and the painted +waiters, for the useful utensils of the dairy, and speedily established +a regular and gainful trade in milk, eggs, butter, honey, and +poultry--for poultry they had always kept. + +Her domestic management prospered equally. Her father, who retained the +perfect use of his hands, began a manufacture of mats and baskets, which +he constructed with great nicety and adroitness; the eldest boy, a sharp +and clever lad, cut for him his rushes and osiers; erected, under his +sister's direction, a shed for the cow, and enlarged and cultivated the +garden (always with the good leave of her kind patron the lord of the +manor) until it became so ample, that the produce not only kept the pig, +and half kept the family, but afforded another branch of merchandise to +the indefatigable directress of the establishment. For the younger boy, +less quick and active, Hannah contrived to obtain an admission to the +charity-school, where he made great progress--retaining him at home, +however, in the hay-making and leasing season, or whenever his services +could be made available, to the great annoyance of the schoolmaster, +whose favourite he is, and who piques himself so much on George's +scholarship (your heavy sluggish boy at country work often turns +out quick at his book), that it is the general opinion that this +much-vaunted pupil will, in process of time, be promoted to the post of +assistant, and may, possibly, in course of years, rise to the dignity of +a parish pedagogue in his own person; so that his sister, although still +making him useful at odd times, now considers George as pretty well off +her hands, whilst his elder brother, Tom, could take an under-gardener's +place directly, if he were not too important at home to be spared even +for a day. + +In short, during the five years that she has ruled at the Shaw cottage, +the world has gone well with Hannah Bint. Her cow, her calves, her pigs, +her bees, her poultry, have each, in their several ways, thriven and +prospered. She has even brought Watch to like butter-milk, as well as +strong beer, and has nearly persuaded her father (to whose wants +and wishes she is most anxiously attentive) to accept of milk as a +substitute for gin. Not but Hannah hath had her enemies as well as her +betters. Why should she not? The old woman at the lodge, who always +piqued herself on being spiteful, and crying down new ways, foretold +from the first she would come to no good, and could not forgive her for +falsifying her prediction; and Betty Barnes, the slatternly widow of a +tippling farmer, who rented a field, and set up a cow herself, and was +universally discarded for insufferable dirt, said all that the wit of +an envious woman could devise against Hannah and her Alderney; nay, even +Ned Miles, the keeper, her next neighbour, who had whilom held entire +sway over the Shaw common, as well as its coppices, grumbled as much +as so good-natured and genial a person could grumble, when he found a +little girl sharing his dominion, a cow grazing beside his pony, and +vulgar cocks and hens hovering around the buck-wheat destined to feed +his noble pheasants. Nobody that had been accustomed to see that paragon +of keepers, so tall and manly, and pleasant looking, with his merry eye, +and his knowing smile, striding gaily along, in his green coat, and his +gold-laced hat, with Neptune, his noble Newfoundland dog (a retriever is +the sporting word), and his beautiful spaniel Flirt at his heels, could +conceive how askew he looked, when he first found Hannah and Watch +holding equal reign over his old territory, the Shaw common. + +Yes! Hannah hath had her enemies; but they are passing away. The old +woman at the lodge is dead, poor creature; and Betty Barnes, having +herself taken to tippling, has lost the few friends she once possessed, +and looks, luckless wretch, as if she would soon die too!--and the +keeper?--why, he is not dead, or like to die; but the change that has +taken place there is the most astonishing of all--except, perhaps, the +change in Hannah herself. + +Few damsels of twelve years old, generally a very pretty age, were less +pretty than Hannah Bint. Short and stunted in her figure, thin in face, +sharp in feature, with a muddled complexion, wild sunburnt hair, +and eyes whose very brightness had in them something startling, +over-informed, super-subtle, too clever for her age,--at twelve years +old she had quite the air of a little old fairy. Now, at seventeen, +matters are mended. Her complexion has cleared; her countenance has +developed itself; her figure has shot up into height and lightness, and +a sort of rustic grace; her bright, acute eye is softened and sweetened +by the womanly wish to please; her hair is trimmed, and curled and +brushed, with exquisite neatness; and her whole dress arranged with that +nice attention to the becoming, the suitable both in form and texture, +which would be called the highest degree of coquetry, if it did +not deserve the better name of propriety. Never was such a +transmogrification beheld. The lass is really pretty, and Ned Miles has +discovered that she is so. There he stands, the rogue, close at her side +(for he hath joined her whilst we have been telling her little story, +and the milking is over!)--there he stands--holding her milk-pail in +one hand, and stroking Watch with the other; whilst she is returning the +compliment by patting Neptune's magnificent head. There they stand, +as much like lovers as may be; he smiling, and she blushing--he never +looking so handsome nor she so pretty in all their lives. There they +stand, in blessed forgetfulness of all except each other; as happy +a couple as ever trod the earth. There they stand, and one would not +disturb them for all the milk and butter in Christendom. I should not +wonder if they were fixing the wedding day. + + + + +THE FALL OF THE LEAF. + +November 6th.--The weather is as peaceful to-day, as calm, and as +mild, as in early April; and, perhaps, an autumn afternoon and a spring +morning do resemble each other more in feeling, and even in appearance, +than any two periods of the year. There is in both the same freshness +and dewiness of the herbage; the same balmy softness in the air; and the +same pure and lovely blue sky, with white fleecy clouds floating +across it. The chief difference lies in the absence of flowers, and the +presence of leaves. But then the foliage of November is so rich, and +glowing, and varied, that it may well supply the place of the gay +blossoms of the spring; whilst all the flowers of the field or the +garden could never make amends for the want of leaves,--that beautiful +and graceful attire in which nature has clothed the rugged forms of +trees--the verdant drapery to which the landscape owes its loveliness, +and the forests their glory. + +If choice must be between two seasons, each so full of charm, it is at +least no bad philosophy to prefer the present good, even whilst looking +gratefully back, and hopefully forward, to the past and the future. And +of a surety, no fairer specimen of a November day could well be found +than this,--a day made to wander + + 'By yellow commons and birch-shaded hollows, + And hedgerows bordering unfrequented lanes;' + +nor could a prettier country be found for our walk than this shady and +yet sunny Berkshire, where the scenery, without rising into grandeur or +breaking into wildness, is so peaceful, so cheerful, so varied, and so +thoroughly English. + +We must bend our steps towards the water side, for I have a message +to leave at Farmer Riley's: and sooth to say, it is no unpleasant +necessity; for the road thither is smooth and dry, retired, as one +likes a country walk to be, but not too lonely, which women never like; +leading past the Loddon--the bright, brimming, transparent Loddon--a +fitting mirror for this bright blue sky, and terminating at one of the +prettiest and most comfortable farmhouses in the neighbourhood. + +How beautiful the lane is to-day, decorated with a thousand colours! The +brown road, and the rich verdure that borders it, strewed with the pale +yellow leaves of the elm, just beginning to fall; hedgerows glowing +with long wreaths of the bramble in every variety of purplish red; and +overhead the unchanged green of the fir, contrasting with the spotted +sycamore, the tawny beech, and the dry sere leaves of the oak, which +rustle as the light wind passes through them; a few common hardy yellow +flowers (for yellow is the common colour of flowers, whether wild or +cultivated, as blue is the rare one), flowers of many sorts, but almost +of one tint, still blowing in spite of the season, and ruddy berries +glowing through all. How very beautiful is the lane! + +And how pleasant is this hill where the road widens, with the group of +cattle by the wayside, and George Hearn, the little post-boy, trundling +his hoop at full speed, making all the better haste in his work, because +he cheats himself into thinking it play! And how beautiful, again, is +this patch of common at the hilltop with the clear pool, where +Martha Pither's children,--elves of three, and four, and five years +old,--without any distinction of sex in their sunburnt faces and +tattered drapery, are dipping up water in their little homely cups +shining with cleanliness, and a small brown pitcher with the lip broken, +to fill that great kettle, which, when it is filled, their united +strength will never be able to lift! They are quite a group for a +painter, with their rosy cheeks, and chubby hands, and round merry +faces; and the low cottage in the background, peeping out of its vine +leaves and china roses, with Martha at the door, tidy, and comely, and +smiling, preparing the potatoes for the pot, and watching the progress +of dipping and filling that useful utensil, completes the picture. + +But we must go on. No time for more sketches in these short days. It is +getting cold too. We must proceed in our walk. Dash is showing us the +way and beating the thick double hedgerow that runs along the side of +the meadows, at a rate that indicates game astir, and causes the leaves +to fly as fast as an east-wind after a hard frost. Ah! a pheasant! a +superb cock pheasant! Nothing is more certain than Dash's questing, +whether in a hedgerow or covert, for a better spaniel never went into +the field; but I fancied that it was a hare afoot, and was almost as +much startled to hear the whirring of those splendid wings, as the +princely bird himself would have been at the report of a gun. Indeed, I +believe that the way in which a pheasant goes off, does sometimes make +young sportsmen a little nervous, (they don't own it very readily, but +the observation may be relied on nevertheless), until they get as it +were broken in to the sound; and then that grand and sudden burst of +wing becomes as pleasant to them as it seems to be to Dash, who is +beating the hedgerow with might and main, and giving tongue louder, and +sending the leaves about faster than ever--very proud of finding the +pheasant, and perhaps a little angry with me for not shooting it; at +least looking as if he would be angry if I were a man; for Dash is a +dog of great sagacity, and has doubtless not lived four years in the +sporting world without making the discovery, that although gentlemen do +shoot, ladies do not. + +The Loddon at last! the beautiful Loddon! and the bridge, where every +one stops, as by instinct, to lean over the rails, and gaze a moment +on a landscape of surpassing loveliness,--the fine grounds of the Great +House, with their magnificent groups of limes, and firs, and poplars +grander than ever poplars were; the green meadows opposite, studded with +oaks and elms; the clear winding river; the mill with its picturesque +old buildings, bounding the scene; all glowing with the rich colouring +of autumn, and harmonised by the soft beauty of the clear blue sky, and +the delicious calmness of the hour. The very peasant whose daily path it +is, cannot cross that bridge without a pause. + +But the day is wearing fast, and it grows colder and colder. I really +think it will be a frost. After all, spring is the pleasantest season, +beautiful as this scenery is. We must get on. Down that broad yet +shadowy lane, between the park, dark with evergreens and dappled with +deer, and the meadows where sheep, and cows, and horses are grazing +under the tall elms; that lane, where the wild bank, clothed with fern, +and tufted with furze, and crowned by rich berried thorn, and thick +shining holly on the one side, seems to vie in beauty with the +picturesque old paling, the bright laurels, and the plumy cedars, on +the other;--down that shady lane, until the sudden turn brings us to an +opening where four roads meet, where a noble avenue turns down to the +Great House; where the village church rears its modest spire from amidst +its venerable yew trees: and where, embosomed in orchards and gardens, +and backed by barns and ricks, and all the wealth of the farmyard, +stands the spacious and comfortable abode of good Farmer Riley,--the end +and object of our walk. + +And in happy time the message is said and the answer given, for this +beautiful mild day is edging off into a dense frosty evening; the leaves +of the elm and the linden in the old avenue are quivering and vibrating +and fluttering in the air, and at length falling crisply on the earth, +as if Dash were beating for pheasants in the tree-tops; the sun gleams +dimly through the fog, giving little more of light and heat than his +fair sister the lady moon;--I don't know a more disappointing person +than a cold sun; and I am beginning to wrap my cloak closely round me, +and to calculate the distance to my own fireside, recanting all the way +my praises of November, and longing for the showery, flowery April, as +much as if I were a half-chilled butterfly, or a dahlia knocked down by +the frost. + +Ah, dear me! what a climate this is, that one cannot keep in the same +mind about it for half an hour together! I wonder, by the way, whether +the fault is in the weather, which Dash does not seem to care for, or +in me? If I should happen to be wet through in a shower next spring, and +should catch myself longing for autumn, that would settle the question. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR VILLAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 2496.txt or 2496.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/2496/ + +Produced by Les Bowler + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + +OUR VILLAGE BY MARY RUSSELL MITFORD + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION +COUNTRY PICTURES +WALKS IN THE COUNTRY +THE FIRST PRIMROSE +VIOLETING +THE COPSE +THE WOOD +THE DELL +THE COWSLIP-BALL +THE OLD HOUSE AT ABERLEIGH +THE HARD SUMMER +THE SHAW +NUTTING +THE VISIT +HANNAH BINT +THE FALL OF THE LEAF + + + +Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie + +I. + +There is a great deal of admirable literature concerning Miss +Mitford, so much of it indeed, that the writer of this little notice +feels as if she almost owed an apology to those who remember, for +having ventured to write, on hearsay only, and without having ever +known or ever seen the author of 'Our Village.' And yet, so vivid +is the homely friendly presence, so clear the sound of that voice +'like a chime of bells,' with its hospitable cheery greeting, that +she can scarcely realise that this acquaintance exists only in the +world of the might-have-beens. + +For people who are beginning to remember, rather than looking +forward any more, there certainly exists no more delightful reading +than the memoirs and stories of heroes and heroines, many of whom we +ourselves may have seen, and to whom we may have spoken. As we read +on we are led into some happy bygone region,--such as that one +described by Mr. du Maurier in 'Peter Ibbetson,'--a region in which +we ourselves, together with all our friends and acquaintances, grow +young again;--very young, very brisk, very hopeful. The people we +love are there, along with the people we remember. Music begins to +play, we are dancing, laughing, scampering over the country once +more; our parents too are young and laughing cheerily. Every now +and then perhaps some old friend, also vigorous and hopeful, bursts +into the book, and begins to talk or to write a letter; early sights +and sounds return to us, we have NOW, and we have THEN, in a +pleasant harmony. To those of a certain literary generation who +read Miss Mitford's memoirs, how many such familiar presences and +names must appear and reappear. Not least among them that of her +biographer, Mr. Harness himself, who was so valued by his friends. +Mrs. Kemble, Mrs. Sartoris, Charles Allston Collins, always talked +of him with a great respect and tenderness. I used to think they +had a special voice with which to speak his name. He was never +among our intimate friends, but how familiar to my recollection are +the two figures, that of Mr. Harness and Miss Harness, his sister +and housekeeper, coming together along the busy Kensington roadway. +The brother and sister were like characters out of some book, with +their kind faces, their simple spiritual ways; in touch with so much +that was interesting and romantic, and in heart with so much that +suffered. I remember him with grey hair and a smile. He was not +tall; he walked rather lame; Miss Harness too was little, looking up +at all the rest of the world with a kind round face and sparkling +eyes fringed with thick lashes. Mary Mitford was indeed happy in +her friends, as happy as she was unfortunate in her nearer +relations. + +With much that is sad, there is a great deal of beauty and enjoyment +in Miss Mitford's life. For her the absence of material happiness +was made up for by the presence of warm-hearted sensibility, of +enthusiasm, by her devotion to her parents. Her long endurance and +filial piety are very remarkable, her loving heart carried her +safely to the end, and she found comfort in her unreasoning life's +devotion. She had none of the restlessness which is so apt to spoil +much that might be harmonious; all the charm of a certain unity and +simplicity of motive is hers, 'the single eye,' of which Charles +Kingsley wrote so sweetly. She loved her home, her trees, her +surrounding lanes and commons. She loved her friends. Her books +and flowers are real and important events in her life, soothing and +distracting her from the contemplation of its constant anxieties. +'I may truly say,' she once writes to Miss Barrett, 'that ever since +I was a very young girl, I have never (although for some years +living apparently in affluence) been without pecuniary care,--the +care that pressed upon my thoughts the last thing at night, and woke +in the morning with a dreary sense of pain and pressure, of +something which weighed me to the earth.' + +Mary Russell Mitford was born on the 16th of December 1787. She was +the only child of her parents, who were well connected; her mother +was an heiress. Her father belonged to the Mitfords of the North. +She describes herself as 'a puny child, with an affluence of curls +which made her look as if she were twin sister to her own great +doll.' She could read at three years old; she learnt the Percy +ballads by heart almost before she could read. Long after, she used +to describe how she first studied her beloved ballads in the +breakfast-room lined with books, warmly spread with its Turkey +carpet, with its bright fire, easy chairs, and the windows opening +to a garden full of flowers,--stocks, honeysuckles, and pinks. It +is touching to note how, all through her difficult life, her path +was (literally) lined with flowers, and how the love of them +comforted and cheered her from the first to the very last. In her +saddest hours, the passing fragrance and beauty of her favourite +geraniums cheered and revived her. Even when her mother died she +found comfort in the plants they had tended together, and at the +very last breaks into delighted descriptions of them. + +She was sent to school in the year 1798 to No. 22 Hans Place, to a +Mrs. St. Quintin's. It seems to have been an excellent +establishment. Mary learnt the harp and astronomy; her taste for +literature was encouraged. The young ladies, attired as +shepherdesses, were also taught to skip through many mazy movements, +but she never distinguished herself as a shepherdess. She had +greater success in her literary efforts, and her composition 'on +balloons' was much applauded. She returned to her home in 18O2. +'Plain in figure and in face, she was never common-looking,' says +Mr. Harness. He gives a pretty description of her as 'no ordinary +child, her sweet smiles, her animated conversation, her keen +enjoyment of life, and her gentle voice won the love and admiration +of her friends, whether young or old.' Mr. Harness has chiefly told +Miss Mitford's story in her own words by quotations from her +letters, and, as one reads, one can almost follow her moods as they +succeed each other, and these moods are her real history. The +assiduity of childhood, the bright enthusiasm and gaiety of her +early days, the growing anxiety of her later life, the maturer +judgments, the occasional despairing terrors which came to try her +bright nature, but along with it all, that innocent and enduring +hopefulness which never really deserted her. Her elastic spirit she +owed to her father, that incorrigible old Skimpole. 'I am generally +happy everywhere,' she writes in her youth--and then later on: 'It +is a great pleasure to me to love and to admire, this is a faculty +which has survived many frosts and storms.' It is true that she +adds a query somewhere else, 'Did you ever remark how superior old +gaiety is to new?' she asks. + +Her handsome father, her plain and long-enduring mother, are both +unconsciously described in her correspondence. 'The Doctor's +manners were easy, natural, cordial, and apparently extremely +frank,' says Mr. Harness, 'but he nevertheless met the world on its +own terms, and was prepared to allow himself any insincerity which +seemed expedient. He was not only recklessly extravagant, but +addicted to high play. His wife's large fortune, his daughter's, +his own patrimony, all passed through his hands in an incredibly +short space of time, but his wife and daughter were never heard to +complain of his conduct, nor appeared to admire him less.' + +The story of Miss Mitford's 2O,OOO pounds is unique among the +adventures of authoresses. Dr. Mitford, having spent all his wife's +fortune, and having brought his family from a comfortable home, with +flowers and a Turkey carpet, to a small lodging near Blackfriars +Bridge, determined to present his daughter with an expensive lottery +ticket on the occasion of her tenth birthday. She had a fancy for +No. 2224, of which the added numbers came to 10. This number +actually came out the first prize of 2O,OOO pounds, which money +started the family once more in comparative affluence. Dr. Mitford +immediately built a new square house, which he calls Bertram House, +on the site of a pretty old farmhouse which he causes to be pulled +down. He also orders a dessert-service painted with the Mitford +arms; Mrs. Mitford is supplied with a carriage, and she subscribes +to a circulating library. + +A list still exists of the books taken out by her for her daughter's +use; some fifty-five volumes a month, chiefly trash: 'Vicenza,' 'A +Sailor's Friendship and Soldier's Love,' 'Clarentina,' 'Robert and +Adela,' 'The Count de Valmont,' 'The Three Spaniards,' 'De Clifford' +(in four volumes) and so on. + +The next two or three years were brilliant enough; for the family +must have lived at the rate of three or four thousand a year. Their +hospitality was profuse, they had servants, carriages, they bought +pictures and furniture, they entertained. Cobbett was among their +intimate friends. The Doctor naturally enough invested in a good +many more lottery tickets, but without any further return. + +The ladies seem to take it as a matter of course that he should +speculate and gamble at cards, and indeed do anything and everything +he fancied, but they beg him at least to keep to respectable clubs. +He is constantly away. His daughter tries to tempt him home with +the bloom of her hyacinths. 'How they long to see him again!' she +says, 'how greatly have they been disappointed, when, every day, the +journey to Reading has been fruitless. The driver of the Reading +coach is quite accustomed to being waylaid by their carriage.' Then +she tells him about the primroses, but neither hyacinths nor +primroses bring the Doctor away from his cards. Finally, the +rhododendrons and the azaleas are in bloom, but these also fail to +attract him. + +Miss Mitford herself as she grows up is sent to London more than +once, to the St. Quintin's and elsewhere. She goes to the play and +to Westminster Hall, she sees her hero, Charles James Fox, and has +the happiness of watching him helped on to his horse. Mr. Romilly +delights her, but her greatest favourite of all is Mr. Whitbread. +'You know I am always an enthusiast,' she writes, 'but at present it +is impossible to describe the admiration I feel for this exalted +character.' She speaks of his voice 'which she could listen to with +transport even if he spoke in an unknown language!' she writes a +sonnet to him, 'an impromptu, on hearing Mr. Whitbread declare in +Westminster Hall that he fondly trusted his name would descend to +posterity.' + + 'The hope of Fame thy noble bosom fires, + Nor vain the hope thy ardent mind inspires; + In British breasts whilst Purity remains, + Whilst Liberty her blessed abode retains, + Still shall the muse of History proclaim + To future ages thy immortal name!' + +There are many references to the celebrities of the time in her +letters home,--every one agrees as to the extreme folly of +Sheridan's entertainments, Mrs. Opie is spoken of as a rising +authoress, etc. etc. etc. + +Miss Austen used to go to 23 Hans Place, and Miss Mitford used to +stay at No. 22, but not at the same time. Mrs. Mitford had known +Miss Austen as a child. She may perhaps be forgiven for some +prejudice and maternal jealousy, in her later impressions, but Mary +Mitford admired Jane Austen always with warmest enthusiasm. She +writes to her mother at length from London, describing everything, +all the people and books and experiences that she comes across,--the +elegant suppers at Brompton, the Grecian lamps, Mr. Barker's beauty, +Mr. Plummer's plainness, and the destruction of her purple gown. + +Mrs. Mitford writes back in return describing Reading festivities, +'an agreeable dinner at Doctor Valpy's, where Mrs. Women and Miss +Peacock are present and Mr. J. Simpson, M.P.; the dinner very good, +two full courses and one remove, the soup giving place to one +quarter of lamb.' Mrs. Mitford sends a menu of every dinner she +goes to. + +In 1806 Dr. Mitford takes his daughter, who was then about nineteen, +to the North to visit his relations; they are entertained by the +grandparents of the Trevelyans and the Swinburnes, the Ogles and the +Mitfords of the present day. They fish in Sir John Swinburne's +lake, they visit at Alnwick Castle. Miss Mitford kept her front +hair in papers till she reached Alnwick, nor was her dress +discomposed though she had travelled thirty miles. They sat down, +sixty-five to dinner, which was 'of course' (she somewhat +magnificently says) entirely served on plate. Poor Mary's pleasure +is very much dashed by the sudden disappearance of her father,--Dr. +Mitford was in the habit of doing anything he felt inclined to do at +once and on the spot, quite irrespectively of the convenience of +others,--and although a party had been arranged on purpose to meet +him in the North, and his daughter was counting on his escort to +return home, (people posted in those days, they did not take their +tickets direct from Newcastle to London), Dr. Mitford one morning +leaves word that he has gone off to attend the Reading election, +where his presence was not in the least required. For the first and +apparently for the only time in her life his daughter protests. +'Mr. Ogle is extremely offended; nothing but your immediate return +can ever excuse you to him! I IMPLORE you to return, I call upon +Mamma's sense of propriety to send you here directly. Little did I +suspect that my father, my beloved father, would desert me at this +distance from home! Every one is surprised.' Dr. Mitford was +finally persuaded to travel back to Northumberland to fetch his +daughter. + +The constant companionship of Dr. Mitford must have given a curious +colour to his good and upright daughter's views of life. Adoring +her father as she did, she must have soon accustomed herself to take +his fine speeches for fine actions, to accept his self-complacency +in the place of a conscience. She was a woman of warm impressions, +with a strong sense of right. But it was not within her daily +experience, poor soul, that people who did not make grand +professions were ready to do their duty all the same; nor did she +always depend upon the uprightness, the courage, the self-denial of +those who made no protestations. At that time loud talking was +still the fashion, and loud living was considered romantic. They +both exist among us, but they are less admired, and there is a +different language spoken now to that of Dr. Mitford and his +school.* This must account for some of Miss Mitford's judgments of +what she calls a 'cynical' generation, to which she did little +justice. + +*People nowadays are more ready to laugh than to admire when they +hear the lions bray; for mewing and bleating, the taste, I fear, is +on the increase. + +II. + +There is one penalty people pay for being authors, which is that +from cultivating vivid impressions and mental pictures they are apt +to take fancies too seriously and to mistake them for reality. In +story-telling this is well enough, and it interferes with nobody; +but in real history, and in one's own history most of all, this +faculty is apt to raise up bogies and nightmares along one's path; +and while one is fighting imaginary demons, the good things and true +are passed by unnoticed, the best realities of life are sometimes +overlooked. . . . + +But after all, Mary Russell Mitford, who spent most of her time +gathering figs off thistles and making the best of her difficult +circumstances, suffered less than many people do from the influence +of imaginary things. + +She was twenty-three years old when her first book of poems was +published; so we read in her letters, in which she entreats her +father not to curtail ANY of the verses addressed to him; there is +no reason, she says, except his EXTREME MODESTY why the verses +should be suppressed,--she speaks not only with the fondness of a +daughter but with the sensibility of a poet. Our young authoress is +modest, although in print; she compares herself to Crabbe (as Jane +Austen might have done), and feels 'what she supposes a farthing +candle would experience when the sun rises in all its glory.' Then +comes the Publisher's bill for 59 pounds; she is quite shocked at +the bill, which is really exorbitant! In her next letter Miss +Mitford reminds her father that the taxes are still unpaid, and a +correspondence follows with somebody asking for a choice of the +Doctor's pictures in payment for the taxes. The Doctor is in London +all the time, dining out and generally amusing himself. Everybody +is speculating whether Sir Francis Burdett will go to the Tower.* +'Oh, my darling, how I envy you at the fountain-head of intelligence +in these interesting times! How I envy Lady Burdett for the fine +opportunity she has to show the heroism of our sex!' writes the +daughter, who is only encountering angry tax-gatherers at home. . . +. Somehow or other the bills are paid for the time, and the family +arrangements go on as before. + +*Here, in our little suburban garden at Wimbledon, are the remains +of an old hedgerow which used to grow in the kitchen garden of the +Grange where Sir Francis Burdett then lived. The tradition is that +he was walking in the lane in his own kitchen garden when he was +taken up and carried off to honourable captivity.--A.T.R. + +Besides writing to the members of her own home, Miss Mitford started +another correspondent very early in life; this was Sir William +Elford, to whom she describes her outings and adventures, her visits +to Tavistock House, where her kind friends the Perrys receive her. +Mr. Perry was the editor of the Morning Chronicle; he and his +beautiful wife were the friends of all the most interesting people +of the day. Here again the present writer's own experiences can +interpret the printed page, for her own first sight of London people +and of London society came to her in a little house in Chesham +Place, where her father's old friends, Mrs. Frederick Elliot and +Miss Perry, the daughters of Miss Mitford's friends, lived with a +very notable and interesting set of people, making a social centre, +by that kindly unconscious art which cannot be defined; that quick +apprehension, that benevolent fastidiousness (I have to use rather +far-fetched words) which are so essential to good hosts and +hostesses. A different standard is looked for now, by the rising +generations knocking at the doors, behind which the dignified past +is lying as stark as King Duncan himself! + +Among other entertainments Miss Mitford went to the fetes which +celebrated the battle of Vittoria; she had also the happiness of +getting a good sight of Mme. de Stael, who was a great friend of the +Perrys. 'She is almost as much followed in the gardens as the +Princess,' she says, pouring out her wonders, her pleasures, her +raptures. She begins to read Burns with youthful delight, dilates +upon his exhaustless imagination, his versatility, and then she +suggests a very just criticism. 'Does it not appear' she says, +'that versatility is the true and rare characteristic of that rare +thing called genius--versatility and playfulness;' then she goes on +to speak of two highly-reputed novels just come out and ascribed to +Lady Morley, 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility.' + +She is still writing from Bertram House, but her pleasant gossip +continually alternates with more urgent and less agreeable letters +addressed to her father. Lawyers' clerks are again calling with +notices and warnings, tax-gatherers are troubling. Dr. Mitford has, +as usual, left no address, so that she can only write to the 'Star +Office,' and trust to chance. 'Mamma joins in tenderest love,' so +the letters invariably conclude. + +Notwithstanding the adoration bestowed by the ladies of the family +and their endearing adjectives, Mr. Harness is very outspoken on the +subject of the handsome Doctor! He disliked his manners, his +morals, his self-sufficiency, his loud talk. 'The old brute never +informed his friends of anything; all they knew of him or his +affairs, or whatever false or true he intended them to believe, came +out carelessly in his loose, disjointed talk.' + +In 1814 Miss Mitford is living on still with her parents at Bertram +House, but a change has come over their home; the servants are gone, +the gravel turned to moss, the turf into pasture, the shrubberies to +thickets, the house a sort of new 'ruin half inhabited, and a +Chancery suit is hanging over their heads.' Meantime some news +comes to cheer her from America. Two editions of her poems have +been printed and sold. 'Narrative Poems on the Female Character' +proved a real success. 'All who have hearts to feel and +understandings to discriminate, must wish you health and leisure to +complete your plan,' so write publishers in those golden days, with +complimentary copies of the work. . . . + +Great things are happening all this time; battles are being fought +and won, Napoleon is on his way to St. Helena; London is in a frenzy +of rejoicings, entertainings, illuminations. To Mary Mitford the +appearance of 'Waverley' seems as great an event as the return of +the Bourbons; she is certain that 'Waverley' is written by Sir +Walter Scott, but 'Guy Mannering,' she thinks, is by another hand: +her mind is full of a genuine romantic devotion to books and belles +lettres, and she is also rejoicing, even more, in the spring-time of +1816. Dr. Mitford may be impecunious and their affairs may be +threadbare, but the lovely seasons come out ever in fresh beauty and +abundance. The coppices are carpeted with primroses, with pansies +and wild strawberry blossom,--the woods are spangled with the +delicate flowers of the woodsorrel and wood anemone, the meadows +enamelled with cowslips. . . . Certainly few human beings were ever +created more fit for this present world, and more capable of +admiring and enjoying its beauties, than Miss Mitford, who only +desired to be beautiful herself, she somewhere says, to be perfectly +contented. + +III. + +Most people's lives are divided into first, second and third +volumes; and as we read Miss Mitford's history it forms no exception +to the rule. The early enthusiastic volume is there, with its hopes +and wild judgments, its quaint old-fashioned dress and phraseology; +then comes the second volume, full of actual work and serious +responsibility, with those childish parents to provide for, whose +lives, though so protracted, never seem to reach beyond their +nurseries. Miss Mitford's third volume is retrospective; her +growing infirmities are courageously endured, there is the certainty +of success well earned and well deserved; we realise her legitimate +hold upon the outer world of readers and writers, besides the +reputation which she won upon the stage by her tragedies. + +The literary ladies of the early part of the century in some ways +had a very good time of it. A copy of verses, a small volume of +travels, a few tea-parties, a harp in one corner of the room, and a +hat and feathers worn rather on one side, seemed to be all that was +wanted to establish a claim to fashion and inspiration. They had +footstools to rest their satin shoes upon, they had admirers and +panegyrists to their heart's content, and above all they possessed +that peculiar complacency in which (with a few notable exceptions) +our age is singularly deficient. We are earnest, we are audacious, +we are original, but we are not complacent. THEY were dolls +perhaps, and lived in dolls' houses; WE are ghosts without houses at +all; we come and go wrapped in sheets of newspaper, holding +flickering lights in our hands, paraffin lamps, by the light of +which we are seeking our proper sphere. Poor vexed spirits! We do +not belong to the old world any more! The new world is not yet +ready for us. Even Mr. Gladstone will not let us into the House of +Commons; the Geographical Society rejects us, so does the Royal +Academy; and yet who could say that any of their standards rise too +high! Some one or two are happily safe, carried by the angels of +the Press to little altars and pinnacles all their own; but the +majority of hard-working, intelligent women, 'contented with little, +yet ready for more,' may they not in moments of depression be +allowed to picture to themselves what their chances might have been +had they only been born half a century earlier? + +Miss Mitford, notwithstanding all her troubles (she has been known +to say she had rather be a washerwoman than a literary lady), had +opportunities such as few women can now obtain. One is lost in +admiration at the solidity of one's grandparents' taste, when one +attempts to read the tragedies they delighted in, and yet 'Rienzi' +sold four thousand copies and was acted forty-five times; and at one +time Miss Mitford had two tragedies rehearsed upon the boards +together; one at Covent Garden and one at Drury Lane, with Charles +Kemble and Macready disputing for her work. Has not one also read +similar descriptions of the triumphs of Hannah More, or of Johanna +Baillie; cheered by enthusiastic audiences, while men shed tears.* + +*Mem. Hannah More, v.i. p.124. + +'Julian' was the first of Miss Mitford's acted plays. It was +brought out at Covent Garden in 1823, when she was thirty-six years +old; Macready played the principal part. 'If the play do reach the +ninth night,' Miss Mitford writes to Macready, 'it will be a very +complete refutation of Mr. Kemble's axiom that no single performer +can fill the theatre; for except our pretty Alfonso (Miss Foote) +there is only Julian, one and only one. Let him imagine how deeply +we feel his exertions and his kindness.*. . .' + +*In Macready's diary we find an entry which is not over gracious. +'"Julian" acted March the 15th. Had but moderate success. The C. +G. company was no longer equal to the support of plays containing +moral characters. The authoress in her dedication to me was profuse +in her acknowledgments and compliments, but the performance made +little impression, and was soon forgotten.' + +'Julian' was stopped on the eighth night, to her great +disappointment, but she is already engaged on another--on several +more---tragedies; she wants the money badly; for the editor of her +magazine has absconded, owing her 50 pounds. Some trying and +bewildering quarrel then ensues between Charles Kemble and Macready, +which puts off her tragedies, and sadly affects poor Miss Mitford's +nerves and profits. She has one solace. Her father, partly +instigated, she says, by the effect which the terrible feeling of +responsibility and want of power has had upon her health and +spirits, at last resolves to try if he can HIMSELF obtain any +employment that may lighten the burthen of the home. It is a good +thing that Dr. Mitford has braced himself to this heroic +determination. 'The addition of two or even one hundred a year to +our little income, joined to what I am, in a manner, sure of gaining +by mere industry, would take a load from my heart of which I can +scarcely give you an idea. . . even "Julian" was written under a +pressure of anxiety which left me not a moment's rest. . . .' So +she fondly dwells upon the delightful prospects. Then comes the +next letter to Sir William Elford, and we read that her dear father, +'relying with a blessed sanguineness on my poor endeavours, has not, +I believe, even inquired for a situation, and I do not press the +matter, though I anxiously wish it; being willing to give one more +trial to the theatre.' + +On one of the many occasions when Miss Mitford writes to her trustee +imploring him to sell out the small remaining fragment of her +fortune, she says, 'My dear father has, years ago, been improvident, +is still irritable and difficult to live with, but he is a person of +a thousand virtues. . . there are very few half so good in this +mixed world; it is my fault that this money is needed, entirely my +fault, and if it be withheld, my dear father will be overthrown, +mind and body, and I shall never know another happy hour.' + +No wonder Mr. Harness, who was behind the scenes, remonstrated +against the filial infatuation which sacrificed health, sleep, peace +of mind, to gratify every passing whim of the Doctor's. At a time +when she was sitting up at night and slaving, hour after hour, to +earn the necessary means of living, Dr. Mitford must needs have a +cow, a stable, and dairy implements procured for his amusement, and +when he died he left 1,000 pounds of debts for the scrupulous woman +to pay off. She is determined to pay, if she sells her clothes to +do so. Meanwhile, the Doctor is still alive, and Miss Mitford is +straining every nerve to keep him so. She is engaged (in strict +confidence) on a grand historical subject, Charles and Cromwell, the +finest episode in English history, she says. Here, too, fresh +obstacles arise. This time it is the theatrical censor who +interferes. It would be dangerous for the country to touch upon +such topics; Mr. George Colman dwells upon this theme, although he +gives the lady full credit for no evil intentions; but for the +present all her work is again thrown away. While Miss Mitford is +struggling on as best she can against this confusion of worries and +difficulty (she eventually received 2OO pounds for 'Julian' from a +Surrey theatre), a new firm 'Whittaker' undertakes to republish the +'village sketches' which had been written for the absconding editor. +The book is to be published under the title of 'Our Village.' + +IV. + +'Are your characters and descriptions true?' somebody once asked our +authoress. 'Yes, yes, yes, as true, as true as is well possible,' +she answers. 'You, as a great landscape painter, know that in +painting a favourite scene you do a little embellish and can't help +it; you avail yourself of happy accidents of atmosphere; if anything +be ugly you strike it out, or if anything be wanting, you put it in. +But still the picture is a likeness.' + +So wrote Miss Mitford, but with all due respect for her and for Sir +William Elford, the great landscape painter, I cannot help thinking +that what is admirable in her book, are not her actual descriptions +and pictures of intelligent villagers and greyhounds, but the more +imaginative things; the sense of space and nature and progress which +she knows how to convey; the sweet and emotional chord she strikes +with so true a touch. Take at hazard her description of the sunset. +How simple and yet how finely felt it is. Her genuine delight +reaches us and carries us along; it is not any embellishing of +effects, or exaggeration of facts, but the reality of a true and +very present feeling. . . 'The narrow line of clouds which a few +minutes ago lay like long vapouring streaks along the horizon, now +lighted with a golden splendour, that the eye can scarcely endure; +those still softer clouds which floated above, wreathing and curling +into a thousand fantastic forms as thin and changeful as summer +smoke, defined and deepened into grandeur, and hedged with +ineffable, insufferable light. Another minute and the brilliant orb +totally disappears and the sky above grows, every moment, more +varied and more beautiful, as the dazzling golden lines are mixed +with glowing red and gorgeous purple, dappled with small dark +specks, and mingled with such a blue as the egg of the hedge- +sparrow. . . . To look up at that glorious sky, and then to see +that magnificent picture reflected in the clear and lovely Loddon +water, is a pleasure never to be described, and never to be +forgotten. My heart swells, and my eyes fill as I write of it, and +think of the immeasurable majesty of nature and the unspeakable +goodness of God, who has spread an enjoyment so pure, so peaceful, +and so intense before the meanest and lowliest of His creatures.' + +But it is needless now to go on praising 'Our Village,' or to +recount what a success was in store for the little book. Certain +books hold their own by individual right and might; they are part of +everybody's life as a matter of course. They are not always read, +but they tacitly take their place among us. The editions succeeded +editions here and in America; artists came down to illustrate the +scenes. Miss Mitford, who was so delighted with the drawings by Mr. +Baxter, should have lived to see the charming glimpses of rural life +we owe to Mr. Thomson. 'I don't mind 'em,' says Lizzy to the cows, +as they stand with spirited bovine grace behind the stable door. +'Don't mind them indeed!' + +I think the author would assuredly have enjoyed the picture of the +baker, the wheelwright and the shoemaker, each following his special +Alderney along the road to the village, or of the farmer driving his +old wife in the gig. . . . One design, that of the lady in her +pattens, comes home to the writer of these notes, who has perhaps +the distinction of being the only authoress now alive who has ever +walked out in pattens. At the age of seven years she was provided +with a pair by a great-great-aunt, a kind old lady living at +Fareham, in Hampshire, where they were still in use. How +interesting the little circles looked stamped upon the muddy road, +and how nearly down upon one's nose one was at every other step! + +But even with all her success, Miss Mitford was not out of her +troubles. She writes to Mr. Harness saying: 'You cannot imagine +how perplexed I am. There are points in my domestic situation too +long and too painful to write about; the terrible improvidence of +one dear parent, the failure of memory and decay of faculty in that +other who is still dearer, cast on me a weight of care and fear that +I can hardly bear up against.' Her difficulties were unending. The +new publisher now stopped payment, so that even 'Our Village' +brought in no return for the moment; Charles Kemble was unable to +make any offer for 'Foscari.' She went up to town in the greatest +hurry to try and collect some of the money owing to her from her +various publishers, but, as Mr. Harness says, received little from +her debtors beyond invitations and compliments. She meditates a +novel, she plans an opera, 'Cupid and Psyche.' + +At last, better times began to dawn, and she receives 150 pounds +down for a new novel and ten guineas from Blackwood as a retaining +fee. Then comes a letter from Charles Kemble giving her new hope, +for her tragedy, which was soon afterwards produced at Covent +Garden. + +The tragedies are in tragic English, of course that language of the +boards, but not without a simplicity and music of their own. In the +introduction to them, in some volumes published by Hurst and Blacket +in 1854, Miss Mitford describes 'the scene of indescribable chaos +preceding the performance, the vague sense of obscurity and +confusion; tragedians, hatted and coated, skipping about, chatting +and joking; the only very grave person being Liston himself. +Ballet-girls walking through their quadrilles to the sound of a +solitary fiddle, striking up as if of its own accord, from amid the +tall stools and music-desks of the orchestra, and piercing, one +hardly knew how, through the din that was going on incessantly. Oh, +that din! Voices from every part; above, below, around, and in +every key. Heavy weights rolling here and falling there. Bells +ringing, one could not tell why, and the ubiquitous call-boy +everywhere.' + +She describes her astonishment when the play succeeds. 'Not that I +had nerve enough to attend the first representation of my tragedies. +I sat still and trembling in some quiet apartment near, and thither +some friend flew to set my heart at ease. Generally the messenger +of good tidings was poor Haydon, whose quick and ardent spirit lent +him wings on such an occasion.' + +We have the letter to her mother about 'Foscari,' from which I have +quoted; and on the occasion of the production of 'Rienzi' at Drury +Lane (two years later in October 1828), the letter to Sir William +Elford when the poor old mother was no longer here to rejoice in her +daughter's success. + +Miss Mitford gratefully records the sympathy of her friends, the +warm-hearted muses of the day. Mrs. Trollope, Miss Landon, Miss +Edgeworth, Miss Porden, Mrs. Hofland, Mrs. Opie, who all appear with +their congratulations. + +Miss Mitford says that Haydon, above all, sympathised with her love +for a large canvas. The Classics, Spain, Italy, Mediaeval Rome, +these are her favourite scenes and periods. Dukes and tribunes were +her heroes; daggers, dungeons, and executioners her means of +effects. + +She moralises very sensibly upon Dramatic success. 'It is not,' she +says, 'so delicious, so glorious, so complete a gratification as, in +our secret longings, we all expect. It does not fill the heart,--it +is an intoxication followed by a dismal reaction.' She tells a +friend that never in all her life was she so depressed and out of +spirits as after 'Rienzi,' her first really successful venture. But +there is also a passing allusion to her father's state of mind, to +his mingled irritation and sulkiness, which partly explains things. +Could it be that the Doctor added petty jealousy and envy to his +other inconvenient qualities? His intolerance for any author or +actor, in short, for any one not belonging to a county family, his +violent annoyance at any acquaintances such as those which she now +necessarily made, would naturally account for some want of spirits +on the daughter's part; overwrought, over-taxed, for ever on the +strain, her work was exhausting indeed. The small pension she +afterwards obtained from the Civil List must have been an +unspeakable boon to the poor harassed woman. + +Tragedy seems to have resulted in a substantial pony and a basket +carriage for Miss Mitford, and in various invitations (from the +Talfourds, among the rest) during which she is lionised right and +left. It must have been on this occasion that Serjeant Talfourd +complained so bitterly of a review of 'Ion' which appeared about +that time. His guest, to soothe him, unwarily said, 'she should not +have minded such a review of HER Tragedy.' + +'YOUR "Rienzi," indeed! I should think not,' says the serjeant. +'"Ion" is very different.' The Talfourd household, as it is +described by Mr. Lestrange, is a droll mixture of poetry and prose, +of hospitality, of untidiness, of petulance, of most genuine +kindness and most genuine human nature. + +There are also many mentions of Miss Mitford in the 'Life of +Macready' by Sir F. Pollock. The great tragedian seems not to have +liked her with any cordiality; but he gives a pleasant account of a +certain supper-party in honour of 'Ion' at which she is present, and +during which she asks Macready if he will not now bring out her +tragedy. The tragedian does not answer, but Wordsworth, sitting by, +says, 'Ay, keep him to it.' + +V. + +Besides the 'Life of Miss Mitford' by Messrs. Harness and Lestrange, +there is also a book of the 'Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford,' +consisting of the letters she received rather than of those which +she wrote. It certainly occurs to one, as one looks through the +printed correspondence of celebrated people, how different are +written from printed letters. Your friend's voice sounds, your +friend's eyes look out, of the written page, even its blots and +erasures remind you of your human being. But the magnetism is gone +out of these printer's lines with their even margins; in which +everybody's handwriting is exactly alike; in which everybody uses +the same type, the same expressions; in which the eye roams from +page to page untouched, unconvinced. I can imagine the pleasure +each one of these letters may have given to Miss Mitford to receive +in turn. They come from well-known ladies, accustomed to be +considered. Mrs. Trollope, Mrs. Hofland, Mrs. Howitt, Mrs. S. C. +Hall, Miss Strickland, Mrs. Opie; there, too, are Miss Barrett and +Mrs. Jamieson and Miss Sedgwick who writes from America; they are +all interesting people, but it must be confessed that the +correspondence is not very enlivening. Miss Barrett's is an +exception, that is almost as good as handwriting to read. But there +is no doubt that compliments to OTHER authoresses are much less +amusing, than those one writes or receives oneself; apologies also +for not writing sooner, CAN pall upon one in print, however soothing +they may be to the justly offended recipient, or to the +conscience-stricken correspondent. + +'I must have seemed a thankless wretch, my dear Miss Mitford,' etc. +etc. 'You, my dear friend, know too well what it is to have to +finish a book, to blame my not attempting,' etc. etc. 'This is the +thirty-ninth letter I have written since yesterday morning,' says +Harriet Martineau. 'Oh, I can scarcely hold the pen! I will not +allow my shame for not having written, to prevent me from writing +now.' All these people seem to have been just as busy as people are +now, as amusing, as tiresome. They had the additional difficulty of +having to procure franks, and of having to cover four pages instead +of a post-card. OUR letters may be dull, but at all events they are +not nearly so long. We come sooner to the point and avoid elegant +circumlocutions. But one is struck, among other things, by the +keener literary zest of those days, and by the immense numbers of +MSS. and tragedies in circulation, all of which their authors +confidingly send from one to another. There are also whole flights +of travelling poems flapping their wings and uttering their cries as +they go. + +An enthusiastic American critic who comes over to England emphasises +the situation. Mr. Willis's 'superlative admiration' seems to give +point to everything, and to all the enthusiasm. Miss Austen's +Collins himself could not have been more appreciative, not even if +Miss de Burgh had tried her hand at a MS. . . . Could he--Mr. +Willis--choose, he would have tragedy once a year from Miss +Mitford's pen. 'WHAT an intoxicating life it is,' he cries; 'I met +Jane Porter and Miss Aikin and Tom Moore and a troop more beaux +esprits at dinner yesterday! I never shall be content elsewhere.' + +Miss Mitford's own letters speak in a much more natural voice. + +'I never could understand what people could find to like in my +letters,' Miss Mitford writes, 'unless it be that they have a ROOT +to them.' The root was in her own kind heart. Miss Mitford may +have been wanting a little in discrimination, but she was never +wanting in sympathy. She seems to have loved people for kindness's +sake indiscriminately as if they were creations of her own brain: +but to friendliness or to trouble of any sort she responds with +fullest measure. Who shall complain if some rosy veil coloured the +aspects of life for her? + +'Among the many blessings I enjoy,--my dear father, my admirable +mother, my tried and excellent friends,--there is nothing for which +I ought to thank God so earnestly as for the constitutional buoyancy +of spirits, the aptness to hope, the will to be happy WHICH I +INHERIT FROM MY FATHER,' she writes. Was ever filial piety so +irritating as hers? It is difficult to bear, with any patience, her +praises of Dr. Mitford. His illusions were no less a part of his +nature than his daughter's, the one a self-centred absolutely +selfish existence, the other generous, humble, beautiful. She is +hardly ever really angry except when some reports get about +concerning her marriage. There was an announcement that she was +engaged to one of her own clan, and the news spread among her +friends. The romantic Mrs. Hofland had conjured up the suggestion, +to Miss Mitford's extreme annoyance. It is said Mrs. Hofland also +married off Miss Edgeworth in the same manner. + +Mary Mitford found her true romance in friendship, not in love. One +day Mr. Kenyon came to see her while she was staying in London, and +offered to show her the Zoological Gardens, and on the way he +proposed calling in Gloucester Place to take up a young lady, a +connection of his own, Miss Barrett by name. It was thus that Miss +Mitford first made the acquaintance of Mrs. Browning, whose +friendship was one of the happiest events of her whole life. A +happy romance indeed, with that added reality which must have given +it endurance. And indeed to make a new friend is like learning a +new language. I myself have a friend who says that we have each one +of us a chosen audience of our own to whom we turn instinctively, +and before whom we rehearse that which is in our minds; whose +opinion influences us, whose approval is our secret aim. All this +Mrs. Browning seems to have been to Miss Mitford. + +'I sit and think of you and of the poems that you will write, and of +that strange rainbow crown called fame, until the vision is before +me. . . . My pride and my hopes seem altogether merged in you. At +my time of life and with so few to love, and with a tendency to body +forth images of gladness, you cannot think what joy it is to +anticipate. . . .' So wrote the elder woman to the younger with +romantic devotion. What Miss Mitford once said of herself was true, +hers was the instinct of the bee sucking honey from the hedge +flower. Whatever sweetness and happiness there was to find she +turned to with unerring directness. + +It is to Miss Barrett that she sometimes complains. 'It will help +you to understand how impossible it is for me to earn money as I +ought to do, when I tell you that this very day I received your dear +letter and sixteen others; then my father brought into my room the +newspaper to hear the ten or twelve columns of news from India; then +I dined and breakfasted in one; then I got up, and by that time +there were three parties of people in the garden; eight others +arrived soon after. . . . I was forced to leave, being engaged to +call on Lady Madeline Palmer. She took me some six miles on foot in +Mr. Palmer's beautiful plantations, in search of that exquisite +wild-flower the bog-bean, do you know it? most beautiful of flowers, +either wild--or, as K. puts it,--"tame." After long search we found +the plant not yet in bloom.' + +Dr. Mitford weeps over his daughters exhaustion, telling everybody +that she is killing herself by her walks and drives. He would like +her never to go beyond the garden and beyond reach of the columns of +his newspaper. She declares that it is only by getting out and +afield that she can bear the strain and the constant alternation of +enforced work and anxiety. Nature was, indeed, a second nature to +her. Charles Kingsley himself could scarcely write better of the +East wind. . . . + +'We have had nine weeks of drought and east wind, scarcely a flower +to be seen, no verdure in the meadows, no leaves in the hedgerows; +if a poor violet or primrose did make its appearance it was +scentless. I have not once heard my aversion the cuckoo. . . and +in this place, so evidently the rendezvous of swallows, that it +takes its name from them, not a swallow has yet appeared. The only +time that I have heard the nightingale, I drove, the one mild day we +have had, to a wood where I used to find the woodsorrel in beds; +only two blossoms of that could be found, but a whole chorus of +nightingales saluted me the moment I drove into the wood.' + +There is something of Madame de Sevigne in her vivid realisation of +natural things. + +She nursed her father through a long and trying illness, and when he +died found herself alone in the world with impaired health and very +little besides her pension from the Civil List to live upon. Dr. +Mitford left 1000 pounds worth of debts, which this honourable woman +then and there set to work to try and pay. So much courage and +devotion touched the hearts of her many friends and readers, and +this sum was actually subscribed by them. Queens, archbishops, +dukes, and marquises subscribe to the testimonial, so do the +literary ladies, Mesdames Bailey, Edgeworth, Trollope; Mrs. Opie is +determined to collect twenty pounds at least, although she justly +says she wishes it were for anything but to pay the Doctor's debts. + +In 1844 it is delightful to read of a little ease at last in this +harassed life; of a school-feast with buns and flags organised by +the kind lady, the children riding in waggons decked with laurel, +Miss Mitford leading the way, followed by eight or ten neighbouring +carriages, and the whole party waiting in Swallowfield Lane to see +the Queen and Prince Albert returning from their visit to the Duke +of Wellington. 'Our Duke went to no great expense,' says Miss +Mitford. (Dr. Mitford would have certainly disapproved had he been +still alive.) One strip of carpet the Duke did buy, the rest of the +furniture he hired in Reading for the week. The ringers, after +being hard at work for four hours, sent a can to the house to ask +for some beer, and the can was sent back empty. + +It was towards the end of her life that Miss Mitford left Three Mile +Cross and came to Swallowfield to stay altogether. 'The poor +cottage was tumbling around us, and if we had stayed much longer we +should have been buried in the ruins,' she says; 'there I had toiled +and striven and tasted as bitterly of bitter anxiety, of fear and +hope, as often falls to the lot of women.' Then comes a charming +description of the three miles of straight and dusty road. 'I +walked from one cottage to the other on an autumn evening when the +vagrant birds, whose habit of assembling there for their annual +departure, gives, I suppose, its name of Swallowfield to the +village, were circling over my head, and I repeated to myself the +pathetic lines of Hayley as he saw those same birds gathering upon +his roof during his last illness:-- + + '"Ye gentle birds, that perch aloof, + And smooth your pinions on my roof. . . + + '"Prepare for your departure hence + Ere winter's angry threats commence; + Like you my soul would smooth her plume + For longer flights beyond the tomb. + + '"May God by whom is seen and heard + Departing men and wandering bird, + In mercy mark us for His own + And guide us to the land unknown!"' + +Thoughts soothing and tender came with those touching lines, and +gayer images followed. . . . + +It is from Swallowfield that she writes: 'I have fell this blessing +of being able to respond to new friendships very strongly lately, +for I have lost many old and valued connections during this trying +spring. I thank God far more earnestly for such blessings than for +my daily bread, for friendship is the bread of the heart.' + +It was late in life to make such warm new ties as those which +followed her removal from Three Mile Cross; but some of the most +cordial friendships of her life date from this time. Mr. James Payn +and Mr. Fields she loved with some real motherly feeling, and Lady +Russell who lived at the Hall became her tender and devoted friend. + +VI. + +We went down to Reading the other day, as so many of Miss Mitford's +friends have done before, to look at 'our village' with our own +eyes, and at the cottage in which she lived for so long. A phaeton +with a fast-stepping horse met us at the station and whirled us +through the busy town and along the straight dusty road beyond it. +As we drove along in the soft clouded sunshine I looked over the +hedges on either side, and I could see fields and hedgerows and red +roofs clustering here and there, while the low background of blue +hills spread towards the horizon. It was an unpretentious homely +prospect intercepted each minute by the detestable advertisement +hoardings recommending this or that rival pill. 'Tongues in trees' +indeed, in a very different sense from the exiled duke's experience! +Then we come within sight of the running brook, uncontaminated as +yet; the river flowing cool and swift, without quack medicines +stamped upon its waters: we reach Whitley presently, with its +pretty gabled hostel (Mrs. Mitford used to drive to Whitley and back +for her airing), the dust rises on the fresh keen wind, the scent of +the ripe corn is in the air, the cows stoop under the elm trees, +looking exactly as they do in Mr. Thomson's pretty pictures, dappled +and brown, with delicate legs and horns. We pass very few people, a +baby lugged along in its cart, and accompanied by its brothers and +sisters; a fox-terrier comes barking at our wheels; at last the +phaeton stops abruptly between two or three roadside houses, and the +coachman, pointing with his whip, says, 'That is "The Mitford," +ma'am.--That's where Miss Mitford used to live!' + +Was that all? I saw two or three commonplace houses skirting the +dusty road, I saw a comfortable public-house with an elm tree, and +beside it another grey unpretentious little house, with a slate roof +and square walls, and an inscription, 'The Mitford,' painted over +the doorway. . . . + +I had been expecting I knew not what; a spire, a pump, a green, a +winding street: my preconceived village in the air had immediately +to be swept into space, and in its stead, behold the inn with its +sign-post, and these half-dozen brick tenements, more or less cut to +one square pattern! So this was all! this was 'our village' of +which the author had written so charmingly! These were the sights +the kind eyes had dwelt upon, seeing in them all, the soul of hidden +things, rather than dull bricks and slates. Except for one memory, +Three Mile Cross would seem to be one of the dullest and most +uninteresting of country places. . . . + +But we have Miss Mitford's own description. 'The Cross is not a +borough, thank Heaven, either rotten or independent. The +inhabitants are quiet, peaceable +people who would not think of visiting us, even if we had a knocker +to knock at. Our residence is a cottage' (she is writing to her +correspondent, Sir William Elford), 'no, not a cottage, it does not +deserve the name--a messuage or tenement such as a little farmer who +had made 1400 pounds might retire to when he left off business to +live on his means. It consists of a series of closets, the largest +of which may be about eight feet square, which they call parlours +and kitchens and pantries, some of them minus a corner, which has +been unnaturally filched for a chimney, others deficient in half a +side, which has been truncated by a shelving roof. Behind is a +garden about the size of a good drawing-room, with an arbour, which +is a complete sentry-box of privet. On one side a public-house, on +the other a village shop, and right opposite a cobbler's stall. +Notwithstanding all this "the cabin," as Boabdil says, "is +convenient." It is within reach of my dear old walks, the banks +where I find my violets, the meadows full of cowslips, and the woods +where the woodsorrel blows. . . . Papa has already had the +satisfaction of setting the neighbourhood to rights and committing a +disorderly person who was the pest of "The Cross" to Bridewell. . . +. Mamma has furbished up an old dairy; I have lost my only key and +stuffed the garden with flowers.' . . . . So writes the contented +young woman. + +How much more delightful is all this than any commonplace stagey +effect of lattice and gable; and with what pleasant unconscious art +the writer of this letter describes what is NOT there and brings in +her banks of violets to perfume the dull rooms. The postscript to +this letter is Miss Mitford all over. 'Pray excuse my blots and +interlineations. They have been caused by my attention being +distracted by a nightingale in full song who is pouring a world of +music through my window.' + +'Do you not like to meet with good company in your friends' hearts?' +Miss Mitford says somewhere,--to no one better than to herself does +this apply. Her heart was full of gracious things, and the best of +company was ever hers, 'La fleur de la hotte,' as Madame de Sevigne +says. + +We walked into the small square hall where Dr. Mitford's bed was +established after his illness, whilst visitors and all the rest of +the household came and went through the kitchen door. In the +parlour, once kept for his private use, now sat a party of homely +friends from Reading, resting and drinking tea: we too were served +with smoking cups, and poured our libation to her who once presided +in the quiet place; and then the landlady took us round and about, +showed us the kitchen with its comfortable corners and low +window-frames--'I suppose this is scarcely changed at all?' said one +of us. + +'Oh yes, ma'am,' says the housekeeper--'WE uses a Kitchener, Miss +Mitford always kept an open range.' + +The garden, with its sentry-box of privet, exists no longer; an iron +mission-room stands in its place, with the harmonium, the rows of +straw chairs, the table and the candlesticks de circonstance. Miss +Mitford's picture hangs on the wall, a hand-coloured copy of one of +her portraits. The kindly homely features smile from the oils, in +good humour and attentive intelligence. The sentiment of to-day is +assuredly to be found in the spirit of things rather than in their +outward signs. . . . Any one of us can feel the romance of a +wayside shrine put up to the memory of some mediaeval well-dressed +saint with a nimbus at the back of her head, and a trailing cloak +and veil. . . . Here, after all, is the same sentiment, only +translated into nineteenth-century language; uses corrogated iron +sheds, and cups of tea, and oakum matting. 'Mr. Palmer, he bought +the place,' says the landlady, 'he made it into a Temperance Hotel, +and built the Temperance Hall in the garden.' . . . . + +No romantic marble shrine, but a square meeting-house of good +intent, a tribute not less sincere because it is square, than if it +were drawn into Gothic arch and curve. It speaks, not of a holy and +mythical saint, but of a good and warm-hearted woman; of a life-long +penance borne with charity and cheerfulness; of sweet fancies and +blessings which have given innocent pleasure to many generations! + +VII. + +There is a note, written in a close and pretty writing, something +between Sir Walter Scott's and Mrs. Browning's, which the present +writer has possessed for years, fastened in a book among other early +treasures:-- + +Thank you, dearest Miss Priscilla, for your great kindness. I +return the ninth volume of [illegible], with the four succeeding +ones, all that I have; probably all that are yet published. You +shall have the rest when I get them. Tell dear Mr. George (I must +not call him Vert-Vert) that I have recollected the name of the +author of the clever novel 'Le Rouge et le Noir' (that is the right +title of the book, which has nothing to do with the name); the +author's name is Stendhal, or so he calls himself. I think that he +was either a musician or a musical critic, and that he is dead. . . +. My visitor has not yet arrived (6 o'clock, p.m.), frightened no +doubt by the abruptness of the two notes which I wrote in reply to +hers yesterday morning; and indeed nobody could fancy the hurry in +which one is forced to write by this walking post. . . . + +Tell my visitors of yesterday with my kind love that they did me all +the good in the world, as indeed everybody of your house does.-- +Ever, dear Miss Priscilla, very affectionately yours, + M. R. MITFORD. + +In the present writer's own early days, when the now owner of +Swallowfield was a very young, younger son, she used to hear him and +his sister, Mrs. Brackenbury (the Miss Priscilla of the note), +speaking with affectionate remembrance of the old friend lately +gone, who had dwelt at their very gates; through which friendly +gates one is glad, indeed, to realise what delightful companionship +and loving help came to cheer the end of that long and toilsome +life; and when Messrs. Macmillan suggested this preface the writer +looked for her old autograph-book, and at its suggestion wrote +(wondering whether any links existed still) to ask for information +concerning Miss Mitford, and so it happened that she found herself +also kindly entertained at Swallowfield, and invited to visit the +scenes of which the author of 'Our Village' had written with so much +delight. + +I think I should like to reverse the old proverb about letting those +who run read, my own particular fancy being for reading first and +running afterwards. There are few greater pleasures than to meet +with an Individuality, to listen to it speaking from a printed page, +recounting, suggesting, growing upon you every hour, gaining in life +and presence, and then, while still under its influence, to find +oneself suddenly transported into the very scene of that life, to +stand among its familiar impressions and experiences, realising +another distinct existence by some odd metempsychosis, and what may- +-or rather, what MUST have been. It is existing a book rather than +reading it when this happens to one. + +The house in Swallowfield Park is an old English country home, a +fastness still piled up against time; whose stately walls and halls +within, and beautiful century-old trees in the park without, record +great times and striking figures. The manor was a part of the dowry +of Henry the VIII.'s luckless queens. The modern house was built by +Clarendon, and the old church among the elms dates from 1200, with +carved signs and symbols and brasses of knights and burgesses, and +names of strange sound and bygone fashion. + +Lady Russell, who had sent the phaeton with the fast-stepping horse +to meet us, was walking in the park as we drove up, and instead of +taking us back to the house, she first led the way across the grass +and by the stream to the old church, standing in its trim sweet +garden, where Death itself seems smiling and fearless; where kind +Mary Mitford's warm heart rests quiet, and 'her busy hand,' as she +says herself, 'is lying in peace there, where the sun glances +through the great elm trees in the beautiful churchyard of +Swallowfield.' + +The last baronet, Sir Charles, who fought in the Crimea, and who +succeeded his father, Sir Henry, moved the dividing rail so that his +old friend should be well within the shadow of these elm trees. +Lady Russell showed us the tranquil green place, and told us its +story, and how the old church had once been doomed to destruction +when Kingsley came over by chance, and pleaded that it should be +spared; and how, when rubbish and outward signs of decay had been +cleared away, the restorers were rewarded for their piety, by coming +upon noble beams of oak, untouched by time, upon some fine old +buried monuments and brasses and inscriptions, among which the +people still say their prayers in the shrine where their fathers +knelt, and of which the tradition is not yet swept away. The +present Lady of the Manor, who loves old traditions, has done her +part to preserve the records for her children. + +So Miss Mitford walked from Three Mile Cross to Swallowfield to end +her days, with these kind friends to cheer and to comfort her. Sir +Henry Russell was alive when she first established herself, but he +was already suffering from some sudden seizure, which she, with her +usual impetuosity, describes in her letters as a chronic state of +things. After his death, his widow, the Lady Russell of those days, +was her kindest friend and comforter. + +The little Swallowfield cottage at the meeting of the three roads, +to which Mary Mitford came when she left Three Mile Cross, has +thrown out a room or two, as cottages do, but otherwise I think it +can be little changed. It was here Miss Mitford was visited by so +many interesting people, here she used to sit writing at her big +table under the 'tassels of her acacia tree.' When the present Lady +of the Manor brought us to the gate, the acacia flowers were over, +but a balmy breath of summer was everywhere; a beautiful rose was +hanging upon the wall beneath the window (it must have taken many +years to grow to such a height), and beyond the palings of the +garden spread the fields, ripening in the late July, and turning to +gold. The farmer and his son were at work with their scythes; the +birds were still flying, the sweet scents were in the air. + +From a lady who had known her, 'my own Miss Anne' of the letters, we +heard something more that day of the author of 'Our Village'; of her +charming intellect, her gift of talk, her impulsiveness, her +essential sociability, and rapid grace of mind. She had the faults +of her qualities; she jumped too easily to conclusions; she was too +much under the influence of those with whom she lived. She was born +to be a victim,--even after her old tyrant father's death, she was +more or less over-ridden by her servants. Neighbours looked +somewhat doubtfully on K. and Ben, but they were good to her, on the +whole, and tended her carefully. Miss Russell said that when she +and her brother took refuge in the cottage, one morning from a +storm, while they dried themselves by the fire, they saw the careful +meal carried up to the old lady, the kidneys, the custard, for her +dejeuner a la fourchette. + +When Miss Mitford died, she left everything she had to her beloved +K. and to Ben, except that she said she wished that one book from +her well-stocked library should be given to each of her friends. +The old Doctor, with all his faults, had loved books, and bought +handsome and valuable first editions of good authors. K. and Ben +also seem to have loved books and first editions. To the Russells, +who had nursed Miss Mitford, comforted her, by whose gates she +dwelt, in whose arms she died, Ben brought, as a token of +remembrance, an old shilling volume of one of G. P. R. James's +novels, which was all he could bear to part with. A prettier +incident was told me by Miss Russell, who once went to visit Miss +Mitford's grave. She found a young man standing there whom she did +not know. 'Don't you know me?' said he; 'I am Henry, ma'am. I have +just come back from Australia.' He was one of the children of the +couple who had lived in the cottage, and his first visit on his +return from abroad had been to the tomb of his old protectress. + +I also heard a friend who knew Miss Mitford in her latest days, +describe going to see her within a very few months of her death; she +was still bright and responding as ever, though very ill. The young +visitor had herself been laid up and absent from the invalid's +bedside for some time. They talked over many things,--an authoress +among the rest, concerning whose power of writing a book Miss +Mitford seems to have been very doubtful. After her visitor was +gone, the sick woman wrote one of her delicate pretty little notes +and despatched it with its tiny seal (there it is still unbroken, +with its M. R. M. just as she stamped it), and this is the little +letter:-- + +Thank you, dearest Miss . . . for once again showing me your fair +face by the side of the dear, dear friend [Lady Russell] for whose +goodness I have neither thanks nor words. To the end of my life I +shall go on sinning and repenting. Heartily sorry have I been ever +since you went away to have spoken so unkindly to Mrs . . . . +Heaven forgive me for it, and send her a happier conclusion to her +life than the beginning might warrant. If you have an idle lover, +my dear, present over to him my sermon, for those were words of +worth. + +God bless you all! Ever, most faithfully and affectionately yours, + M. R. MITFORD. +Sunday Evening. + +VIII. + +When one turns from Miss Mitford's works to the notices in the +biographical dictionary (in which Miss Mitford and Mithridates +occupy the same page), one finds how firmly her reputation is +established. 'Dame auteur,' says my faithful mentor, the Biographic +Generale, 'consideree comme le peintre le plus fidele de la vie +rurale en Angleterre.' 'Author of a remarkable tragedy, "Julian," +in which Macready played a principal part, followed by "Foscari," +"Rienzi," and others,' says the English Biographical Dictionary. + +'I am charmed with my new cottage,' she writes soon after her last +installation; 'the neighbours are most kind.' Kingsley was one of +the first to call upon her. 'He took me quite by surprise in his +extraordinary fascination,' says the old lady. + +Mr. Fields, the American publisher, also went to see Miss Mitford at +Swallowfield, and immediately became a very great ally of hers. It +was to him that she gave her own portrait, by Lucas. Mr. Fields has +left an interesting account of her in his 'Yesterdays with Authors'- +-'Her dogs and her geraniums,' he says, 'were her great glories! +She used to write me long letters about Fanchon, a dog whose +personal acquaintance I had made some time before, while on a visit +to her cottage. Every virtue under heaven she attributed to that +canine individual; and I was obliged to allow in my return letters +that since our planet began to spin, nothing comparable to Fanchon +had ever run on four legs. I had also known Flush, the ancestor of +Fanchon, intimately, and had been accustomed to hear wonderful +things of that dog, but Fanchon had graces and genius unique. Miss +Mitford would have joined with Hamerton, when he says, 'I humbly +thank Divine Providence for having invented dogs, and I regard that +man with wondering pity who can lead a dogless life.' + +Another of Miss Mitford's great friends was John Ruskin,* and one +can well imagine how much they must have had in common. Of Miss +Mitford's writings Ruskin says, 'They have the playfulness and +purity of the "Vicar of Wakefield" without the naughtiness of its +occasional wit, or the dust of the world's great road on the other +side of the hedge. . . . ' + +*It is Mr. Harness who says, writing of Ruskin and Miss Mitford, +'His kindness cheered her closing days. He sent her every book that +would interest, every delicacy that would strengthen her.' + +Neither the dust nor the ethics of the world of men quite belonged +to Miss Mitford's genius. It is always a sort of relief to turn +from her criticism of people, her praise of Louis Napoleon, her +facts about Mr. Dickens, whom she describes as a dull companion, or +about my father, whom she looked upon as an utter heartless +worldling, to the natural spontaneous sweet flow of nature in which +she lived and moved instinctively. + +Mr. James Payn gives, perhaps, the most charming of all the +descriptions of the author of 'Our Village.' He has many letters +from her to quote from. 'The paper is all odds and ends,' he says, +'and not a scrap of it but is covered and crossed. The very flaps +of the envelopes and the outsides of them have their message.' + +Mr. Payn went to see her at Swallowfield, and describes the small +apartment lined with books from floor to ceiling and fragrant with +flowers. 'Its tenant rose from her arm-chair with difficulty, but +with a sunny smile and a charming manner bade me welcome. My father +had been an old friend of hers, and she spoke of my home and +belongings as only a woman can speak of such things, then we plunged +into medea res, into men and books. She seemed to me to have known +everybody worth knowing from the Duke of Wellington to the last new +verse-maker. And she talked like an angel, but her views upon +poetry as a calling in life, shocked me not a little. She said she +preferred a mariage de convenance to a love match, because it +generally turned out better. "This surprises you," she said, +smiling, "but then I suppose I am the least romantic person that +ever wrote plays." She was much more proud of her plays, even then +well-nigh forgotten, than of the works by which she was well known, +and which at that time brought people from the ends of the earth to +see her. . . . + +'Nothing ever destroyed her faith in those she loved. If I had not +known all about him from my own folk I should have thought her +father had been a patriot and a martyr. She spoke of him as if +there had never been such a father--which in a sense was true.' + +Mr. Payn quotes Miss Mitford's charming description of K., 'for whom +she had the highest admiration.' 'K. is a great curiosity, by far +the cleverest woman in these parts, not in a literary way [this was +not to disappoint me], but in everything that is useful. She could +make a Court dress for a duchess or cook a dinner for a Lord Mayor, +but her principal talent is shown in managing everybody whom she +comes near. Especially her husband and myself; she keeps the money +of both and never allows either of us to spend sixpence without her +knowledge. . . . You should see the manner in which she makes Ben +reckon with her, and her contempt for all women who do not manage +their husbands.' + +Another delightful quotation is from one of Charles Kingsley's +letters to Mr. Payn. It brings the past before us from another +point of view. + +'I can never forget the little figure rolled up in two chairs in the +little Swallowfield room, packed round with books up to the ceiling- +-the little figure with clothes on of no recognised or recognisable +pattern; and somewhere, out of the upper end of the heap, gleaming +under a great deep globular brow, two such eyes as I never perhaps +saw in any other Englishwoman--though I believe she must have had +French blood in her veins to breed such eyes and such a tongue, the +beautiful speech which came out of that ugly (it was that) face, and +the glitter and depth too of the eyes, like live coals--perfectly +honest the while. . . .' One would like to go on quoting and +copying, but here my preface must cease, for it is but a preface +after all, one of those many prefaces written out of the past and +when everything is over. + + + +COUNTRY PICTURES. + +Of all situations for a constant residence, that which appears to me +most delightful is a little village far in the country; a small +neighbourhood, not of fine mansions finely peopled, but of cottages +and cottage-like houses, 'messuages or tenements,' as a friend of +mine calls such ignoble and nondescript dwellings, with inhabitants +whose faces are as familiar to us as the flowers in our garden; a +little world of our own, close-packed and insulated like ants in an +ant-hill, or bees in a hive, or sheep in a fold, or nuns in a +convent, or sailors in a ship; where we know every one, are known to +every one, interested in every one, and authorised to hope that +every one feels an interest in us. How pleasant it is to slide into +these true-hearted feelings from the kindly and unconscious +influence of habit, and to learn to know and to love the people +about us, with all their peculiarities, just as we learn to know and +to love the nooks and turns of the shady lanes and sunny commons +that we pass every day. Even in books I like a confined locality, +and so do the critics when they talk of the unities. Nothing is so +tiresome as to be whirled half over Europe at the chariot-wheels of +a hero, to go to sleep at Vienna, and awaken at Madrid; it produces +a real fatigue, a weariness of spirit. On the other hand, nothing +is so delightful as to sit down in a country village in one of Miss +Austen's delicious novels, quite sure before we leave it to become +intimate with every spot and every person it contains; or to ramble +with Mr. White* over his own parish of Selborne, and form a +friendship with the fields and coppices, as well as with the birds, +mice, and squirrels, who inhabit them; or to sail with Robinson +Crusoe to his island, and live there with him and his goats and his +man Friday;--how much we dread any new comers, any fresh importation +of savage or sailor! we never sympathise for a moment in our hero's +want of company, and are quite grieved when he gets away;--or to be +shipwrecked with Ferdinand on that other lovelier island--the island +of Prospero, and Miranda, and Caliban, and Ariel, and nobody else, +none of Dryden's exotic inventions:--that is best of all. And a +small neighbourhood is as good in sober waking reality as in poetry +or prose; a village neighbourhood, such as this Berkshire hamlet in +which I write, a long, straggling, winding street at the bottom of a +fine eminence, with a road through it, always abounding in carts, +horsemen, and carriages, and lately enlivened by a stage-coach from +B---- to S----, which passed through about ten days ago, and will I +suppose return some time or other. There are coaches of all +varieties nowadays; perhaps this may be intended for a monthly +diligence, or a fortnight fly. Will you walk with me through our +village, courteous reader? The journey is not long. We will begin +at the lower end, and proceed up the hill. + +*White's 'Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne;' one of the +most fascinating books ever written. I wonder that no naturalist +has adopted the same plan. + +The tidy, square, red cottage on the right hand, with the long +well-stocked garden by the side of the road, belongs to a retired +publican from a neighbouring town; a substantial person with a +comely wife; one who piques himself on independence and idleness, +talks politics, reads newspapers, hates the minister, and cries out +for reform. He introduced into our peaceful vicinage the rebellious +innovation of an illumination on the Queen's acquittal. +Remonstrance and persuasion were in vain; he talked of liberty and +broken windows--so we all lighted up. Oh! how he shone that night +with candles, and laurel, and white bows, and gold paper, and a +transparency (originally designed for a pocket-handkerchief) with a +flaming portrait of her Majesty, hatted and feathered, in red ochre. +He had no rival in the village, that we all acknowledged; the very +bonfire was less splendid; the little boys reserved their best +crackers to be expended in his honour, and he gave them full +sixpence more than any one else. He would like an illumination once +a month; for it must not be concealed that, in spite of gardening, +of newspaper reading, of jaunting about in his little cart, and +frequenting both church and meeting, our worthy neighbour begins to +feel the weariness of idleness. He hangs over his gate, and tries +to entice passengers to stop and chat; he volunteers little jobs all +round, smokes cherry trees to cure the blight, and traces and blows +up all the wasps'-nests in the parish. I have seen a great many +wasps in our garden to-day, and shall enchant him with the +intelligence. He even assists his wife in her sweepings and +dustings. Poor man! he is a very respectable person, and would be a +very happy one, if he would add a little employment to his dignity. +It would be the salt of life to him. + +Next to his house, though parted from it by another long garden with +a yew arbour at the end, is the pretty dwelling of the shoemaker, a +pale, sickly-looking, black-haired man, the very model of sober +industry. There he sits in his little shop from early morning till +late at night. An earthquake would hardly stir him: the +illumination did not. He stuck immovably to his last, from the +first lighting up, through the long blaze and the slow decay, till +his large solitary candle was the only light in the place. One +cannot conceive anything more perfect than the contempt which the +man of transparencies and the man of shoes must have felt for each +other on that evening. There was at least as much vanity in the +sturdy industry as in the strenuous idleness, for our shoemaker is a +man of substance; he employs three journeymen, two lame, and one a +dwarf, so that his shop looks like an hospital; he has purchased the +lease of his commodious dwelling, some even say that he has bought +it out and out; and he has only one pretty daughter, a light, +delicate, fair-haired girl of fourteen, the champion, protectress, +and playfellow of every brat under three years old, whom she jumps, +dances, dandles, and feeds all day long. A very attractive person +is that child-loving girl. I have never seen any one in her station +who possessed so thoroughly that undefinable charm, the lady-look. +See her on a Sunday in her simplicity and her white frock, and she +might pass for an earl's daughter. She likes flowers too, and has a +profusion of white stocks under her window, as pure and delicate as +herself. + +The first house on the opposite side of the way is the blacksmith's; +a gloomy dwelling, where the sun never seems to shine; dark and +smoky within and without, like a forge. The blacksmith is a high +officer in our little state, nothing less than a constable; but, +alas! alas! when tumults arise, and the constable is called for, he +will commonly be found in the thickest of the fray. Lucky would it +be for his wife and her eight children if there were no public-house +in the land: an inveterate inclination to enter those bewitching +doors is Mr. Constable's only fault. + +Next to this official dwelling is a spruce brick tenement, red, +high, and narrow, boasting, one above another, three sash-windows, +the only sash-windows in the village, with a clematis on one side +and a rose on the other, tall and narrow like itself. That slender +mansion has a fine, genteel look. The little parlour seems made for +Hogarth's old maid and her stunted footboy; for tea and card +parties,--it would just hold one table; for the rustle of faded +silks, and the splendour of old china; for the delight of four by +honours, and a little snug, quiet scandal between the deals; for +affected gentility and real starvation. This should have been its +destiny; but fate has been unpropitious: it belongs to a plump, +merry, bustling dame, with four fat, rosy, noisy children, the very +essence of vulgarity and plenty. + +Then comes the village shop, like other village shops, multifarious +as a bazaar; a repository for bread, shoes, tea, cheese, tape, +ribands, and bacon; for everything, in short, except the one +particular thing which you happen to want at the moment, and will be +sure not to find. The people are civil and thriving, and frugal +withal; they have let the upper part of their house to two young +women (one of them is a pretty blue-eyed girl) who teach little +children their A B C, and make caps and gowns for their mammas,-- +parcel schoolmistress, parcel mantua-maker. I believe they find +adorning the body a more profitable vocation than adorning the mind. + +Divided from the shop by a narrow yard, and opposite the +shoemaker's, is a habitation of whose inmates I shall say nothing. +A cottage--no--a miniature house, with many additions, little odds +and ends of places, pantries, and what not; all angles, and of a +charming in-and-outness; a little bricked court before one half, and +a little flower-yard before the other; the walls, old and +weather-stained, covered with hollyhocks, roses, honeysuckles, and a +great apricot-tree; the casements full of geraniums (ah! there is +our superb white cat peeping out from among them); the closets (our +landlord has the assurance to call them rooms) full of contrivances +and corner-cupboards; and the little garden behind full of common +flowers, tulips, pinks, larkspurs, peonies, stocks, and carnations, +with an arbour of privet, not unlike a sentry-box, where one lives +in a delicious green light, and looks out on the gayest of all gay +flower-beds. That house was built on purpose to show in what an +exceeding small compass comfort may be packed. Well, I will loiter +there no longer. + +The next tenement is a place of importance, the Rose Inn: a +white-washed building, retired from the road behind its fine +swinging sign, with a little bow-window room coming out on one side, +and forming, with our stable on the other, a sort of open square, +which is the constant resort of carts, waggons, and return chaises. +There are two carts there now, and mine host is serving them with +beer in his eternal red waistcoat. He is a thriving man and a +portly, as his waistcoat attests, which has been twice let out +within this twelvemonth. Our landlord has a stirring wife, a +hopeful son, and a daughter, the belle of the village; not so pretty +as the fair nymph of the shoe-shop, and far less elegant, but ten +times as fine; all curl-papers in the morning, like a porcupine, all +curls in the afternoon, like a poodle, with more flounces than +curl-papers, and more lovers than curls. Miss Phoebe is fitter for +town than country; and to do her justice, she has a consciousness of +that fitness, and turns her steps townward as often as she can. She +is gone to B---- to-day with her last and principal lover, a +recruiting sergeant--a man as tall as Sergeant Kite, and as +impudent. Some day or other he will carry off Miss Phoebe. + +In a line with the bow-window room is a low garden-wall, belonging +to a house under repair:--the white house opposite the +collar-maker's shop, with four lime-trees before it, and a +waggon-load of bricks at the door. That house is the plaything of a +wealthy, well-meaning, whimsical person who lives about a mile off. +He has a passion for brick and mortar, and, being too wise to meddle +with his own residence, diverts himself with altering and +re-altering, improving and re-improving, doing and undoing here. It +is a perfect Penelope's web. Carpenters and bricklayers have been +at work for these eighteen months, and yet I sometimes stand and +wonder whether anything has really been done. One exploit in last +June was, however, by no means equivocal. Our good neighbour +fancied that the limes shaded the rooms, and made them dark (there +was not a creature in the house but the workmen), so he had all the +leaves stripped from every tree. There they stood, poor miserable +skeletons, as bare as Christmas under the glowing midsummer sun. +Nature revenged herself, in her own sweet and gracious manner; fresh +leaves sprang out, and at nearly Christmas the foliage was as +brilliant as when the outrage was committed. + +Next door lives a carpenter, 'famed ten miles round, and worthy all +his fame,'--few cabinet-makers surpass him, with his excellent wife, +and their little daughter Lizzy, the plaything and queen of the +village, a child three years old according to the register, but six +in size and strength and intellect, in power and in self-will. She +manages everybody in the place, her schoolmistress included; turns +the wheeler's children out of their own little cart, and makes them +draw her; seduces cakes and lollypops from the very shop window; +makes the lazy carry her, the silent talk to her, the grave romp +with her; does anything she pleases; is absolutely irresistible. +Her chief attraction lies in her exceeding power of loving, and her +firm reliance on the love and indulgence of others. How impossible +it would be to disappoint the dear little girl when she runs to meet +you, slides her pretty hand into yours, looks up gladly in your +face, and says 'Come!' You must go: you cannot help it. Another +part of her charm is her singular beauty. Together with a good deal +of the character of Napoleon, she has something of his square, +sturdy, upright form, with the finest limbs in the world, a +complexion purely English, a round laughing face, sunburnt and rosy, +large merry blue eyes, curling brown hair, and a wonderful play of +countenance. She has the imperial attitudes too, and loves to stand +with her hands behind her, or folded over her bosom; and sometimes, +when she has a little touch of shyness, she clasps them together on +the top of her head, pressing down her shining curls, and looking so +exquisitely pretty! Yes, Lizzy is queen of the village! She has +but one rival in her dominions, a certain white greyhound called +Mayflower, much her friend, who resembles her in beauty and +strength, in playfulness, and almost in sagacity, and reigns over +the animal world as she over the human. They are both coming with +me, Lizzy and Lizzy's 'pretty May.' We are now at the end of the +street; a cross-lane, a rope-walk shaded with limes and oaks, and a +cool clear pond overhung with elms, lead us to the bottom of the +hill. There is still one house round the corner, ending in a +picturesque wheeler's shop. The dwelling-house is more ambitious. +Look at the fine flowered window-blinds, the green door with the +brass knocker, and the somewhat prim but very civil person, who is +sending off a labouring man with sirs and curtsies enough for a +prince of the blood. Those are the curate's lodgings--apartments +his landlady would call them; he lives with his own family four +miles off, but once or twice a week he comes to his neat little +parlour to write sermons, to marry, or to bury, as the case may +require. Never were better or kinder people than his host and +hostess; and there is a reflection of clerical importance about them +since their connection with the Church, which is quite edifying--a +decorum, a gravity, a solemn politeness. Oh, to see the worthy +wheeler carry the gown after his lodger on a Sunday, nicely pinned +up in his wife's best handkerchief!--or to hear him rebuke a +squalling child or a squabbling woman! The curate is nothing to +him. He is fit to be perpetual churchwarden. + +We must now cross the lane into the shady rope-walk. That pretty +white cottage opposite, which stands straggling at the end of the +village in a garden full of flowers, belongs to our mason, the +shortest of men, and his handsome, tall wife: he, a dwarf, with the +voice of a giant; one starts when he begins to talk as if he were +shouting through a speaking trumpet; she, the sister, daughter, and +grand-daughter, of a long line of gardeners, and no contemptible one +herself. It is very magnanimous in me not to hate her; for she +beats me in my own way, in chrysanthemums, and dahlias, and the like +gauds. Her plants are sure to live; mine have a sad trick of dying, +perhaps because I love them, 'not wisely, but too well,' and kill +them with over-kindness. Half-way up the hill is another detached +cottage, the residence of an officer, and his beautiful family. +That eldest boy, who is hanging over the gate, and looking with such +intense childish admiration at my Lizzy, might be a model for a +Cupid. + +How pleasantly the road winds up the hill, with its broad green +borders and hedgerows so thickly timbered! How finely the evening +sun falls on that sandy excavated bank, and touches the farmhouse on +the top of the eminence! and how clearly defined and relieved is the +figure of the man who is just coming +down! It is poor John Evans, the gardener--an excellent gardener +till about ten years ago, when he lost his wife, and became insane. +He was sent to St. Luke's, and dismissed as cured; but his power was +gone and his strength; he could no longer manage a garden, nor +submit to the restraint, nor encounter the fatigue of regular +employment: so he retreated to the workhouse, the pensioner and +factotum of the village, amongst whom he divides his services. His +mind often wanders, intent on some fantastic and impracticable plan, +and lost to present objects; but he is perfectly harmless, and full +of a childlike simplicity, a smiling contentedness, a most touching +gratitude. Every one is kind to John Evans, for there is that about +him which must be loved; and his unprotectedness, his utter +defencelessness, have an irresistible claim on every better feeling. +I know nobody who inspires so deep and tender a pity; he improves +all around him. He is useful, too, to the extent of his little +power; will do anything, but loves gardening best, and still piques +himself on his old arts of pruning fruit-trees, and raising +cucumbers. He is the happiest of men just now, for he has the +management of a melon bed--a melon bed!--fie! What a grand pompous +name was that for three melon plants under a hand-light! John Evans +is sure that they will succeed. We shall see: as the chancellor +said, 'I doubt.' + +We are now on the very brow of the eminence, close to the Hill-house +and its beautiful garden. On the outer edge of the paling, hanging +over the bank that skirts the road, is an old thorn--such a thorn! +The long sprays covered with snowy blossoms, so graceful, so +elegant, so lightsome, and yet so rich! There only wants a pool +under the thorn to give a still lovelier reflection, quivering and +trembling, like a tuft of feathers, whiter and greener than the +life, and more prettily mixed with the bright blue sky. There +should indeed be a pool; but on the dark grass-plat, under the high +bank, which is crowned by that magnificent plume, there is something +that does almost as well,--Lizzy and Mayflower in the midst of a +game at romps, 'making a sunshine in the shady place;' Lizzy +rolling, laughing, clapping her hands, and glowing like a rose; +Mayflower playing about her like summer lightning, dazzling the eyes +with her sudden turns, her leaps, her bounds, her attacks, and her +escapes. She darts round the lovely little girl, with the same +momentary touch that the swallow skims over the water, and has +exactly the same power of flight, the same matchless ease and +strength and grace. What a pretty picture they would make; what a +pretty foreground they do make to the real landscape! The road +winding down the hill with a slight bend, like that in the High +Street at Oxford; a waggon slowly ascending, and a horseman passing +it at a full trot--(ah! Lizzy, Mayflower will certainly desert you +to have a gambol with that blood-horse!) half-way down, just at the +turn, the red cottage of the lieutenant, covered with vines, the +very image of comfort and content; farther down, on the opposite +side, the small white dwelling of the little mason; then the limes +and the rope-walk; then the village street, peeping through the +trees, whose clustering tops hide all but the chimneys, and various +roofs of the houses, and here and there some angle of a wall; +farther on, the elegant town of B----, with its fine old +church-towers and spires; the whole view shut in by a range of +chalky hills and over every part of the picture, trees so profusely +scattered, that it appears like a woodland scene, with glades and +villages intermixed. The trees are of all kinds and all hues, +chiefly the finely-shaped elm, of so bright and deep a green, the +tips of whose high outer branches drop down with such a crisp and +garland-like richness, and the oak, whose stately form is just now +so splendidly adorned by the sunny colouring of the young leaves. +Turning again up the hill, we find ourselves on that peculiar charm +of English scenery, a green common, divided by the road; the right +side fringed by hedgerows and trees, with cottages and farmhouses +irregularly placed, and terminated by a double avenue of noble oaks; +the left, prettier still, dappled by bright pools of water, and +islands of cottages and cottage-gardens, and sinking gradually down +to cornfields and meadows, and an old farmhouse, with pointed roofs +and clustered chimneys, looking out from its blooming orchard, and +backed by woody hills. The common is itself the prettiest part of +the prospect; half covered with low furze, whose golden blossoms +reflect so intensely the last beams of the setting sun, and alive +with cows and sheep, and two sets of cricketers; one of young men, +surrounded by spectators, some standing, some sitting, some +stretched on the grass, all taking a delighted interest in the game; +the other, a merry group of little boys, at a humble distance, for +whom even cricket is scarcely lively enough, shouting, leaping, and +enjoying themselves to their hearts' content. But cricketers and +country boys are too important persons in our village to be talked +of merely as figures in the landscape. They deserve an individual +introduction--an essay to themselves--and they shall have it. No +fear of forgetting the good-humoured faces that meet us in our walks +every day. + + + +WALKS IN THE COUNTRY. + +Frost. + +January 23rd.--At noon to-day I and my white greyhound, Mayflower, +set out for a walk into a very beautiful world,--a sort of silent +fairyland,--a creation of that matchless magician the hoar-frost. +There had been just snow enough to cover the earth and all its +covers with one sheet of pure and uniform white, and just time +enough since the snow had fallen to allow the hedges to be freed of +their fleecy load, and clothed with a delicate coating of rime. The +atmosphere was deliciously calm; soft, even mild, in spite of the +thermometer; no perceptible air, but a stillness that might almost +be felt, the sky, rather gray than blue, throwing out in bold relief +the snow-covered roofs of our village, and the rimy trees that rise +above them, and the sun shining dimly as through a veil, giving a +pale fair light, like the moon, only brighter. There was a silence, +too, that might become the moon, as we stood at our little gate +looking up the quiet street; a Sabbath-like pause of work and play, +rare on a work-day; nothing was audible but the pleasant hum of +frost, that low monotonous sound, which is perhaps the nearest +approach that life and nature can make to absolute silence. The +very waggons as they come down the hill along the beaten track of +crisp yellowish frost-dust, glide along like shadows; even May's +bounding footsteps, at her height of glee and of speed, fall like +snow upon snow. + +But we shall have noise enough presently: May has stopped at +Lizzy's door; and Lizzy, as she sat on the window-sill with her +bright rosy face laughing through the casement, has seen her and +disappeared. She is coming. No! The key is turning in the door, +and sounds of evil omen issue through the keyhole--sturdy 'let me +outs,' and 'I will goes,' mixed with shrill cries on May and on me +from Lizzy, piercing through a low continuous harangue, of which the +prominent parts are apologies, chilblains, sliding, broken bones, +lollypops, rods, and gingerbread, from Lizzy's careful mother. +'Don't scratch the door, May! Don't roar so, my Lizzy! We'll call +for you as we come back.' 'I'll go now! Let me out! I will go!' +are the last words of Miss Lizzy. Mem. Not to spoil that child--if +I can help it. But I do think her mother might have let the poor +little soul walk with us to-day. Nothing worse for children than +coddling. Nothing better for chilblains than exercise. Besides, I +don't believe she has any--and as to breaking her bones in sliding, +I don't suppose there's a slide on the common. These murmuring +cogitations have brought us up the hill, and half-way across the +light and airy common, with its bright expanse of snow and its +clusters of cottages, whose turf fires send such wreaths of smoke +sailing up the air, and diffuse such aromatic fragrance around. And +now comes the delightful sound of childish voices, ringing with glee +and merriment almost from beneath our feet. Ah, Lizzy, your mother +was right! They are shouting from that deep irregular pool, all +glass now, where, on two long, smooth, liny slides, half a dozen +ragged urchins are slipping along in tottering triumph. Half a +dozen steps bring us to the bank right above them. May can hardly +resist the temptation of joining her friends, for most of the +varlets are of her acquaintance, especially the rogue who leads the +slide,--he with the brimless hat, whose bronzed complexion and white +flaxen hair, reversing the usual lights and shadows of the human +countenance, give so strange and foreign a look to his flat and +comic features. This hobgoblin, Jack Rapley by name, is May's great +crony; and she stands on the brink of the steep, irregular descent, +her black eyes fixed full upon him, as if she intended him the +favour of jumping on his head. She does: she is down, and upon +him; but Jack Rapley is not easily to be knocked off his feet. He +saw her coming, and in the moment of her leap sprung dexterously off +the slide on the rough ice, steadying himself by the shoulder of the +next in the file, which unlucky follower, thus unexpectedly checked +in his career, fell plump backwards, knocking down the rest of the +line like a nest of card-houses. There is no harm done; but there +they lie, roaring, kicking, sprawling, in every attitude of comic +distress, whilst Jack Rapley and Mayflower, sole authors of this +calamity, stand apart from the throng, fondling, and coquetting, and +complimenting each other, and very visibly laughing, May in her +black eyes, Jack in his wide, close-shut mouth, and his whole +monkey-face, at their comrades' mischances. I think, Miss May, you +may as well come up again, and leave Master Rapley to fight your +battles. He'll get out of the scrape. He is a rustic wit--a sort +of Robin Goodfellow--the sauciest, idlest, cleverest, best-natured +boy in the parish; always foremost in mischief, and always ready to +do a good turn. The sages of our village predict sad things of Jack +Rapley, so that I am sometimes a little ashamed to confess, before +wise people, that I have a lurking predilection for him (in common +with other naughty ones), and that I like to hear him talk to May +almost as well as she does. 'Come, May!' and up she springs, as +light as a bird. The road is gay now; carts and post-chaises, and +girls in red cloaks, and, afar off, looking almost like a toy, the +coach. It meets us fast and soon. How much happier the walkers +look than the riders--especially the frost-bitten gentleman, and the +shivering lady with the invisible face, sole passengers of that +commodious machine! Hooded, veiled, and bonneted, as she is, one +sees from her attitude how miserable she would look uncovered. + +Another pond, and another noise of children. More sliding? Oh no! +This is a sport of higher pretension. Our good neighbour, the +lieutenant, skating, and his own pretty little boys, and two or +three other four-year-old elves, standing on the brink in an ecstasy +of joy and wonder! Oh what happy spectators! And what a happy +performer! They admiring, he admired, with an ardour and sincerity +never excited by all the quadrilles and the spread-eagles of the +Seine and the Serpentine. He really skates well though, and I am +glad I came this way; for, with all the father's feelings sitting +gaily at his heart, it must still gratify the pride of skill to have +one spectator at that solitary pond who has seen skating before. + +Now we have reached the trees,--the beautiful trees! never so +beautiful as to-day. Imagine the effect of a straight and regular +double avenue of oaks, nearly a mile long, arching overhead, and +closing into perspective like the roof and columns of a cathedral, +every tree and branch incrusted with the bright and delicate +congelation of hoar-frost, white and pure as snow, delicate and +defined as carved ivory. How beautiful it is, how uniform, how +various, how filling, how satiating to the eye and to the mind-- +above all, how melancholy! There is a thrilling awfulness, an +intense feeling of simple power in that naked and colourless beauty, +which falls on the earth like the thoughts of death--death pure, and +glorious, and smiling,--but still death. Sculpture has always the +same effect on my imagination, and painting never. Colour is life.- +-We are now at the end of this magnificent avenue, and at the top of +a steep eminence commanding a wide view over four counties--a +landscape of snow. A deep lane leads abruptly down the hill; a mere +narrow cart-track, sinking between high banks clothed with fern and +furze and low broom, crowned with luxuriant hedgerows, and famous +for their summer smell of thyme. How lovely these banks are now-- +the tall weeds and the gorse fixed and stiffened in the hoar-frost, +which fringes round the bright prickly holly, the pendent foliage of +the bramble, and the deep orange leaves of the pollard oaks! Oh, +this is rime in its loveliest form! And there is still a berry here +and there on the holly, 'blushing in its natural coral' through the +delicate tracery, still a stray hip or haw for the birds, who abound +here always. The poor birds, how tame they are, how sadly tame! +There is the beautiful and rare crested wren, 'that shadow of a +bird,' as White of Selborne calls it, perched in the middle of the +hedge, nestling as it were amongst the cold bare boughs, seeking, +poor pretty thing, for the warmth it will not find. And there, +farther on, just under the bank, by the slender runlet, which still +trickles between its transparent fantastic margin of thin ice, as if +it were a thing of life,--there, with a swift, scudding motion, +flits, in short low flights, the gorgeous kingfisher, its +magnificent plumage of scarlet and blue flashing in the sun, like +the glories of some tropical bird. He is come for water to this +little spring by the hillside,--water which even his long bill and +slender head can hardly reach, so nearly do the fantastic forms of +those garland-like icy margins meet over the tiny stream beneath. +It is rarely that one sees the shy beauty so close or so long; and +it is pleasant to see him in the grace and beauty of his natural +liberty, the only way to look at a bird. We used, before we lived +in a street, to fix a little board outside the parlour window, and +cover it with bread crumbs in the hard weather. It was quite +delightful to see the pretty things come and feed, to conquer their +shyness, and do away their mistrust. First came the more social +tribes, 'the robin red-breast and the wren,' cautiously, +suspiciously, picking up a crumb on the wing, with the little keen +bright eye fixed on the window; then they would stop for two pecks; +then stay till they were satisfied. The shyer birds, tamed by their +example, came next; and at last one saucy fellow of a blackbird--a +sad glutton, he would clear the board in two minutes,--used to tap +his yellow bill against the window for more. How we loved the +fearless confidence of that fine, frank-hearted creature! And +surely he loved us. I wonder the practice is not more general. +'May! May! naughty May!' She has frightened away the kingfisher; +and now, in her coaxing penitence, she is covering me with snow. +'Come, pretty May! it is time to go home.' + +Thaw. + +January 28th.--We have had rain, and snow, and frost, and rain again +four days of absolute confinement. Now it is a thaw and a flood; +but our light gravelly soil, and country boots, and country +hardihood, will carry us through. What a dripping, comfortless day +it is! just like the last days of November: no sun, no sky, gray or +blue; one low, overhanging, dark, dismal cloud, like London smoke; +Mayflower is out coursing too, and Lizzy gone to school. Never +mind. Up the hill again! Walk we must. Oh what a watery world to +look back upon! Thames, Kennet, Loddon--all overflowed; our famous +town, inland once, turned into a sort of Venice; C. park converted +into an island; and the long range of meadows from B. to W. one huge +unnatural lake, with trees growing out of it. Oh what a watery +world!--I will look at it no longer. I will walk on. The road is +alive again. Noise is reborn. Waggons creak, horses splash, carts +rattle, and pattens paddle through the dirt with more than their +usual clink. The common has its old fine tints of green and brown, +and its old variety of inhabitants, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, and +donkeys. The ponds are unfrozen, except where some melancholy piece +of melting ice floats sullenly on the water; and cackling geese and +gabbling ducks have replaced the lieutenant and Jack Rapley. The +avenue is chill and dark, the hedges are dripping, the lanes +knee-deep, and all nature is in a state of 'dissolution and thaw.' + + + +THE FIRST PRIMROSE. + +March 6th.--Fine March weather: boisterous, blustering, much wind +and squalls of rain; and yet the sky, where the clouds are swept +away, deliciously blue, with snatches of sunshine, bright, and +clear, and healthful, and the roads, in spite of the slight +glittering showers, crisply dry. Altogether the day is tempting, +very tempting. It will not do for the dear common, that windmill of +a walk; but the close sheltered lanes at the bottom of the hill, +which keep out just enough of the stormy air, and let in all the +sun, will be delightful. Past our old house, and round by the +winding lanes, and the workhouse, and across the lea, and so into +the turnpike-road again,--that is our route for to-day. Forth we +set, Mayflower and I, rejoicing in the sunshine, and still more in +the wind, which gives such an intense feeling of existence, and, +co-operating with brisk motion, sets our blood and our spirits in a +glow. For mere physical pleasure, there is nothing perhaps equal to +the enjoyment of being drawn, in a light carriage, against such a +wind as this, by a blood-horse at his height of speed. Walking +comes next to it; but walking is not quite so luxurious or so +spiritual, not quite so much what one fancies of flying, or being +carried above the clouds in a balloon. + +Nevertheless, a walk is a good thing; especially under this southern +hedgerow, where nature is just beginning to live again; the +periwinkles, with their starry blue flowers, and their shining +myrtle-like leaves, garlanding the bushes; woodbines and elder-trees +pushing out their small swelling buds; and grasses and mosses +springing forth in every variety of brown and green. Here we are at +the corner where four lanes meet, or rather where a passable road of +stones and gravel crosses an impassable one of beautiful but +treacherous turf, and where the small white farmhouse, scarcely +larger than a cottage, and the well-stocked rick-yard behind, tell +of comfort and order, but leave all unguessed the great riches of +the master. How he became so rich is almost a puzzle; for, though +the farm be his own, it is not large; and though prudent and frugal +on ordinary occasions, Farmer Barnard is no miser. His horses, +dogs, and pigs are the best kept in the parish,--May herself, +although her beauty be injured by her fatness, half envies the +plight of his bitch Fly: his wife's gowns and shawls cost as much +again as any shawls or gowns in the village; his dinner parties (to +be sure they are not frequent) display twice the ordinary quantity +of good things--two couples of ducks, two dishes of green peas, two +turkey poults, two gammons of bacon, two plum-puddings; moreover, he +keeps a single-horse chaise, and has built and endowed a Methodist +chapel. Yet is he the richest man in these parts. Everything +prospers with him. Money drifts about him like snow. He looks like +a rich man. There is a sturdy squareness of face and figure; a +good-humoured obstinacy; a civil importance. He never boasts of his +wealth, or gives himself undue airs; but nobody can meet him at +market or vestry without finding out immediately that he is the +richest man there. They have no child to all this money; but there +is an adopted nephew, a fine spirited lad, who may, perhaps, some +day or other, play the part of a fountain to the reservoir. + +Now turn up the wide road till we come to the open common, with its +park-like trees, its beautiful stream, wandering and twisting along, +and its rural bridge. Here we turn again, past that other white +farmhouse, half hidden by the magnificent elms which stand before +it. Ah! riches dwell not there, but there is found the next best +thing--an industrious and light-hearted poverty. Twenty years ago +Rachel Hilton was the prettiest and merriest lass in the country. +Her father, an old gamekeeper, had retired to a village alehouse, +where his good beer, his social humour, and his black-eyed daughter, +brought much custom. She had lovers by the score; but Joseph White, +the dashing and lively son of an opulent farmer, carried off the +fair Rachel. They married and settled here, and here they live +still, as merrily as ever, with fourteen children of all ages and +sizes, from nineteen years to nineteen months, working harder than +any people in the parish, and enjoying themselves more. I would +match them for labour and laughter against any family in England. +She is a blithe, jolly dame, whose beauty has amplified into +comeliness; he is tall, and thin, and bony, with sinews like +whipcord, a strong lively voice, a sharp weather-beaten face, and +eyes and lips that smile and brighten when he speaks into a most +contagious hilarity. They are very poor, and I often wish them +richer; but I don't know--perhaps it might put them out. + +Quite close to Farmer White's is a little ruinous cottage, +white-washed once, and now in a sad state of betweenity, where +dangling stockings and shirts, swelled by the wind, drying in a +neglected garden, give signal of a washerwoman. There dwells, at +present in single blessedness, Betty Adams, the wife of our +sometimes gardener. I never saw any one who so much reminded me in +person of that lady whom everybody knows, Mistress Meg Merrilies;-- +as tall, as grizzled, as stately, as dark, as gipsy-looking, +bonneted and gowned like her prototype, and almost as oracular. +Here the resemblance ceases. Mrs. Adams is a perfectly honest, +industrious, painstaking person, who earns a good deal of money by +washing and charing, and spends it in other luxuries than tidiness,- +-in green tea, and gin, and snuff. Her husband lives in a great +family, ten miles off. He is a capital gardener--or rather he would +be so, if he were not too ambitious. He undertakes all things, and +finishes none. But a smooth tongue, a knowing look, and a great +capacity of labour, carry him through. Let him but like his ale and +his master and he will do work enough for four. Give him his own +way, and his full quantum, and nothing comes amiss to him. + +Ah, May is bounding forward! Her silly heart leaps at the sight of +the old place--and so in good truth does mine. What a pretty place +it was--or rather, how pretty I thought it! I suppose I should have +thought any place so where I had spent eighteen happy years. But it +was really pretty. A large, heavy, white house, in the simplest +style, surrounded by fine oaks and elms, and tall massy plantations +shaded down into a beautiful lawn by wild overgrown shrubs, bowery +acacias, ragged sweet-briers, promontories of dogwood, and Portugal +laurel, and bays, over-hung by laburnum and bird-cherry; a long +piece of water letting light into the picture, and looking just like +a natural stream, the banks as rude and wild as the shrubbery, +interspersed with broom, and furze, and bramble, and pollard oaks +covered with ivy and honeysuckle; the whole enclosed by an old mossy +park paling, and terminating in a series of rich meadows, richly +planted. This is an exact description of the home which, three +years ago, it nearly broke my heart to leave. What a tearing up by +the root it was! I have pitied cabbage-plants and celery, and all +transplantable things, ever since; though, in common with them, and +with other vegetables, the first agony of the transportation being +over, I have taken such firm and tenacious hold of my new soil, that +I would not for the world be pulled up again, even to be restored to +the old beloved ground;--not even if its beauty were undiminished, +which is by no means the case; for in those three years it has +thrice changed masters, and every successive possessor has brought +the curse of improvement upon the place; so that between filling up +the water to cure dampness, cutting down trees to let in prospects, +planting to keep them out, shutting up windows to darken the inside +of the house (by which means one end looks precisely as an eight of +spades would do that should have the misfortune to lose one of his +corner pips), and building colonnades to lighten the out, added to a +general clearance of pollards, and brambles, and ivy, and +honeysuckles, and park palings, and irregular shrubs, the poor place +is so transmogrified, that if it had its old looking-glass, the +water, back again, it would not know its own face. And yet I love +to haunt round about it: so does May. Her particular attraction is +a certain broken bank full of rabbit burrows, into which she +insinuates her long pliant head and neck, and tears her pretty feet +by vain scratchings: mine is a warm sunny hedgerow, in the same +remote field, famous for early flowers. Never was a spot more +variously flowery: primroses yellow, lilac white, violets of either +hue, cowslips, oxslips, arums, orchises, wild hyacinths, ground ivy, +pansies, strawberries, heart's-ease, formed a small part of the +Flora of that wild hedgerow. How profusely they covered the sunny +open slope under the weeping birch, 'the lady of the woods'--and how +often have I started to see the early innocent brown snake, who +loved the spot as well as I did, winding along the young blossoms, +or rustling amongst the fallen leaves! There are primrose leaves +already, and short green buds, but no flowers; not even in that +furze cradle so full of roots, where they used to blow as in a +basket. No, my May, no rabbits! no primroses! We may as well get +over the gate into the woody winding lane, which will bring us home +again. + +Here we are making the best of our way between the old elms that +arch so solemnly over head, dark and sheltered even now. They say +that a spirit haunts this deep pool--a white lady without a head. I +cannot say that I have seen her, often as I have paced this lane at +deep midnight, to hear the nightingales, and look at the +glow-worms;--but there, better and rarer than a thousand ghosts, +dearer even than nightingales or glow-worms, there is a primrose, +the first of the year; a tuft of primroses, springing in yonder +sheltered nook, from the mossy roots of an old willow, and living +again in the clear bright pool. Oh, how beautiful they are--three +fully blown, and two bursting buds! How glad I am I came this way! +They are not to be reached. Even Jack Rapley's love of the +difficult and the unattainable would fail him here: May herself +could not stand on that steep bank. So much the better. Who would +wish to disturb them? There they live in their innocent and +fragrant beauty, sheltered from the storms, and rejoicing in the +sunshine, and looking as if they could feel their happiness. Who +would disturb them? Oh, how glad I am I came this way home! + + +VIOLETING. + +March 27th.--It is a dull gray morning, with a dewy feeling in the +air; fresh, but not windy; cool, but not cold;--the very day for a +person newly arrived from the heat, the glare, the noise, and the +fever of London, to plunge into the remotest labyrinths of the +country, and regain the repose of mind, the calmness of heart, which +has been lost in that great Babel. I must go violeting--it is a +necessity--and I must go alone: the sound of a voice, even my +Lizzy's, the touch of Mayflower's head, even the bounding of her +elastic foot, would disturb the serenity of feeling which I am +trying to recover. I shall go quite alone, with my little basket, +twisted like a bee-hive, which I love so well, because SHE gave it +to me, and kept sacred to violets and to those whom I love; and I +shall get out of the high-road the moment I can. I would not meet +any one just now, even of those whom I best like to meet. + +Ha!--Is not that group--a gentleman on a blood-horse, a lady keeping +pace with him so gracefully and easily--see how prettily her veil +waves in the wind created by her own rapid motion!--and that gay, +gallant boy, on the gallant white Arabian, curveting at their side, +but ready to spring before them every instant--is not that +chivalrous-looking party Mr. and Mrs. M. and dear R? No! the +servant is in a different livery. It is some of the ducal family, +and one of their young Etonians. I may go on. I shall meet no one +now; for I have fairly left the road, and am crossing the lea by one +of those wandering paths, amidst the gorse, and the heath, and the +low broom, which the sheep and lambs have made--a path turfy, +elastic, thymy, and sweet, even at this season. + +We have the good fortune to live in an unenclosed parish, and may +thank the wise obstinacy of two or three sturdy farmers, and the +lucky unpopularity of a ranting madcap lord of the manor, for +preserving the delicious green patches, the islets of wilderness +amidst cultivation, which form, perhaps, the peculiar beauty of +English scenery. The common that I am passing now--the lea, as it +is called--is one of the loveliest of these favoured spots. It is a +little sheltered scene, retiring, as it were, from the village; sunk +amidst higher lands, hills would be almost too grand a word; edged +on one side by one gay high-road, and intersected by another; and +surrounded by a most picturesque confusion of meadows, cottages, +farms, and orchards; with a great pond in one corner, unusually +bright and clear, giving a delightful cheerfulness and daylight to +the picture. The swallows haunt that pond; so do the children. +There is a merry group round it now; I have seldom seen it without +one. Children love water, clear, bright, sparkling water; it +excites and feeds their curiosity; it is motion and life. + +The path that I am treading leads to a less lively spot, to that +large heavy building on one side of the common, whose solid wings, +jutting out far beyond the main body, occupy three sides of a +square, and give a cold, shadowy look to the court. On one side is +a gloomy garden, with an old man digging in it, laid out in straight +dark beds of vegetables, potatoes, cabbages, onions, beans; all +earthy and mouldy as a newly-dug grave. Not a flower or flowering +shrub! Not a rose-tree or currant-bush! Nothing but for sober, +melancholy use. Oh, different from the long irregular slips of the +cottage-gardens, with their gay bunches of polyanthuses and +crocuses, their wallflowers sending sweet odours through the narrow +casement, and their gooseberry-trees bursting into a brilliancy of +leaf, whose vivid greenness has the effect of a blossom on the eye! +Oh, how different! On the other side of this gloomy abode is a +meadow of that deep, intense emerald hue, which denotes the presence +of stagnant water, surrounded by willows at regular distances, and +like the garden, separated from the common by a wide, moat-like +ditch. That is the parish workhouse. All about it is solid, +substantial, useful;--but so dreary! so cold! so dark! There are +children in the court, and yet all is silent. I always hurry past +that place as if it were a prison. Restraint, sickness, age, +extreme poverty, misery, which I have no power to remove or +alleviate,--these are the ideas, the feelings, which the sight of +those walls excites; yet, perhaps, if not certainly, they contain +less of that extreme desolation than the morbid fancy is apt to +paint. There will be found order, cleanliness, food, clothing, +warmth, refuge for the homeless, medicine and attendance for the +sick, rest and sufficiency for old age, and sympathy, the true and +active sympathy which the poor show to the poor, for the unhappy. +There may be worse places than a parish workhouse--and yet I hurry +past it. The feeling, the prejudice, will not be controlled. + +The end of the dreary garden edges off into a close-sheltered lane, +wandering and winding, like a rivulet, in gentle 'sinuosities' (to +use a word once applied by Mr. Wilberforce to the Thames at Henley), +amidst green meadows, all alive with cattle, sheep, and beautiful +lambs, in the very spring and pride of their tottering prettiness; +or fields of arable land, more lively still with troops of stooping +bean-setters, women and children, in all varieties of costume and +colour; and ploughs and harrows, with their whistling boys and +steady carters, going through, with a slow and plodding industry, +the main business of this busy season. What work beansetting is! +What a reverse of the position assigned to man to distinguish him +from the beasts of the field! Only think of stooping for six, +eight, ten hours a day, drilling holes in the earth with a little +stick, and then dropping in the beans one by one. They are paid +according to the quantity they plant; and some of the poor women +used to be accused of clumping them--that is to say, of dropping +more than one bean into a hole. It seems to me, considering the +temptation, that not to clump is to be at the very pinnacle of human +virtue. + +Another turn in the lane, and we come to the old house standing +amongst the high elms--the old farm-house, which always, I don't +know why, carries back my imagination to Shakspeare's days. It is a +long, low, irregular building, with one room, at an angle from the +house, covered with ivy, fine white-veined ivy; the first floor of +the main building projecting and supported by oaken beams, and one +of the windows below, with its old casement and long narrow panes, +forming the half of a shallow hexagon. A porch, with seats in it, +surmounted by a pinnacle, pointed roofs, and clustered chimneys, +complete the picture! Alas! it is little else but a picture! The +very walls are crumbling to decay under a careless landlord and +ruined tenant. + +Now a few yards farther, and I reach the bank. Ah! I smell them +already--their exquisite perfume steams and lingers in this moist, +heavy air. Through this little gate, and along the green south bank +of this green wheat-field, and they burst upon me, the lovely +violets, in tenfold loveliness. The ground is covered with them, +white and purple, enamelling the short dewy grass, looking but the +more vividly coloured under the dull, leaden sky. There they lie by +hundreds, by thousands. In former years I have been used to watch +them from the tiny green bud, till one or two stole into bloom. +They never came on me before in such a sudden and luxuriant glory of +simple beauty,--and I do really owe one pure and genuine pleasure to +feverish London! How beautifully they are placed too, on this +sloping bank, with the palm branches waving over them, full of early +bees, and mixing their honeyed scent with the more delicate violet +odour! How transparent and smooth and lusty are the branches, full +of sap and life! And there, just by the old mossy root, is a superb +tuft of primroses, with a yellow butterfly hovering over them, like +a flower floating on the air. What happiness to sit on this tufty +knoll, and fill my basket with the blossoms! What a renewal of +heart and mind! To inhabit such a scene of peace and sweetness is +again to be fearless, gay, and gentle as a child. Then it is that +thought becomes poetry, and feeling religion. Then it is that we +are happy and good. Oh, that my whole life could pass so, floating +on blissful and innocent sensation, enjoying in peace and gratitude +the common blessings of Nature, thankful above all for the simple +habits, the healthful temperament, which render them so dear! Alas! +who may dare expect a life of such happiness? But I can at least +snatch and prolong the fleeting pleasure, can fill my basket with +pure flowers, and my heart with pure thoughts; can gladden my little +home with their sweetness; can divide my treasures with one, a dear +one, who cannot seek them; can see them when I shut my eyes and +dream of them when I fall asleep. + + +THE COPSE. + +April 18th.--Sad wintry weather; a northeast wind; a sun that puts +out one's eyes, without affording the slightest warmth; dryness that +chaps lips and hands like a frost in December; rain that comes +chilly and arrowy like hail in January; nature at a dead pause; no +seeds up in the garden; no leaves out in the hedgerows; no cowslips +swinging their pretty bells in the fields; no nightingales in the +dingles; no swallows skimming round the great pond; no cuckoos (that +ever I should miss that rascally sonneteer!) in any part. +Nevertheless there is something of a charm in this wintry spring, +this putting-back of the seasons. If the flower-clock must stand +still for a month or two, could it choose a better time than that of +the primroses and violets? I never remember (and for such gauds my +memory, if not very good for aught of wise or useful, may be +trusted) such an affluence of the one or such a duration of the +other. Primrosy is the epithet which this year will retain in my +recollection. Hedge, ditch, meadow, field, even the very paths and +highways, are set with them; but their chief habitat is a certain +copse, about a mile off, where they are spread like a carpet, and +where I go to visit them rather oftener than quite comports with the +dignity of a lady of mature age. I am going thither this very +afternoon, and May and her company are going too. + +This Mayflower of mine is a strange animal. Instinct and imitation +make in her an approach to reason which is sometimes almost +startling. She mimics all that she sees us do, with the dexterity +of a monkey, and far more of gravity and apparent purpose; cracks +nuts and eats them; gathers currants and severs them from the stalk +with the most delicate nicety; filches and munches apples and pears; +is as dangerous in an orchard as a schoolboy; smells to flowers; +smiles at meeting; answers in a pretty lively voice when spoken to +(sad pity that the language should be unknown!) and has greatly the +advantage of us in a conversation, inasmuch as our meaning is +certainly clear to her;--all this and a thousand amusing +prettinesses (to say nothing of her canine feat of bringing her game +straight to her master's feet, and refusing to resign it to any hand +but his), does my beautiful greyhound perform untaught, by the mere +effect of imitation and sagacity. Well, May, at the end of the +coursing season, having lost Brush, our old spaniel, her great +friend, and the blue greyhound, Mariette, her comrade and rival, +both of which four-footed worthies were sent out to keep for the +summer, began to find solitude a weary condition, and to look abroad +for company. Now it so happened that the same suspension of sport +which had reduced our little establishment from three dogs to one, +had also dispersed the splendid kennel of a celebrated courser in +our neighbourhood, three of whose finest young dogs came home to +'their walk' (as the sporting phrase goes) at the collarmaker's in +our village. May, accordingly, on the first morning of her solitude +(she had never taken the slightest notice of her neighbours before, +although they had sojourned in our street upwards of a fortnight), +bethought herself of the timely resource offered to her by the +vicinity of these canine beaux, and went up boldly and knocked at +their stable door, which was already very commodiously on the +half-latch. The three dogs came out with much alertness and +gallantry, and May, declining apparently to enter their territories, +brought them off to her own. This manoeuvre has been repeated every +day, with one variation; of the three dogs, the first a brindle, the +second a yellow, and the third a black, the two first only are now +allowed to walk or consort with her, and the last, poor fellow, for +no fault that I can discover except May's caprice, is driven away +not only by the fair lady, but even by his old companions--is, so to +say, sent to Coventry. Of her two permitted followers, the yellow +gentleman, Saladin by name, is decidedly the favourite. He is, +indeed, May's shadow, and will walk with me whether I choose or not. +It is quite impossible to get rid of him unless by discarding Miss +May also;--and to accomplish a walk in the country without her, +would be like an adventure of Don Quixote without his faithful +'squire Sancho. + +So forth we set, May and I, and Saladin and the brindle; May and +myself walking with the sedateness and decorum befitting our sex and +age (she is five years old this grass, rising six)--the young +things, for the soldan and the brindle are (not meaning any +disrespect) little better than puppies, frisking and frolicking as +best pleased them. + +Our route lay for the first part along the sheltered quiet lanes +which lead to our old habitation; a way never trodden by me without +peculiar and homelike feelings, full of the recollections, the pains +and pleasures, of other days. But we are not to talk sentiment +now;--even May would not understand that maudlin language. We must +get on. What a wintry hedgerow this is for the eighteenth of April! +Primrosy to be sure, abundantly spangled with those stars of the +earth,--but so bare, so leafless, so cold! The wind whistles +through the brown boughs as in winter. Even the early elder shoots, +which do make an approach to springiness, look brown, and the small +leaves of the woodbine, which have also ventured to peep forth, are +of a sad purple, frost-bitten, like a dairymaid's elbows on a snowy +morning. The very birds, in this season of pairing and building, +look chilly and uncomfortable, and their nests!--'Oh, Saladin! come +away from the hedge! Don't you see that what puzzles you and makes +you leap up in the air is a redbreast's nest? Don't you see the +pretty speckled eggs? Don't you hear the poor hen calling as it +were for help? Come here this moment, sir!' And by good luck +Saladin (who for a paynim has tolerable qualities) comes, before he +has touched the nest, or before his playmate the brindle, the less +manageable of the two, has espied it. + +Now we go round the corner and cross the bridge, where the common, +with its clear stream winding between clumps of elms, assumes so +park-like an appearance. Who is this approaching so slowly and +majestically, this square bundle of petticoat and cloak, this +road-waggon of a woman? It is, it must be Mrs. Sally Mearing, the +completest specimen within my knowledge of farmeresses (may I be +allowed that innovation in language?) as they were. It can be +nobody else. + +Mrs. Sally Mearing, when I first became acquainted with her, +occupied, together with her father (a superannuated man of ninety), +a large farm very near our former habitation. It had been anciently +a great manor-farm or court-house, and was still a stately, +substantial building, whose lofty halls and spacious chambers gave +an air of grandeur to the common offices to which they were applied. +Traces of gilding might yet be seen on the panels which covered the +walls, and on the huge carved chimney-pieces which rose almost to +the ceilings; and the marble tables and the inlaid oak staircase +still spoke of the former grandeur of the court. Mrs. Sally +corresponded well with the date of her mansion, although she +troubled herself little with its dignity. She was thoroughly of the +old school, and had a most comfortable contempt for the new: rose +at four in winter and summer, breakfasted at six, dined at eleven in +the forenoon, supped at five, and was regularly in bed before eight, +except when the hay-time or the harvest imperiously required her to +sit up till sunset, a necessity to which she submitted with no very +good grace. To a deviation from these hours, and to the modern +iniquities of white aprons, cotton stockings, and muslin +handkerchiefs (Mrs. Sally herself always wore check, black worsted, +and a sort of yellow compound which she was wont to call 'susy'), +together with the invention of drill plough and thrashing-machines, +and other agricultural novelties, she failed not to attribute all +the mishaps or misdoings of the whole parish. The last-mentioned +discovery especially aroused her indignation. Oh to hear her +descant on the merits of the flail, wielded by a stout right arm, +such as she had known in her youth (for by her account there was as +great a deterioration in bones and sinews as in the other implements +of husbandry), was enough to make the very inventor break his +machine. She would even take up her favourite instrument, and +thrash the air herself by way of illustrating her argument, and, to +say truth, few men in these degenerate days could have matched the +stout, brawny, muscular limb which Mrs. Sally displayed at +sixty-five. + +In spite of this contumacious rejection of agricultural +improvements, the world went well with her at Court Farm. A good +landlord, an easy rent, incessant labour, unremitting frugality, and +excellent times, insured a regular though moderate profit; and she +lived on, grumbling and prospering, flourishing and complaining, +till two misfortunes befell her at once--her father died, and her +lease expired. The loss of her father although a bedridden man, +turned of ninety, who could not in the course of nature have been +expected to live long, was a terrible shock to a daughter, who was +not so much younger as to be without fears for her own life, and who +had besides been so used to nursing the good old man, and looking to +his little comforts, that she missed him as a mother would miss an +ailing child. The expiration of the lease was a grievance and a +puzzle of a different nature. Her landlord would have willingly +retained his excellent tenant, but not on the terms on which she +then held the land, which had not varied for fifty years; so that +poor Mrs. Sally had the misfortune to find rent rising and prices +sinking both at the same moment--a terrible solecism in political +economy. Even this, however, I believe she would have endured, +rather than have quitted the house where she was born, and to which +all her ways and notions were adapted, had not a priggish steward, +as much addicted to improvement and reform as she was to precedent +and established usages, insisted on binding her by lease to spread a +certain number of loads of chalk on every field. This tremendous +innovation, for never had that novelty in manure whitened the crofts +and pightles of Court Farm, decided her at once. She threw the +proposals into the fire, and left the place in a week. + +Her choice of a habitation occasioned some wonder, and much +amusement in our village world. To be sure, upon the verge of +seventy, an old maid may be permitted to dispense with the more +rigid punctilio of her class, but Mrs. Sally had always been so +tenacious on the score of character, so very a prude, so determined +an avoider of the 'men folk' (as she was wont contemptuously to call +them), that we all were conscious of something like astonishment, on +finding that she and her little handmaid had taken up their abode in +one end of a spacious farmhouse belonging to the bluff old bachelor, +George Robinson, of the Lea. Now Farmer Robinson was quite as +notorious for his aversion to petticoated things, as Mrs. Sally for +her hatred to the unfeathered bipeds who wear doublet and hose, so +that there was a little astonishment in that quarter too, and plenty +of jests, which the honest farmer speedily silenced, by telling all +who joked on the subject that he had given his lodger fair warning, +that, let people say what they would, he was quite determined not to +marry her: so that if she had any views that way, it would be +better for her to go elsewhere. This declaration, which must be +admitted to have been more remarkable for frankness than civility, +made, however, no ill impression on Mrs. Sally. To the farmer's she +went, and at his house she lives still, with her little maid, her +tabby cat, a decrepit sheep-dog, and much of the lumber of Court +Farm, which she could not find in her heart to part from. There she +follows her old ways and her old hours, untempted by matrimony, and +unassailed (as far as I hear) by love or by scandal, with no other +grievance than an occasional dearth of employment for herself and +her young lass (even pewter dishes do not always want scouring), and +now and then a twinge of the rheumatism. + +Here she is, that good relique of the olden time--for, in spite of +her whims and prejudices, a better and a kinder woman never lived-- +here she is, with the hood of her red cloak pulled over her close +black bonnet, of that silk which once (it may be presumed) was +fashionable, since it is still called mode, and her whole stout +figure huddled up in a miscellaneous and most substantial covering +of thick petticoats, gowns, aprons, shawls, and cloaks--a weight +which it requires the strength of a thrasher to walk under--here she +is, with her square honest visage, and her loud frank voice;--and we +hold a pleasant disjointed chat of rheumatisms and early chickens, +bad weather, and hats with feathers in them;--the last exceedingly +sore subject being introduced by poor Jane Davis (a cousin of Mrs. +Sally), who, passing us in a beaver bonnet, on her road from school, +stopped to drop her little curtsy, and was soundly scolded for her +civility. Jane, who is a gentle, humble, smiling lass, about twelve +years old, receives so many rebukes from her worthy relative, and +bears them so meekly, that I should not wonder if they were to be +followed by a legacy: I sincerely wish they may. Well, at last we +said good-bye; when, on inquiring my destination, and hearing that I +was bent +to the ten-acre copse (part of the farm which she ruled so long), +she stopped me to tell a dismal story of two sheep-stealers who, +sixty years ago, were found hidden in that copse, and only taken +after great difficulty and resistance, and the maiming of a +peace-officer.--'Pray don't go there, Miss! For mercy's sake don't +be so venturesome! Think if they should kill you!' were the last +words of Mrs. Sally. + +Many thanks for her care and kindness! But, without being at all +foolhardy in general, I have no great fear of the sheep-stealers of +sixty years ago. Even if they escaped hanging for that exploit, I +should greatly doubt their being in case to attempt another. So on +we go: down the short shady lane, and out on the pretty retired +green, shut in by fields and hedgerows, which we must cross to reach +the copse. How lively this green nook is to-day, half covered with +cows, and horses, and sheep! And how glad these frolicsome +greyhounds are to exchange the hard gravel of the high road for this +pleasant short turf, which seems made for their gambols! How +beautifully they are at play, chasing each other round and round in +lessening circles, darting off at all kinds of angles, crossing and +recrossing May, and trying to win her sedateness into a game at +romps, turning round on each other with gay defiance, pursuing the +cows and the colts, leaping up as if to catch the crows in their +flight;--all in their harmless and innocent--'Ah, wretches! +villains! rascals! four-footed mischiefs! canine plagues! Saladin! +Brindle!'--They are after the sheep--'Saladin, I say!'--They have +actually singled out that pretty spotted lamb--'Brutes, if I catch +you! Saladin! Brindle!' We shall be taken up for sheep-stealing +presently ourselves. They have chased the poor little lamb into a +ditch, and are mounting guard over it, standing at bay.--'Ah, +wretches, I have you now! for shame, Saladin! Get away, Brindle! +See how good May is. Off with you, brutes! For shame! For shame!' +and brandishing a handkerchief, which could hardly be an efficient +instrument of correction, I succeeded in driving away the two +puppies, who after all meant nothing more than play, although it was +somewhat rough, and rather too much in the style of the old fable of +the boys and the frogs. May is gone after them, perhaps to scold +them: for she has been as grave as a judge during the whole +proceeding, keeping ostentatiously close to me, and taking no part +whatever in the mischief. + +The poor little pretty lamb! here it lies on the bank quite +motionless, frightened I believe to death, for certainly those +villains never touched it. It does not stir. Does it breathe? Oh +yes, it does! It is alive, safe enough. Look, it opens its eyes, +and, finding the coast clear and its enemies far away, it springs up +in a moment and gallops to its dam, who has stood bleating the whole +time at a most respectful distance. Who would suspect a lamb of so +much simple cunning? I really thought the pretty thing was dead-- +and now how glad the ewe is to recover her curling spotted little +one! How fluttered they look! Well! this adventure has flurried me +too; between fright and running, I warrant you my heart beats as +fast as the lamb's. + +Ah! here is the shameless villain Saladin, the cause of the +commotion, thrusting his slender nose into my hand to beg pardon and +make up! 'Oh wickedest of soldans! Most iniquitous pagan! Soul of +a Turk!'--but there is no resisting the good-humoured creature's +penitence. I must pat him. 'There! there! Now we will go to the +copse; I am sure we shall find no worse malefactors than ourselves-- +shall we, May?--and the sooner we get out of sight of the sheep the +better; for Brindle seems meditating another attack. Allons, +messieurs, over this gate, across this meadow, and here is the +copse.' + +How boldly that superb ash-tree with its fine silver bark rises from +the bank, and what a fine entrance it makes with the holly beside +it, which also deserves to be called a tree! But here we are in the +copse. Ah! only one half of the underwood was cut last year, and +the other is at its full growth: hazel, brier, woodbine, bramble, +forming one impenetrable thicket, and almost uniting with the lower +branches of the elms, and oaks, and beeches, which rise at regular +distances overhead. No foot can penetrate that dense and thorny +entanglement; but there is a walk all round by the side of the wide +sloping bank, walk and bank and copse carpeted with primroses, whose +fresh and balmy odour impregnates the very air. Oh how exquisitely +beautiful! and it is not the primroses only, those gems of flowers, +but the natural mosaic of which they form a part; that network of +ground-ivy, with its lilac blossoms and the subdued tint of its +purplish leaves, those rich mosses, those enamelled wild hyacinths, +those spotted arums, and above all those wreaths of ivy linking all +those flowers together with chains of leaves more beautiful than +blossoms, whose white veins seem swelling amidst the deep green or +splendid brown;--it is the whole earth that is so beautiful! Never +surely were primroses so richly set, and never did primroses better +deserve such a setting. There they are of their own lovely yellow, +the hue to which they have given a name, the exact tint of the +butterfly that overhangs them (the first I have seen this year! can +spring really be coming at last?)--sprinkled here and there with +tufts of a reddish purple, and others of the purest white, as some +accident of soil affects that strange and inscrutable operation of +nature, the colouring of flowers. Oh how fragrant they are, and how +pleasant it is to sit in this sheltered copse, listening to the fine +creaking of the wind amongst the branches, the most unearthly of +sounds, with this gay tapestry under our feet, and the wood-pigeons +flitting from tree to tree, and mixing the deep note of love with +the elemental music. + +Yes! spring is coming. Wood-pigeons, butterflies, and sweet +flowers, all give token of the sweetest of the seasons. Spring is +coming. The hazel stalks are swelling and putting forth their pale +tassels, the satin palms with their honeyed odours are out on the +willow, and the last lingering winter berries are dropping from the +hawthorn, and making way for the bright and blossomy leaves. + + + +THE WOOD. + +April 20th.--Spring is actually come now, with the fulness and +almost the suddenness of a northern summer. To-day is completely +April;--clouds and sunshine, wind and showers; blossoms on the +trees, grass in the fields, swallows by the ponds, snakes in the +hedgerows, nightingales in the thickets, and cuckoos everywhere. My +young friend Ellen G. is going with me this evening to gather +wood-sorrel. She never saw that most elegant plant, and is so +delicate an artist that the introduction will be a mutual benefit; +Ellen will gain a subject worthy of her pencil, and the pretty weed +will live;--no small favour to a flower almost as transitory as the +gum cistus: duration is the only charm which it wants, and that +Ellen will give it. The weather is, to be sure, a little +threatening, but we are not people to mind the weather when we have +an object in view; we shall certainly go in quest of the +wood-sorrel, and will take May, provided we can escape May's +followers; for since the adventure of the lamb, Saladin has had an +affair with a gander, furious in defence of his goslings, in which +rencontre the gander came off conqueror; and as geese abound in the +wood to which we are going (called by the country people the Pinge), +and the victory may not always incline to the right side, I should +be very sorry to lead the Soldan to fight his battles over again. +We will take nobody but May. + +So saying, we proceeded on our way through winding lanes, between +hedgerows tenderly green, till we reached the hatch-gate, with the +white cottage beside it embosomed in fruit-trees, which forms the +entrance to the Pinge, and in a moment the whole scene was before +our eyes. + +'Is not this beautiful, Ellen?' The answer could hardly be other +than a glowing rapid 'Yes!'--A wood is generally a pretty place; but +this wood--Imagine a smaller forest, full of glades and sheep-walks, +surrounded by irregular cottages with their blooming orchards, a +clear stream winding about the brakes, and a road intersecting it, +and giving life and light to the picture; and you will have a faint +idea of the Pinge. Every step was opening a new point of view, a +fresh combination of glade and path and thicket. The accessories +too were changing every moment. Ducks, geese, pigs, and children, +giving way, as we advanced into the wood, to sheep and forest +ponies; and they again disappearing as we became more entangled in +its mazes, till we heard nothing but the song of the nightingale, +and saw only the silent flowers. + +What a piece of fairy land! The tall elms overhead just bursting +into tender vivid leaf, with here and there a hoary oak or a +silver-barked beech, every twig swelling with the brown buds, and +yet not quite stripped of the tawny foliage of autumn; tall hollies +and hawthorn beneath, with their crisp brilliant leaves mixed with +the white blossoms of the sloe, and woven together with garlands of +woodbines and wild-briers;--what a fairy land! + +Primroses, cowslips, pansies, and the regular open-eyed white +blossom of the wood anemone (or, to use the more elegant Hampshire +name, the windflower), were set under our feet as thick as daisies +in a meadow; but the pretty weed that we came to seek was coyer; and +Ellen began to fear that we had mistaken the place or the season.-- +At last she had herself the pleasure of finding it under a brake of +holly--'Oh, look! look! I am sure that this is the wood-sorrel! +Look at the pendent white flower, shaped like a snowdrop and veined +with purple streaks, and the beautiful trefoil leaves folded like a +heart,--some, the young ones, so vividly yet tenderly green that the +foliage of the elm and the hawthorn would show dully at their side,- +-others of a deeper tint, and lined, as it were, with a rich and +changeful purple!--Don't you see them?' pursued my dear young +friend, who is a delightful piece of life and sunshine, and was half +inclined to scold me for the calmness with which, amused by her +enthusiasm, I stood listening to her ardent exclamations--'Don't you +see them? Oh how beautiful! and in what quantity! what profusion! +See how the dark shade of the holly sets off the light and delicate +colouring of the flower!--And see that other bed of them springing +from the rich moss in the roots of that old beech-tree! Pray, let +us gather some. Here are baskets.' So, quickly and carefully we +began gathering, leaves, blossoms, roots and all, for the plant is +so fragile that it will not brook separation;--quickly and carefully +we gathered, encountering divers petty misfortunes in spite of all +our care, now caught by the veil in a holly bush, now hitching our +shawls in a bramble, still gathering on, in spite of scratched +fingers, till we had nearly filled our baskets and began to talk of +our departure:-- + +'But where is May? May! May! No going home without her. May! +Here she comes galloping, the beauty!'--(Ellen is almost as fond of +May as I am.)--'What has she got in her mouth? that rough, round, +brown substance which she touches so tenderly? What can it be? A +bird's nest? Naughty May!' + +'No! as I live, a hedgehog! Look, Ellen, how it has coiled itself +into a thorny ball! Off with it, May! Don't bring it to me!'--And +May, somewhat reluctant to part with her prickly prize, however +troublesome of carriage, whose change of shape seemed to me to have +puzzled her sagacity more than any event I ever witnessed, for in +general she has perfectly the air of understanding all that is going +forward--May at last dropt the hedgehog; continuing, however, to pat +it with her delicate cat-like paw, cautiously and daintily applied, +and caught back suddenly and rapidly after every touch, as if her +poor captive had been a red-hot coal. Finding that these pats +entirely failed in solving the riddle (for the hedgehog shammed +dead, like the lamb the other day, and appeared entirely +motionless), she gave him so spirited a nudge with her pretty black +nose, that she not only turned him over, but sent him rolling some +little way along the turfy path,--an operation which that sagacious +quadruped endured with the most perfect passiveness, the most +admirable non-resistance. No wonder that May's discernment was at +fault, I myself, if I had not been aware of the trick, should have +said that the ugly rough thing which she was trundling along, like a +bowl or a cricket-ball, was an inanimate substance, something devoid +of sensation and of will. At last my poor pet, thoroughly perplexed +and tired out, fairly relinquished the contest, and came slowly +away, turning back once or twice to look at the object of her +curiosity, as if half inclined to return and try the event of +another shove. The sudden flight of a wood-pigeon effectually +diverted her attention; and Ellen amused herself by fancying how the +hedgehog was scuttling away, till our notice was also attracted by a +very different object. + +We had nearly threaded the wood, and were approaching an open grove +of magnificent oaks on the other side, when sounds other than of +nightingales burst on our ear, the deep and frequent strokes of the +woodman's axe, and emerging from the Pinge we discovered the havoc +which that axe had committed. Above twenty of the finest trees lay +stretched on the velvet turf. There they lay in every shape and +form of devastation: some, bare trunks stripped ready for the +timber carriage, with the bark built up in long piles at the side; +some with the spoilers busy about them, stripping, hacking, hewing; +others with their noble branches, their brown and fragrant shoots +all fresh as if they were alive--majestic corses, the slain of +to-day! The grove was like a field of battle. The young lads who +were stripping the bark, the very children who were picking up the +chips, seemed awed and silent, as if conscious that death was around +them. The nightingales sang faintly and interruptedly--a few low +frightened notes like a requiem. + +Ah! here we are at the very scene of murder, the very tree that they +are felling; they have just hewn round the trunk with those +slaughtering axes, and are about to saw it asunder. After all, it +is a fine and thrilling operation, as the work of death usually is. +Into how grand an attitude was that young man thrown as he gave the +final strokes round the root; and how wonderful is the effect of +that supple and apparently powerless saw, bending like a riband, and +yet overmastering that giant of the woods, conquering and +overthrowing that thing of life! Now it has passed half through the +trunk, and the woodman has begun to calculate which way the tree +will fall; he drives a wedge to direct its course;--now a few more +movements of the noiseless saw; and then a larger wedge. See how +the branches tremble! Hark how the trunk begins to crack! Another +stroke of the huge hammer on the wedge, and the tree quivers, as +with a mortal agony, shakes, reels, and falls. How slow, and +solemn, and awful it is! How like to death, to human death in its +grandest form! Caesar in the Capitol, Seneca in the bath, could not +fall more sublimely than that oak. + +Even the heavens seem to sympathise with the devastation. The +clouds have gathered into one thick low canopy, dark and vapoury as +the smoke which overhangs London; the setting sun is just gleaming +underneath with a dim and bloody glare, and the crimson rays +spreading upward with a lurid and portentous grandeur, a subdued and +dusky glow, like the light reflected on the sky from some vast +conflagration. The deep flush fades away, and the rain begins to +descend; and we hurry homeward rapidly, yet sadly, forgetful alike +of the flowers, the hedgehog, and the wetting, thinking and talking +only of the fallen tree. + + + +THE DELL. + +May 2nd.--A delicious evening;--bright sunshine; light summer air; a +sky almost cloudless; and a fresh yet delicate verdure on the hedges +and in the fields;--an evening that seems made for a visit to my +newly-discovered haunt, the mossy dell, one of the most beautiful +spots in the neighbourhood, which after passing, times out of +number, the field which it terminates, we found out about two months +ago from the accident of May's killing a rabbit there. May has had +a fancy for the place ever since; and so have I. + +Thither accordingly we bend our way;--through the village;--up the +hill;--along the common;--past the avenue;--across the bridge; and +by the hill. How deserted the road is to-night! We have not seen a +single acquaintance, except poor blind Robert, laden with his sack +of grass plucked from the hedges, and the little boy that leads him. +A singular division of labour! Little Jem guides Robert to the +spots where the long grass grows, and tells him where it is most +plentiful; and then the old man cuts it close to the roots, and +between them they fill the sack, and sell the contents in the +village. Half the cows in the street--for our baker, our +wheelwright, and our shoemaker has each his Alderney--owe the best +part of their maintenance to blind Robert's industry. + +Here we are at the entrance of the cornfield which leads to the +dell, and which commands so fine a view of the Loddon, the mill, the +great farm, with its picturesque outbuildings, and the range of +woody hills beyond. It is impossible not to pause a moment at that +gate, the landscape, always beautiful, is so suited to the season +and the hour,--so bright, and gay, and spring-like. But May, who +has the chance of another rabbit in her pretty head, has galloped +forward to the dingle, and poor May, who follows me so faithfully in +all my wanderings, has a right to a little indulgence in hers. So +to the dingle we go. + +At the end of the field, which when seen from the road seems +terminated by a thick dark coppice, we come suddenly to the edge of +a ravine, on one side fringed with a low growth of alder, birch, and +willow, on the other mossy, turfy, and bare, or only broken by +bright tufts of blossomed broom. One or two old pollards almost +conceal the winding road that leads down the descent, by the side of +which a spring as bright as crystal runs gurgling along. The dell +itself is an irregular piece of broken ground, in some parts very +deep, intersected by two or three high banks of equal irregularity, +now abrupt and bare, and rocklike, now crowned with tufts of the +feathery willow or magnificent old thorns. Everywhere the earth is +covered by short, fine turf, mixed with mosses, soft, beautiful, and +various, and embossed with the speckled leaves and lilac flowers of +the arum, the paler blossoms of the common orchis, the enamelled +blue of the wild hyacinth, so splendid in this evening light, and +large tufts of oxslips and cowslips rising like nosegays from the +short turf. + +The ground on the other side of the dell is much lower than the +field through which we came, so that it is mainly to the +labyrinthine intricacy of these high banks that it owes its singular +character of wildness and variety. Now we seem hemmed in by those +green cliffs, shut out from all the world, with nothing visible but +those verdant mounds and the deep blue sky; now by some sudden turn +we get a peep at an adjoining meadow, where the sheep are lying, +dappling its sloping surface like the small clouds on the summer +heaven. Poor harmless, quiet creatures, how still they are! Some +socially lying side by side; some grouped in threes and fours; some +quite apart. Ah! there are lambs amongst them--pretty, pretty +lambs--nestled in by their mothers. Soft, quiet, sleepy things! +Not all so quiet, though! There is a party of these young lambs as +wide awake as heart can desire; half a dozen of them playing +together, frisking, dancing, leaping, butting, and crying in the +young voice, which is so pretty a diminutive of the full-grown +bleat. How beautiful they are with their innocent spotted faces, +their mottled feet, their long curly tails, and their light flexible +forms, frolicking like so many kittens, but with a gentleness, an +assurance of sweetness and innocence, which no kitten, nothing that +ever is to be a cat, can have. How complete and perfect is their +enjoyment of existence! Ah! little rogues! your play has been too +noisy; you have awakened your mammas; and two or three of the old +ewes are getting up; and one of them marching gravely to the troop +of lambs has selected her own, given her a gentle butt, and trotted +off; the poor rebuked lamb following meekly, but every now and then +stopping and casting a longing look at its playmates; who, after a +moment's awed pause, had resumed their gambols; whilst the stately +dame every now and then looked back in her turn, to see that her +little one was following. At last she lay down, and the lamb by her +side. I never saw so pretty a pastoral scene in my life.* + +*I have seen one which affected me much more. Walking in the +Church-lane with one of the young ladies of the vicarage, we met a +large flock of sheep, with the usual retinue of shepherds and dogs. +Lingering after them and almost out of sight, we encountered a +straggling ewe, now trotting along, now walking, and every now and +then stopping to look back, and bleating. A little behind her came +a lame lamb, bleating occasionally, as if in answer to its dam, and +doing its very best to keep up with her. It was a lameness of both +the fore-feet; the knees were bent, and it seemed to walk on the +very edge of the hoof--on tip-toe, if I may venture such an +expression. My young friend thought that the lameness proceeded +from original malformation, I am rather of opinion that it was +accidental, and that the poor creature was wretchedly foot-sore. +However that might be, the pain and difficulty with which it took +every step were not to be mistaken; and the distress and fondness of +the mother, her perplexity as the flock passed gradually out of +sight, the effort with which the poor lamb contrived to keep up a +sort of trot, and their mutual calls and lamentations were really so +affecting, that Ellen and I, although not at all lachrymose sort of +people, had much ado not to cry. We could not find a boy to carry +the lamb, which was too big for us to manage;--but I was quite sure +that the ewe would not desert it, and as the dark was coming on, we +both trusted that the shepherds on folding their flock would miss +them and return for them;--and so I am happy to say it proved. + +Another turning of the dell gives a glimpse of the dark coppice by +which it is backed, and from which we are separated by some marshy, +rushy ground, where the springs have formed into a pool, and where +the moor-hen loves to build her nest. Ay, there is one scudding +away now;--I can hear her plash into the water, and the rustling of +her wings amongst the rushes. This is the deepest part of the wild +dingle. How uneven the ground is! Surely these excavations, now so +thoroughly clothed with vegetation, must originally have been huge +gravel pits; there is no other way of accounting for the labyrinth, +for they do dig gravel in such capricious meanders; but the quantity +seems incredible. Well! there is no end of guessing! We are +getting amongst the springs, and must turn back. Round this corner, +where on ledges like fairy terraces the orchises and arums grow, and +we emerge suddenly on a new side of the dell, just fronting the +small homestead of our good neighbour Farmer Allen. + +This rustic dwelling belongs to what used to be called in this part +of the country 'a little bargain': thirty or forty acres, perhaps, +of arable land, which the owner and his sons cultivated themselves, +whilst the wife and daughters assisted in the husbandry, and eked +out the slender earnings by the produce of the dairy, the poultry +yard, and the orchard;--an order of cultivators now passing rapidly +away, but in which much of the best part of the English character, +its industry, its frugality, its sound sense, and its kindness might +be found. Farmer Allen himself is an excellent specimen, the +cheerful venerable old man with his long white hair, and his bright +grey eye, and his wife is a still finer. They have had a hard +struggle to win through the world and keep their little property +undivided; but good management and good principles, and the +assistance afforded them by an admirable son, who left our village a +poor 'prentice boy, and is now a partner in a great house in London +have enabled them to overcome all the difficulties of these trying +times, and they are now enjoying the peaceful evenings of a +well-spent life as free from care and anxiety as their best friends +could desire. + +Ah! there is Mr. Allen in the orchard, the beautiful orchard, with +its glorious gardens of pink and white, its pearly pear-blossoms and +coral apple-buds. What a flush of bloom it is! How brightly +delicate it appears, thrown into strong relief by the dark house and +the weather-stained barn, in this soft evening light! The very +grass is strewed with the snowy petals of the pear and the cherry. +And there sits Mrs. Allen, feeding her poultry, with her three +little grand-daughters from London, pretty fairies from three years +old to five (only two-and-twenty months elapsed between the birth of +the eldest and the youngest) playing round her feet. + +Mrs. Allen, my dear Mrs. Allen, has been that rare thing a beauty, +and although she be now an old woman I had almost said that she is +so still. Why should I not say so? Nobleness of feature and +sweetness of expression are surely as delightful in age as in youth. +Her face and figure are much like those which are stamped indelibly +on the memory of every one who ever saw that grand specimen of +woman--Mrs. Siddons. The outline of Mrs. Allen's face is exactly +the same; but there is more softness, more gentleness, a more +feminine composure in the eye and in the smile. Mrs. Allen never +played Lady Macbeth. Her hair, almost as black as at twenty, is +parted on her large fair forehead, and combed under her exquisitely +neat and snowy cap; a muslin neckerchief, a grey stuff gown and a +white apron complete the picture. + +There she sits under an old elder-tree which flings its branches +over her like a canopy, whilst the setting sun illumines her +venerable figure and touches the leaves with an emerald light; there +she sits, placid and smiling, with her spectacles in her hand and a +measure of barley on her lap, into which the little girls are +dipping their chubby hands and scattering the corn amongst the ducks +and chickens with unspeakable glee. But those ingrates the poultry +don't seem so pleased and thankful as they ought to be; they +mistrust their young feeders. All domestic animals dislike +children, partly from an instinctive fear of their tricks and their +thoughtlessness; partly, I suspect, from jealousy. Jealousy seems a +strange tragic passion to attribute to the inmates of the basse +cour,--but only look at that strutting fellow of a bantam cock +(evidently a favourite), who sidles up to his old mistress with an +air half affronted and half tender, turning so scornfully from the +barley-corns which Annie is flinging towards him, and say if he be +not as jealous as Othello? Nothing can pacify him but Mrs. Allen's +notice and a dole from her hand. See, she is calling to him and +feeding him, and now how he swells out his feathers, and flutters +his wings, and erects his glossy neck, and struts and crows and +pecks, proudest and happiest of bantams, the pet and glory of the +poultry yard! + +In the meantime my own pet May, who has all this while been peeping +into every hole, and penetrating every nook and winding of the dell, +in hopes to find another rabbit, has returned to my side, and is +sliding her snake-like head into my hand, at once to invite the +caress which she likes so well, and to intimate, with all due +respect, that it is time to go home. The setting sun gives the same +warning; and in a moment we are through the dell, the field, and the +gate, past the farm and the mill, and hanging over the bridge that +crosses the Loddon river. + +What a sunset! how golden! how beautiful! The sun just +disappearing, and the narrow liny clouds, which a few minutes ago +lay like soft vapoury streaks along the horizon, lighted up with a +golden splendour that the eye can scarcely endure, and those still +softer clouds which floated above them wreathing and curling into a +thousand fantastic forms, as thin and changeful as summer smoke, now +defined and deepened into grandeur, and edged with ineffable, +insufferable light! Another minute and the brilliant orb totally +disappears, and the sky above grows every moment more varied and +more beautiful as the dazzling golden lines are mixed with glowing +red and gorgeous purple, dappled with small dark specks, and mingled +with such a blue as the egg of the hedge-sparrow. To look up at +that glorious sky, and then to see that magnificent picture +reflected in the clear and lovely Loddon water, is a pleasure never +to be described and never forgotten. My heart swells and my eyes +fill as I write of it, and think of the immeasurable majesty of +nature, and the unspeakable goodness of God, who has spread an +enjoyment so pure, so peaceful, and so intense before the meanest +and the lowliest of His creatures. + + + +THE COWSLIP-BALL. + +May 16th.--There are moments in life when, without any visible or +immediate cause, the spirits sink and fail, as it were, under the +mere pressure of existence: moments of unaccountable depression, +when one is weary of one's very thoughts, haunted by images that +will not depart--images many and various, but all painful; friends +lost, or changed, or dead; hopes disappointed even in their +accomplishment; fruitless regrets, powerless wishes, doubt and fear, +and self-distrust, and self-disapprobation. They who have known +these feelings (and who is there so happy as not to have known some +of them?) will understand why Alfieri became powerless, and +Froissart dull; and why even needle-work, the most effectual +sedative, that grand soother and composer of woman's distress, fails +to comfort me to-day. I will go out into the air this cool, +pleasant afternoon, and try what that will do. I fancy that +exercise or exertion of any kind, is the true specific for +nervousness. 'Fling but a stone, the giant dies.' I will go to the +meadows, the beautiful meadows! and I will have my materials of +happiness, Lizzy and May, and a basket for flowers, and we will make +a cowslip-ball. 'Did you ever see a cowslip-ball, my Lizzy?'-- +'No.'--'Come away, then; make haste! run, Lizzy!' + +And on we go, fast, fast! down the road, across the lea, past the +workhouse, along by the great pond, till we slide into the deep +narrow lane, whose hedges seem to meet over the water, and win our +way to the little farmhouse at the end. 'Through the farmyard, +Lizzy; over the gate; never mind the cows; they are quiet enough.'-- +'I don't mind 'em,' said Miss Lizzy, boldly and truly, and with a +proud affronted air, displeased at being thought to mind anything, +and showing by her attitude and manner some design of proving her +courage by an attack on the largest of the herd, in the shape of a +pull by the tail. 'I don't mind 'em.'--'I know you don't, Lizzy; +but let them alone, and don't chase the turkey-cock. Come to me, my +dear!' and, for a wonder, Lizzy came. + +In the meantime, my other pet, Mayflower, had also gotten into a +scrape. She had driven about a huge unwieldy sow, till the animal's +grunting had disturbed the repose of a still more enormous +Newfoundland dog, the guardian of the yard. Out he sallied, +growling, from the depth of his kennel, erecting his tail, and +shaking his long chain. May's attention was instantly diverted from +the sow to this new playmate, friend or foe, she cared not which; +and he of the kennel, seeing his charge unhurt, and out of danger, +was at leisure to observe the charms of his fair enemy, as she +frolicked round him, always beyond the reach of his chain, yet +always, with the natural instinctive coquetry of her sex, alluring +him to the pursuit which she knew to be vain. I never saw a +prettier flirtation. At last the noble animal, wearied out, retired +to the inmost recesses of his habitation, and would not even +approach her when she stood right before the entrance. 'You are +properly served, May. Come along, Lizzy. Across this wheatfield, +and now over the gate. Stop! let me lift you down. No jumping, no +breaking of necks, Lizzy!' And here we are in the meadows, and out +of the world. Robinson Crusoe, in his lonely island, had scarcely a +more complete, or a more beautiful solitude. + +These meadows consist of a double row of small enclosures of rich +grass-land, a mile or two in length, sloping down from high arable +grounds on either side, to a little nameless brook that winds +between them with a course which, in its infinite variety, +clearness, and rapidity, seems to emulate the bold rivers of the +north, of whom, far more than of our lazy southern streams, our +rivulet presents a miniature likeness. Never was water more +exquisitely tricksy:--now darting over the bright pebbles, sparkling +and flashing in the light with a bubbling music, as sweet and wild +as the song of the woodlark; now stretching quietly along, giving +back the rich tufts of the golden marsh-marigolds which grow on its +margin; now sweeping round a fine reach of green grass, rising +steeply into a high mound, a mimic promontory, whilst the other side +sinks softly away, like some tiny bay, and the water flows between, +so clear, so wide, so shallow, that Lizzy, longing for adventure, is +sure she could cross unwetted; now dashing through two sand-banks, a +torrent deep and narrow, which May clears at a bound; now sleeping, +half hidden, beneath the alders, and hawthorns, and wild roses, with +which the banks are so profusely and variously fringed, whilst +flags,* lilies, and other aquatic plants, almost cover the surface +of the stream. In good truth, it is a beautiful brook, and one that +Walton himself might have sitten by and loved, for trout are there; +we see them as they dart up the stream, and hear and start at the +sudden plunge when they spring to the surface for the summer flies. +Izaak Walton would have loved our brook and our quiet meadows; they +breathe the very spirit of his own peacefulness, a soothing quietude +that sinks into the soul. There is no path through them, not one; +we might wander a whole spring day, and not see a trace of human +habitation. They belong to a number of small proprietors, who allow +each other access through their respective grounds, from pure +kindness and neighbourly feeling; a privilege never abused: and the +fields on the other side of the water are reached by a rough plank, +or a tree thrown across, or some such homely bridge. We ourselves +possess one of the most beautiful; so that the strange pleasure of +property, that instinct which makes Lizzy delight in her broken +doll, and May in the bare bone which she has pilfered from the +kennel of her recreant admirer of Newfoundland, is added to the +other charms of this enchanting scenery; a strange pleasure it is, +when one so poor as I can feel it! Perhaps it is felt most by the +poor, with the rich it may be less intense--too much diffused and +spread out, becoming thin by expansion, like leaf-gold; the little +of the poor may be not only more precious, but more pleasant to +them: certain that bit of grassy and blossomy earth, with its green +knolls and tufted bushes, its old pollards wreathed with ivy, and +its bright and babbling waters, is very dear to me. But I must +always have loved these meadows, so fresh, and cool, and delicious +to the eye and to the tread, full of cowslips, and of all vernal +flowers: Shakspeare's 'Song of Spring' bursts irrepressibly from +our lips as we step on them. + +*Walking along these meadows one bright sunny afternoon, a year or +two back, and rather later in the season, I had an opportunity of +noticing a curious circumstance in natural history. Standing close +to the edge of the stream, I remarked a singular appearance on a +large tuft of flags. It looked like bunches of flowers, the leaves +of which seemed dark, yet transparent, intermingled with brilliant +tubes of bright blue or shining green. On examining this phenomenon +more closely, it turned out to be several clusters of dragon-flies, +just emerged from their deformed chrysalis state, and still torpid +and motionless from the wetness of their filmy wings. Half an hour +later we returned to the spot and they were gone. We had seen them +at the very moment when beauty was complete and animation dormant. +I have since found nearly a similar account of this curious process +in Mr. Bingley's very entertaining work, called 'Animal Biography.' + + 'When daisies pied and violets blue + And lady-smocks all silver-white + And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue + Do paint the meadows with delight, + The cuckoo then, on every tree--' + +'Cuckoo! cuckoo!' cried Lizzy, breaking in with her clear childish +voice; and immediately, as if at her call, the real bird, from a +neighbouring tree (for these meadows are dotted with timber like a +park), began to echo my lovely little girl, 'cuckoo! cuckoo!' I +have a prejudice very unpastoral and unpoetical (but I cannot help +it, I have many such) against this 'harbinger of spring.' His note +is so monotonous, so melancholy; and then the boys mimic him; one +hears 'cuckoo! cuckoo!' in dirty streets, amongst smoky houses, and +the bird is hated for faults not his own. But prejudices of taste, +likings and dislikings, are not always vanquishable by reason; so, +to escape the serenade from the tree, which promised to be of +considerable duration (when once that eternal song begins, on it +goes ticking like a clock)--to escape that noise I determined to +excite another, and challenged Lizzy to a cowslip-gathering; a trial +of skill and speed, to see which should soonest fill her basket. My +stratagem succeeded completely. What scrambling, what shouting, +what glee from Lizzy! twenty cuckoos might have sung unheard whilst +she was pulling her own flowers, and stealing mine, and laughing, +screaming, and talking through all. + +At last the baskets were filled, and Lizzy declared victor: and +down we sat, on the brink of the stream, under a spreading hawthorn, +just disclosing its own pearly buds, and surrounded with the rich +and enamelled flowers of the wild hyacinth, blue and white, to make +our cowslip-ball. Every one knows the process: to nip off the tuft +of flowerets just below the top of the stalk, and hang each cluster +nicely balanced across a riband, till you have a long string like a +garland; then to press them closely together, and tie them tightly +up. We went on very prosperously, CONSIDERING; as people say of a +young lady's drawing, or a Frenchman's English, or a woman's +tragedy, or of the poor little dwarf who works without fingers, or +the ingenious sailor who writes with his toes, or generally of any +performance which is accomplished by means seemingly inadequate to +its production. To be sure we met with a few accidents. First, +Lizzy spoiled nearly all her cowslips by snapping them off too +short; so there was a fresh gathering; in the next place, May +overset my full basket, and sent the blossoms floating, like so many +fairy favours, down the brook; then, when we were going on pretty +steadily, just as we had made a superb wreath, and were thinking of +tying it together, Lizzy, who held the riband, caught a glimpse of a +gorgeous butterfly, all brown and red and purple, and, skipping off +to pursue the new object, let go her hold; so all our treasures were +abroad again. At last, however, by dint of taking a branch of alder +as a substitute for Lizzy, and hanging the basket in a pollard-ash, +out of sight of May, the cowslip-ball was finished. What a +concentration of fragrance and beauty it was! golden and sweet to +satiety! rich to sight, and touch, and smell! Lizzy was enchanted, +and ran off with her prize, hiding amongst the trees in the very +coyness of ecstasy, as if any human eye, even mine, would be a +restraint on her innocent raptures. + +In the meanwhile I sat listening, not to my enemy the cuckoo, but to +a whole concert of nightingales, scarcely interrupted by any meaner +bird, answering and vying with each other in those short delicious +strains which are to the ear as roses to the eye: those snatches of +lovely sound which come across us as airs from heaven. Pleasant +thoughts, delightful associations, awoke as I listened; and almost +unconsciously I repeated to myself the beautiful story of the Lutist +and the Nightingale, from Ford's 'Lover's Melancholy.' Here it is. +Is there in English poetry anything finer? + + 'Passing from Italy to Greece, the tales + Which poets of an elder time have feign'd + To glorify their Tempe, bred in me + Desire of visiting Paradise. + To Thessaly I came, and living private, + Without acquaintance of more sweet companions + Than the old inmates to my love, my thoughts, + I day by day frequented silent groves + And solitary walks. One morning early + This accident encounter'd me: I heard + The sweetest and most ravishing contention + That art and nature ever were at strife in. + A sound of music touch'd mine ears, or rather + Indeed entranced my soul; as I stole nearer, + Invited by the melody, I saw + This youth, this fair-faced youth, upon his lute + With strains of strange variety and harmony + Proclaiming, as it seem'd, so bold a challenge + To the clear choristers of the woods, the birds, + That as they flock'd about him, all stood silent, + Wondering at what they heard. I wonder'd too. + A nightingale, + Nature's best skill'd musician, undertakes + The challenge; and for every several strain + The well-shaped youth could touch, she sang him down. + He could not run divisions with more art + Upon his quaking instrument than she, + The nightingale, did with her various notes + Reply to. + + Some time thus spent, the young man grew at last + Into a pretty anger, that a bird, + Whom art had never taught cliffs, moods, or notes + Should vie with him for mastery, whose study + Had busied many hours to perfect practice. + To end the controversy, in a rapture + Upon his instrument he plays so swiftly, + So many voluntaries, and so quick, + That there was curiosity and cunning, + Concord in discord, lines of differing method + Meeting in one full centre of delight. + The bird (ordain'd to be + Music's first martyr) strove to imitate + These several sounds; which when her warbling throat + Fail'd in, for grief down dropt she on his lute, + And brake her heart. It was the quaintest sadness + To see the conqueror upon her hearse + To weep a funeral elegy of tears. + He look'd upon the trophies of his art, + Then sigh'd, then wiped his eyes; then sigh'd, and cry'd + "Alas! poor creature, I will soon revenge + This cruelty upon the author of it. + Henceforth this lute, guilty of innocent blood, + Shall never more betray a harmless peace + To an untimely end:" and in that sorrow, + As he was pashing it against a tree, + I suddenly stept in.' + +When I had finished the recitation of this exquisite passage, the +sky, which had been all the afternoon dull and heavy, began to look +more and more threatening; darker clouds, like wreaths of black +smoke, flew across the dead leaden tint; a cooler, damper air blew +over the meadows, and a few large heavy drops splashed in the water. +'We shall have a storm. Lizzy! May! where are ye? Quick, quick, +my Lizzy! run, run! faster, faster!' + +And off we ran; Lizzy not at all displeased at the thoughts of a +wetting, to which indeed she is almost as familiar as a duck; May, +on the other hand, peering up at the weather, and shaking her pretty +ears with manifest dismay. Of all animals, next to a cat, a +greyhound dreads rain. She might have escaped it; her light feet +would have borne her home long before the shower; but May is too +faithful for that, too true a comrade, understands too well the laws +of good-fellowship; so she waited for us. She did, to be sure, +gallop on before, and then stop and look back, and beckon, as it +were, with some scorn in her black eyes at the slowness of our +progress. We in the meanwhile got on as fast as we could, +encouraging and reproaching each other. 'Faster, my Lizzy! Oh, +what a bad runner!'--'Faster, faster! Oh, what a bad runner!' +echoed my saucebox. 'You are so fat, Lizzy, you make no way!'--'Ah! +who else is fat?' retorted the darling. Certainly her mother is +right; I do spoil that child. + +By this time we were thoroughly soaked, all three. It was a pelting +shower, that drove through our thin summer clothing and poor May's +short glossy coat in a moment. And then, when we were wet to the +skin, the sun came out, actually the sun, as if to laugh at our +plight; and then, more provoking still, when the sun was shining, +and the shower over, came a maid and a boy to look after us, loaded +with cloaks and umbrellas enough to fence us against a whole day's +rain. Never mind! on we go, faster and faster; Lizzy obliged to be +most ignobly carried, having had the misfortune to lose a shoe in +the mud, which we left the boy to look after. + +Here we are at home--dripping; but glowing and laughing, and bearing +our calamity most manfully. May, a dog of excellent sense, went +instantly to bed in the stable, and is at this moment over head and +ears in straw; Lizzy is gone to bed too, coaxed into that wise +measure by a promise of tea and toast, and of not going home till +to-morrow, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood; and I am +enjoying the luxury of dry clothing by a good fire. Really getting +wet through now and then is no bad thing, finery apart; for one +should not like spoiling a new pelisse, or a handsome plume; but +when there is nothing in question but a white gown and a straw +bonnet, as was the case to-day, it is rather pleasant than not. The +little chill refreshes, and our enjoyment of the subsequent warmth +and dryness is positive and absolute. Besides, the stimulus and +exertion do good to the mind as well as body. How melancholy I was +all the morning! how cheerful I am now! Nothing like a shower-bath- +-a real shower-bath, such as Lizzy and May and I have undergone, to +cure low spirits. Try it, my dear readers, if ever ye be nervous--I +will answer for its success. + + + +THE OLD HOUSE AT ABERLEIGH. + +June 25th.--What a glowing glorious day! Summer in its richest +prime, noon in its most sparkling brightness, little white clouds +dappling the deep blue sky, and the sun, now partially veiled, and +now bursting through them with an intensity of light! It would not +do to walk to-day, professedly to walk,--we should be frightened at +the very sound! and yet it is probable that we may be beguiled into +a pretty long stroll before we return home. We are going to drive +to the old house at Aberleigh, to spend the morning under the shade +of those balmy firs, and amongst those luxuriant rose trees, and by +the side of that brimming Loddon river. 'Do not expect us before +six o'clock,' said I, as I left the house; 'Six at soonest!' added +my charming companion; and off we drove in our little pony chaise, +drawn by our old mare, and with the good humoured urchin, Henry's +successor, a sort of younger Scrub, who takes care of horse and +chaise, and cow and garden, for our charioteer. + +My comrade in this homely equipage was a young lady of high family +and higher endowments, to whom the novelty of the thing, and her own +naturalness of character and simplicity of taste, gave an +unspeakable enjoyment. She danced the little chaise up and down as +she got into it, and laughed for very glee like a child, Lizzy +herself could not have been more delighted. She praised the horse +and the driver, and the roads and the scenery, and gave herself +fully up to the enchantment of a rural excursion in the sweetest +weather of this sweet season. I enjoyed all this too; for the road +was pleasant to every sense, winding through narrow lanes, under +high elms, and between hedges garlanded with woodbine and rose +trees, whilst the air was scented with the delicious fragrance of +blossomed beans. I enjoyed it all,--but, I believe, my principal +pleasure was derived from my companion herself. + +Emily I. is a person whom it is a privilege to know. She is quite +like a creation of the older poets, and might pass for one of +Shakspeare's or Fletcher's women stepped into life; just as tender, +as playful, as gentle, and as kind. She is clever too, and has all +the knowledge and accomplishments that a carefully-conducted +education, acting on a mind of singular clearness and ductility, +matured and improved by the very best company, can bestow. But one +never thinks of her acquirements. It is the charming artless +character, the bewitching sweetness of manner, the real and +universal sympathy, the quick taste and the ardent feeling, that one +loves in Emily. She is Irish by birth, and has in perfection the +melting voice and soft caressing accent by which her fair +countrywomen are distinguished. Moreover she is pretty--I think her +beautiful, and so do all who have heard as well as seen her,--but +pretty, very pretty, all the world must confess; and perhaps that is +a distinction more enviable, because less envied, than the 'palmy +state' of beauty. Her prettiness is of the prettiest kind--that of +which the chief character is youthfulness. A short but pleasing +figure, all grace and symmetry, a fair blooming face, beaming with +intelligence and good-humour; the prettiest little feet and the +whitest hands in the world;--such is Emily I. + +She resides with her maternal grandmother, a venerable old lady, +slightly shaken with the palsy; and when together (and they are so +fondly attached to each other +that they are seldom parted), it is one of the loveliest +combinations of youth and age ever witnessed. There is no seeing +them without feeling an increase of respect and affection for both +grandmother and granddaughter--always one of the tenderest and most +beautiful of natural connections--as Richardson knew when he made +such exquisite use of it in his matchless book. I fancy that +grandmamma Shirley must have been just such another venerable lady +as Mrs. S., and our sweet Emily--Oh no! Harriet Byron is not half +good enough for her! There is nothing like her in the whole seven +volumes. + +But here we are at the bridge! Here we must alight! 'This is the +Loddon, Emily. Is it not a beautiful river? rising level with its +banks, so clear, and smooth, and peaceful, giving back the verdant +landscape and the bright blue sky, and bearing on its pellucid +stream the snowy water-lily, the purest of flowers, which sits +enthroned on its own cool leaves, looking chastity itself, like the +lady in Comus. That queenly flower becomes the water, and so do the +stately swans who are sailing so majestically down the stream, like +those who + + "'On St. Mary's lake + Float double, swan and shadow." + +We must dismount here, and leave Richard to take care of our +equipage under the shade of these trees, whilst we walk up to the +house:--See, there it is! We must cross this stile; there is no +other way now.' + +And crossing the stile we were immediately in what had been a drive +round a spacious park, and still retained something of the +character, though the park itself had long been broken into arable +fields,--and in full view of the Great House, a beautiful structure +of James the First's time, whose glassless windows and dilapidated +doors form a melancholy contrast with the strength and entireness of +the rich and massive front. + +The story of that ruin--for such it is--is always to me singularly +affecting. It is that of the decay of an ancient and distinguished +family, gradually reduced from the highest wealth and station to +actual poverty. The house and park, and a small estate around it, +were entailed on a distant cousin, and could not be alienated; and +the late owner, the last of his name and lineage, after long +struggling with debt and difficulty, farming his own lands, and +clinging to his magnificent home with a love of place almost as +tenacious as that of the younger Foscari, was at last forced to +abandon it, retired to a paltry lodging in a paltry town, and died +there about twenty years ago, broken-hearted. His successor, bound +by no ties of association to the spot, and rightly judging the +residence to be much too large for the diminished estate, +immediately sold the superb fixtures, and would have entirely taken +down the house, if, on making the attempt, the masonry had not been +found so solid that the materials were not worth the labour. A +great part, however, of one side is laid open, and the splendid +chambers, with their carving and gilding, are exposed to the wind +and rain--sad memorials of past grandeur! The grounds have been +left in a merciful neglect; the park, indeed, is broken up, the lawn +mown twice a year like a common hayfield, the grotto mouldering into +ruin, and the fishponds choked with rushes and aquatic plants; but +the shrubs and flowering trees are undestroyed, and have grown into +a magnificence of size and wildness of beauty, such as we may +imagine them to attain in their native forests. Nothing can exceed +their luxuriance, especially in the spring, when the lilac, and +laburnum, and double-cherry put forth their gorgeous blossoms. +There is a sweet sadness in the sight of such floweriness amidst +such desolation; it seems the triumph of nature over the destructive +power of man. The whole place, in that season more particularly, is +full of a soft and soothing melancholy, reminding me, I scarcely +know why, of some of the descriptions of natural scenery in the +novels of Charlotte Smith, which I read when a girl, and which, +perhaps, for that reason hang on my memory. + +But here we are, in the smooth grassy ride, on the top of a steep +turfy slope descending to the river, crowned with enormous firs and +limes of equal growth, looking across the winding waters into a +sweet peaceful landscape of quiet meadows, shut in by distant woods. +What a fragrance is in the air from the balmy fir trees and the +blossomed limes! What an intensity of odour! And what a murmur of +bees in the lime trees! What a coil those little winged people make +over our heads! And what a pleasant sound it is! the pleasantest of +busy sounds, that which comes associated with all that is good and +beautiful--industry and forecast, and sunshine and flowers. Surely +these lime trees might store a hundred hives; the very odour is of a +honeyed richness, cloying, satiating. + +Emily exclaimed in admiration as we stood under the deep, strong, +leafy shadow, and still more when honeysuckles trailed their +untrimmed profusion in our path, and roses, really trees, almost +intercepted our passage. + +'On, Emily! farther yet! Force your way by that jessamine--it will +yield; I will take care of this stubborn white rose bough.'--'Take +care of yourself! Pray take care,' said my fairest friend; 'let me +hold back the branches.'-- After we had won our way through the +strait, at some expense of veils and flounces, she stopped to +contemplate and admire the tall, graceful shrub, whose long thorny +stems, spreading in every direction, had opposed our progress, and +now waved their delicate clusters over our heads. 'Did I ever +think,' exclaimed she, 'of standing under the shadow of a white rose +tree! What an exquisite fragrance! And what a beautiful flower! so +pale, and white, and tender, and the petals thin and smooth as silk! +What rose is it?'--'Don't you know? Did you never see it before? +It is rare now, I believe, and seems rarer than it is, because it +only blossoms in very hot summers; but this, Emily, is the musk +rose,--that very musk rose of which Titania talks, and which is +worthy of Shakspeare and of her. Is it not?--No! do not smell to +it; it is less sweet so than other roses; but one cluster in a vase, +or even that bunch in your bosom, will perfume a large room, as it +does the summer air.'--'Oh! we will take twenty clusters,' said +Emily. 'I wish grandmamma were here! She talks so often of a musk +rose tree that grew against one end of her father's house. I wish +she were here to see this!' + +Echoing her wish, and well laden with musk roses, planted perhaps in +the days of Shakspeare, we reached the steps that led to a square +summer-house or banqueting-room, overhanging the river: the under +part was a boat-house, whose projecting roof, as well as the walls +and the very top of the little tower, was covered with ivy and +woodbine, and surmounted by tufted barberries, bird cherries, +acacias, covered with their snowy chains, and other pendent and +flowering trees. Beyond rose two poplars of unrivalled magnitude, +towering like stately columns over the dark tall firs, and giving a +sort of pillared and architectural grandeur to the scene. + +We were now close to the mansion; but it looked sad and desolate, +and the entrance, choked with brambles and nettles, seemed almost to +repel our steps. The summer-house, the beautiful summer-house, was +free and open, and inviting, commanding from the unglazed windows, +which hung high above the water, a reach of the river terminated by +a rustic mill. + +There we sat, emptying our little basket of fruit and country cakes, +till Emily was seized with a desire of viewing, from the other side +of the Loddon, the scenery which had so much enchanted her. 'I +must,' said she, 'take a sketch of the ivied boat-house, and of this +sweet room, and this pleasant window;--grandmamma would never be +able to walk from the road to see the place itself, but she must see +its likeness.' So forth we sallied, not forgetting the dear musk +roses. + +We had no way of reaching the desired spot but by retracing our +steps a mile, during the heat of the hottest hour of the day, and +then following the course of the river to an equal distance on the +other side; nor had we any materials for sketching, except the +rumpled paper which had contained our repast, and a pencil without a +point which I happened to have about me. But these small +difficulties are pleasures to gay and happy youth. Regardless of +such obstacles, the sweet Emily bounded on like a fawn, and I +followed delighting in her delight. The sun went in, and the walk +was delicious; a reviving coolness seemed to breathe over the water, +wafting the balmy scent of the firs and limes; we found a point of +view presenting the boat-house, the water, the poplars, and the +mill, in a most felicitous combination; the little straw fruit +basket made a capital table; and refreshed and sharpened and pointed +by our trusty lacquey's excellent knife (your country boy is never +without a good knife, it is his prime treasure), the pencil did +double duty;--first in the skilful hands of Emily, whose faithful +and spirited sketch does equal honour to the scene and to the +artist, and then in the humbler office of attempting a faint +transcript of my own impressions in the following sonnet:-- + + It was an hour of calmest noon, at day + Of ripest summer: o'er the deep blue sky + White speckled clouds came sailing peacefully, + Half-shrouding in a chequer'd veil the ray + Of the sun, too ardent else,--what time we lay + By the smooth Loddon, opposite the high + Steep bank, which as a coronet gloriously + Wore its rich crest of firs and lime trees, gay + With their pale tassels; while from out a bower + Of ivy (where those column'd poplars rear + Their heads) the ruin'd boat-house, like a tower, + Flung its deep shadow on the waters clear. + My Emily! forget not that calm hour, + Nor that fair scene, by thee made doubly dear! + + + +THE HARD SUMMER. + +August 15th.--Cold, cloudy, windy, wet. Here we are, in the midst +of the dog-days, clustering merrily round the warm hearth like so +many crickets, instead of chirruping in the green fields like that +other merry insect the grasshopper; shivering under the influence of +the Jupiter Pluvius of England, the watery St. Swithin; peering at +that scarce personage the sun, when he happens to make his +appearance, as intently as astronomers look after a comet, or the +common people stare at a balloon; exclaiming against the cold +weather, just as we used to exclaim against the warm. 'What a +change from last year!' is the first sentence you hear, go where you +may. Everybody remarks it, and everybody complains of it; and yet +in my mind it has its advantages, or at least its compensations, as +everything in nature has, if we would only take the trouble to seek +for them. + +Last year, in spite of the love which we are now pleased to profess +towards that ardent luminary, not one of the sun's numerous admirers +had courage to look him in the face: there was no bearing the world +till he had said 'Good-night' to it. Then we might stir: then we +began to wake and to live. All day long we languished under his +influence in a strange dreaminess, too hot to work, too hot to read, +too hot to write, too hot even to talk; sitting hour after hour in a +green arbour, embowered in leafiness, letting thought and fancy +float as they would. Those day-dreams were pretty things in their +way; there is no denying that. But then, if one half of the world +were to dream through a whole summer, like the sleeping Beauty in +the wood, what would become of the other? + +The only office requiring the slightest exertion, which I performed +in that warm weather, was watering my flowers. Common sympathy +called for that labour. The poor things withered, and faded, and +pined away; they almost, so to say, panted for draught. Moreover, +if I had not watered them myself, I suspect that no one else would; +for water last year was nearly as precious hereabout as wine. Our +land-springs were dried up; our wells were exhausted; our deep ponds +were dwindling into mud; and geese, and ducks, and pigs, and +laundresses, used to look with a jealous and suspicious eye on the +few and scanty half-buckets of that impure element, which my trusty +lacquey was fain to filch for my poor geraniums and campanulas and +tuberoses. We were forced to smuggle them in through my faithful +adherent's territories, the stable, to avoid lectures within doors +and at last even that resource failed; my garden, my blooming +garden, the joy of my eyes, was forced to go waterless like its +neighbours, and became shrivelled, scorched, and sunburnt, like +them. It really went to my heart to look at it. + +On the other side of the house matters were still worse. What a +dusty world it was, when about sunset we became cool enough to creep +into it! Flowers in the court looking fit for a 'hortus siccus;' +mummies of plants, dried as in an oven; hollyhocks, once pink, +turned into Quakers; cloves smelling of dust. Oh, dusty world! May +herself looked of that complexion; so did Lizzy; so did all the +houses, windows, chickens, children, trees, and pigs in the village; +so above all did the shoes. No foot could make three plunges into +that abyss of pulverised gravel, which had the impudence to call +itself a hard road, without being clothed with a coat a quarter of +an inch thick. Woe to white gowns! woe to black! Drab was your +only wear. + +Then, when we were out of the street, what a toil it was to mount +the hill, climbing with weary steps and slow upon the brown turf by +the wayside, slippery, hot, and hard as a rock! And then if we +happened to meet a carriage coming along the middle of the road,-- +the bottomless middle,--what a sandy whirlwind it was! What +choking! what suffocation! No state could be more pitiable, except +indeed that of the travellers who carried this misery about with +them. I shall never forget the plight in which we met the coach one +evening in last August, full an hour after its time, steeds and +driver, carriage and passengers, all one dust. The outsides, and +the horses, and the coachman, seemed reduced to a torpid quietness, +the resignation of despair. They had left off trying to better +their condition, and taken refuge in a wise and patient +hopelessness, bent to endure in silence the extremity of ill. The +six insides, on the contrary, were still fighting against their +fate, vainly struggling to ameliorate their hapless destiny. They +were visibly grumbling at the weather, scolding at the dust, and +heating themselves like a furnace, by striving against the heat. +How well I remember the fat gentleman without his coat, who was +wiping his forehead, heaving up his wig, and certainly uttering that +English ejaculation, which, to our national reproach, is the phrase +of our language best known on the continent. And that poor boy, +red-hot, all in a flame, whose mamma, having divested her own person +of all superfluous apparel, was trying to relieve his sufferings by +the removal of his neckerchief--an operation which he resisted with +all his might. How perfectly I remember him, as well as the pale +girl who sat opposite, fanning herself with her bonnet into an +absolute fever! They vanished after a while into their own dust; +but I have them all before my eyes at this moment, a companion +picture to Hogarth's 'Afternoon,' a standing lesson to the grumblers +at cold summers. + +For my part, I really like this wet season. It keeps us within, to +be sure, rather more than is quite agreeable; but then we are at +least awake and alive there, and the world out of doors is so much +the pleasanter when we can get abroad. Everything does well, except +those fastidious bipeds, men and women; corn ripens, grass grows, +fruit is plentiful; there is no lack of birds to eat it, and there +has not been such a wasp-season these dozen years. My garden wants +no watering, and is more beautiful than ever, beating my old rival +in that primitive art, the pretty wife of the little mason, out and +out. Measured with mine, her flowers are naught. Look at those +hollyhocks, like pyramids of roses; those garlands of the +convolvulus major of all colours, hanging around that tall pole, +like the wreathy hop-bine; those magnificent dusky cloves, breathing +of the Spice Islands; those flaunting double dahlias; those splendid +scarlet geraniums, and those fierce and warlike flowers the +tiger-lilies. Oh, how beautiful they are! Besides, the weather +clears sometimes--it has cleared this evening; and here are we, +after a merry walk up the hill, almost as quick as in the winter, +bounding lightly along the bright green turf of the pleasant common, +enticed by the gay shouts of a dozen clear young voices, to linger +awhile, and see the boys play at cricket. + +I plead guilty to a strong partiality towards that unpopular class +of beings, country boys: I have a large acquaintance amongst them, +and I can almost say, that I know good of many and harm of none. In +general they are an open, spirited, good-humoured race, with a +proneness to embrace the pleasures and eschew the evils of their +condition, a capacity for happiness, quite unmatched in man, or +woman, or a girl. They are patient, too, and bear their fate as +scape-goats (for all sins whatsoever are laid as matters of course +to their door), whether at home or abroad, with amazing resignation +and, considering the many lies of which they are the objects, they +tell wonderfully few in return. The worst that can be said of them +is, that they seldom, when grown to man's estate, keep the promise +of their boyhood; but that is a fault to come--a fault that may not +come, and ought not to be anticipated. It is astonishing how +sensible they are to notice from their betters, or those whom they +think such. I do not speak of money, or gifts, or praise, or the +more coarse and common briberies--they are more delicate courtiers; +a word, a nod, a smile, or the mere calling of them by their names, +is enough to ensure their hearts and their services. Half a dozen +of them, poor urchins, have run away now to bring us chairs from +their several homes. 'Thank you, Joe Kirby!--you are always first-- +yes, that is just the place--I shall see everything there. Have you +been in yet, Joe?'--'No, ma'am! I go in next.'--'Ah, I am glad of +that--and now's the time. Really that was a pretty ball of Jem +Eusden's!--I was sure it would go to the wicket. Run, Joe! They +are waiting for you.' There was small need to bid Joe Kirby make +haste; I think he is, next to a race-horse, or a greyhound, or a +deer, the fastest creature that runs--the most completely alert and +active. Joe is mine especial friend, and leader of the 'tender +juveniles,' as Joel Brent is of the adults. In both instances this +post of honour was gained by merit, even more remarkably so in Joe's +case than in Joel's; for Joe is a less boy than many of his +companions (some of whom are fifteeners and sixteeners, quite as +tall and nearly as old as Tom Coper), and a poorer than all, as may +be conjectured from the lamentable state of that patched round +frock, and the ragged condition of those unpatched shoes, which +would encumber, if anything could, the light feet that wear them. +But why should I lament the poverty that never troubles him? Joe is +the merriest and happiest creature that ever lived twelve years in +this wicked world. Care cannot come near him. He hath a perpetual +smile on his round ruddy face, and a laugh in his hazel eye, that +drives the witch away. He works at yonder farm on the top of the +hill, where he is in such repute for intelligence and good-humour, +that he has the honour of performing all the errands of the house, +of helping the maid, the mistress, and the master, in addition to +his own stated office of carter's boy. There he works hard from +five till seven, and then he comes here to work still harder, under +the name of play--batting, bowling, and fielding, as if for life, +filling the place of four boys; being, at a pinch, a whole eleven. +The late Mr. Knyvett, the king's organist, who used in his own +person to sing twenty parts at once of the Hallelujah Chorus, so +that you would have thought he had a nest of nightingales in his +throat, was but a type of Joe Kirby. There is a sort of ubiquity +about him; he thinks nothing of being in two places at once, and for +pitching a ball, William Grey himself is nothing to him. It goes +straight to the mark like a bullet. He is king of the cricketers +from eight to sixteen, both inclusive, and an excellent ruler he +makes. Nevertheless, in the best-ordered states there will be +grumblers, and we have an opposition here in the shape of Jem +Eusden. + +Jem Eusden is a stunted lad of thirteen, or thereabout, lean, small, +and short, yet strong and active. His face is of an extraordinary +ugliness, colourless, withered, haggard, with a look of extreme age, +much increased by hair so light that it might rather pass for white +than flaxen. He is constantly arrayed in the blue cap and +old-fashioned coat, the costume of an endowed school to which he +belongs; where he sits still all day, and rushes into the field at +night, fresh, untired, and ripe for action, to scold and brawl, and +storm, and bluster. He hates Joe Kirby, whose immovable +good-humour, broad smiles, and knowing nods, must certainly be very +provoking to so fierce and turbulent a spirit; and he has himself +(being, except by rare accident, no great player) the preposterous +ambition of wishing to be manager of the sports. In short, he is a +demagogue in embryo, with every quality necessary to a splendid +success in that vocation,--a strong voice, a fluent utterance, an +incessant iteration, and a frontless impudence. He is a great +'scholar' too, to use the country phrase; his 'piece,' as our +village schoolmaster terms a fine sheet of flourishing writing, +something between a valentine and a sampler, enclosed within a +border of little coloured prints--his last, I remember, was +encircled by an engraved history of Moses, beginning at the finding +in the bulrushes, with Pharaoh's daughter dressed in a rose-coloured +gown and blue feathers--his piece is not only the admiration of the +school, but of the parish, and is sent triumphantly round from house +to house at Christmas, to extort halfpence and sixpences from all +encouragers of learning--Montem in miniature. The Mosaic history +was so successful, that the produce enabled Jem to purchase a bat +and ball, which, besides adding to his natural arrogance (for the +little pedant actually began to mutter against being eclipsed by a +dunce, and went so far as to challenge Joe Kirby to a trial in +Practice, or the Rule of Three), gave him, when compared with the +general poverty, a most unnatural preponderance in the cricket +state. He had the ways and means in his hands (for alas! the hard +winter had made sad havoc among the bats, and the best ball was a +bad one)--he had the ways and means, could withhold the supplies, +and his party was beginning to wax strong, when Joe received a +present of two bats and a ball for the youngsters in general and +himself in particular--and Jem's adherents left him on the spot-- +they ratted, to a man, that very evening. Notwithstanding this +desertion, their forsaken leader has in nothing relaxed from his +pretensions, or his ill-humour. He stills quarrels and brawls as if +he had a faction to back him, and thinks nothing of contending with +both sides, the ins and the outs, secure of out-talking the whole +field. He has been squabbling these ten minutes, and is just +marching off now with his own bat (he has never deigned to use one +of Joe's) in his hand. What an ill-conditioned hobgoblin it is! +And yet there is something bold and sturdy about him too. I should +miss Jem Eusden. + +Ah, there is another deserter from the party! my friend the little +hussar--I do not know his name, and call him after his cap and +jacket. He is a very remarkable person, about the age of eight +years, the youngest piece of gravity and dignity I ever encountered; +short, and square, and upright, and slow, with a fine bronzed flat +visage, resembling those convertible signs the Broad-Face and the +Saracen's-Head, which, happening to be next-door neighbours in the +town of B., I never knew apart, resembling, indeed, any face that is +open-eyed and immovable, the very sign of a boy! He stalks about +with his hands in his breeches pockets, like a piece of machinery; +sits leisurely down when he ought to field, and never gets farther +in batting than to stop the ball. His is the only voice never heard +in the melee: I doubt, indeed, if he have one, which may be partly +the reason of a circumstance that I record to his honour, his +fidelity to Jem Eusden, to whom he has adhered through every change +of fortune, with a tenacity proceeding perhaps from an instinctive +consciousness that the loquacious leader talks enough for two. He +is the only thing resembling a follower that our demagogue +possesses, and is cherished by him accordingly. Jem quarrels for +him, scolds for him, pushes for him; and but for Joe Kirby's +invincible good-humour, and a just discrimination of the innocent +from the guilty, the activity of Jem's friendship would get the poor +hussar ten drubbings a day. + +But it is growing late. The sun has set a long time. Only see what +a gorgeous colouring has spread itself over those parting masses of +clouds in the west,--what a train of rosy light! We shall have a +fine sunshiny day to-morrow,--a blessing not to be undervalued, in +spite of my late vituperation of heat. Shall we go home now? And +shall we take the longest but prettiest road, that by the green +lanes? This way, to the left, round the corner of the common, past +Mr. Welles's cottage, and our path lies straight before us. How +snug and comfortable that cottage looks! Its little yard all alive +with the cow, and the mare, and the colt almost as large as the +mare, and the young foal, and the great yard-dog, all so fat! +Fenced in with hay-rick, and wheat-rick, and bean-stack, and backed +by the long garden, the spacious drying-ground, the fine orchard, +and that large field quartered into four different crops. How +comfortable this cottage looks, and how well the owners earn their +comforts! They are the most prosperous pair in the parish--she a +laundress with twenty times more work than she can do, unrivalled in +flounces and shirt-frills, and such delicacies of the craft; he, +partly a farmer, partly a farmer's man, tilling his own ground, and +then tilling other people's;--affording a proof, even in this +declining age, when the circumstances of so many worthy members of +the community seem to have 'an alacrity in sinking,' that it is +possible to amend them by sheer industry. He, who was born in the +workhouse, and bred up as a parish boy, has now, by mere manual +labour, risen to the rank of a land-owner, pays rates and taxes, +grumbles at the times, and is called Master Welles,--the title next +to Mister--that by which Shakspeare was called;--what would man have +more? His wife, besides being the best laundress in the county, is +a comely woman still. There she stands at the spring, dipping up +water for to-morrow,--the clear, deep, silent spring, which sleeps +so peacefully under its high flowery bank, red with the tall spiral +stalks of the foxglove and their rich pendent bells, blue with the +beautiful forget-me-not, that gem-like blossom, which looks like a +living jewel of turquoise and topaz. It is almost too late to see +its beauty; and here is the pleasant shady lane, where the high elms +will shut out the little twilight that remains. Ah, but we shall +have the fairies' lamps to guide us, the stars of the earth, the +glow-worms! Here they are, three almost together. Do you not see +them? One seems tremulous, vibrating, as if on the extremity of a +leaf of grass; the others are deeper in the hedge, in some green +cell on which their light falls with an emerald lustre. I hope my +friends the cricketers will not come this way home. I would not +have the pretty creatures removed for more than I care to say, and +in this matter I would hardly trust Joe Kirby--boys so love to stick +them in their hats. But this lane is quite deserted. It is only a +road from field to field. No one comes here at this hour. They are +quite safe; and I shall walk here to-morrow and visit them again. +And now, goodnight! beautiful insects, lamps of the fairies, +good-night! + + + +THE SHAW. + +September 9th.--A bright sunshiny afternoon. What a comfort it is +to get out again--to see once more that rarity of rarities, a fine +day! We English +people are accused of talking overmuch of the weather; but the +weather, this summer, has forced people to talk of it. Summer! did +I say? Oh! season most unworthy of that sweet, sunny name! Season +of coldness and cloudiness, of gloom and rain! A worse November!-- +for in November the days are short; and shut up in a warm room, +lighted by that household sun, a lamp, one feels through the long +evenings comfortably independent of the out-of-door tempests. But +though we may have, and did have, fires all through the dog-days, +there is no shutting out daylight; and sixteen hours of rain, +pattering against the windows and dripping from the eaves--sixteen +hours of rain, not merely audible, but visible for seven days in the +week--would be enough to exhaust the patience of Job or Grizzel; +especially if Job were a farmer, and Grizzel a country gentlewoman. +Never was known such a season! Hay swimming, cattle drowning, fruit +rotting, corn spoiling! and that naughty river, the Loddon, who +never can take Puff's advice, and 'keep between its banks,' running +about the country, fields, roads, gardens, and houses, like mad! +The weather would be talked of. Indeed, it was not easy to talk of +anything else. A friend of mine having occasion to write me a +letter, thought it worth abusing in rhyme, and bepommelled it +through three pages of Bath-guide verse; of which I subjoin a +specimen:-- + + 'Aquarius surely REIGNS over the world, + And of late he his water-pot strangely has twirl'd; + Or he's taken a cullender up by mistake, + And unceasingly dips it in some mighty lake; + Though it is not in Lethe--for who can forget + The annoyance of getting most thoroughly wet? + It must be in the river called Styx, I declare, + For the moment it drizzles it makes the men swear. + "It did rain to-morrow," is growing good grammar; + Vauxhall and camp-stools have been brought to the hammer; + A pony-gondola is all I can keep, + And I use my umbrella and pattens in sleep: + Row out of my window, whene'er 'tis my whim + To visit a friend, and just ask, "Can you swim?"' + +So far my friend.* In short, whether in prose or in verse, +everybody railed at the weather. But this is over now. The sun has +come to dry the world; mud is turned into dust; rivers have +retreated to their proper limits; farmers have left off grumbling; +and we are about to take a walk, as usual, as far as the Shaw, a +pretty wood about a mile off. But one of our companions being a +stranger to the gentle reader, we must do him the honour of an +introduction. + +*This friend of mine is a person of great quickness and talent, who, +if she were not a beauty and a woman of fortune--that is to say, if +she were prompted by either of those two powerful stimuli, want of +money or want of admiration, to take due pains--would inevitably +become a clever writer. As it is, her notes and 'jeux d'esprit' +struck off 'a trait de plume,' have great point and neatness. Take +the following billet, which formed the label to a closed basket, +containing the ponderous present alluded to, last Michaelmas day:-- + + 'To Miss M. + "When this you see + Remember me," + Was long a phrase in use; + And so I send + To you, dear friend, + My proxy, "What?"--A goose!' + + +Dogs, when they are sure of having their own way, have sometimes +ways as odd as those of the unfurred, unfeathered animals, who walk +on two legs, and talk, and are called rational. My beautiful white +greyhound, Mayflower,* for instance, is as whimsical as the finest +lady in the land. Amongst her other fancies, she has taken a +violent affection for a most hideous stray dog, who made his +appearance here about six months ago, and contrived to pick up a +living in the village, one can hardly tell how. Now appealing to +the charity of old Rachael Strong, the laundress--a dog-lover by +profession; now winning a meal from the lightfooted and open-hearted +lasses at the Rose; now standing on his hind-legs, to extort by +sheer beggary a scanty morsel from some pair of 'drouthy cronies,' +or solitary drover, discussing his dinner or supper on the +alehouse-bench; now catching a mouthful, flung to him in pure +contempt by some scornful gentleman of the shoulder-knot, mounted on +his throne, the coach-box, whose notice he had attracted by dint of +ugliness; now sharing the commons of Master Keep the shoemaker's +pigs; now succeeding to the reversion of the well-gnawed bone of +Master Brown the shopkeeper's fierce house-dog; now filching the +skim-milk of Dame Wheeler's cat:--spit at by the cat; worried by the +mastiff; chased by the pigs; screamed at by the dame; stormed at by +the shoemaker; flogged by the shopkeeper; teased by all the +children, and scouted by all the animals of the parish;--but yet +living through his griefs, and bearing them patiently, 'for +sufferance is the badge of all his tribe;'--and even seeming to +find, in an occasional full meal, or a gleam of sunshine, or a wisp +of dry straw on which to repose his sorry carcase, some comfort in +his disconsolate condition. + +*Dead, alas, since this was written. + +In this plight was he found by May, the most high-blooded and +aristocratic of greyhounds; and from this plight did May rescue +him;--invited him into her territory, the stable; resisted all +attempts to turn him out; reinstated him there, in spite of maid and +boy, and mistress and master; wore out everybody's opposition, by +the activity of her protection, and the pertinacity of her +self-will; made him sharer of her bed and of her mess; and, finally, +established him as one of the family as firmly as herself. + +Dash--for he has even won himself a name amongst us, before he was +anonymous--Dash is a sort of a kind of a spaniel; at least there is +in his mongrel composition some sign of that beautiful race. +Besides his ugliness, which is of the worst sort--that is to say, +the shabbiest--he has a limp on one leg that gives a peculiar +one-sided awkwardness to his gait; but independently of his great +merit in being May's pet, he has other merits which serve to account +for that phenomenon--being, beyond all comparison, the most +faithful, attached, and affectionate animal that I have ever known; +and that is saying much. He seems to think it necessary to atone +for his ugliness by extra good conduct, and does so dance on his +lame leg, and so wag his scrubby tail, that it does any one who has +a taste for happiness good to look at him--so that he may now be +said to stand on his own footing. We are all rather ashamed of him +when strangers come in the way, and think it necessary to explain +that he is May's pet; but amongst ourselves, and those who are used +to his appearance, he has reached the point of favouritism in his +own person. I have, in common with wiser women, the feminine +weakness of loving whatever loves me--and, therefore, I like Dash. +His master has found out that he is a capital finder, and in spite +of his lameness will hunt a field or beat a cover with any spaniel +in England--and, therefore, HE likes Dash. The boy has fought a +battle, in defence of his beauty, with another boy, bigger than +himself, and beat his opponent most handsomely--and, therefore, HE +likes Dash; and the maids like him, or pretend to like him, because +we do--as is the fashion of that pliant and imitative class. And +now Dash and May follow us everywhere, and are going with us to the +Shaw, as I said before--or rather to the cottage by the Shaw, to +bespeak milk and butter of our little dairy-woman, Hannah Bint--a +housewifely occupation, to which we owe some of our pleasantest +rambles. + +And now we pass the sunny, dusty village street--who would have +thought, a month ago, that we should complain of sun and dust +again!--and turn the corner where the two great oaks hang so +beautifully over the clear deep pond, mixing their cool green +shadows with the bright blue sky, and the white clouds that flit +over it; and loiter at the wheeler's shop, always picturesque, with +its tools, and its work, and its materials, all so various in form, +and so harmonious in colour; and its noise, merry workmen, hammering +and singing, and making a various harmony also. The shop is rather +empty to-day, for its usual inmates are busy on the green beyond the +pond--one set building a cart, another painting a waggon. And then +we leave the village quite behind, and proceed slowly up the cool, +quiet lane, between tall hedgerows of the darkest verdure, +overshadowing banks green and fresh as an emerald. + +Not so quick as I expected, though--for they are shooting here +to-day, as Dash and I have both discovered: he with great delight, +for a gun to him is as a trumpet to a war-horse; I with no less +annoyance, for I don't think that a partridge itself, barring the +accident of being killed, can be more startled than I at that +abominable explosion. Dash has certainly better blood in his veins +than any one would guess to look at him. He even shows some +inclination to elope into the fields, in pursuit of those noisy +iniquities. But he is an orderly person after all, and a word has +checked him. + +Ah! here is a shriller din mingling with the small artillery--a +shriller and more continuous. We are not yet arrived within sight +of Master Weston's cottage, snugly hidden behind a clump of elms; +but we are in full hearing of Dame Weston's tongue, raised as usual +to scolding pitch. The Westons are new arrivals in our +neighbourhood, and the first thing heard of them was a complaint +from the wife to our magistrate of her husband's beating her: it +was a regular charge of assault--an information in full form. A +most piteous case did Dame Weston make of it, softening her voice +for the nonce into a shrill tremulous whine, and exciting the +mingled pity and anger--pity towards herself, anger towards her +husband--of the whole female world, pitiful and indignant as the +female world is wont to be on such occasions. Every woman in the +parish railed at Master Weston; and poor Master Weston was summoned +to attend the bench on the ensuing Saturday, and answer the charge; +and such was the clamour abroad and at home, that the unlucky +culprit, terrified at the sound of a warrant and a constable, ran +away, and was not heard of for a fortnight. + +At the end of that time he was discovered, and brought to the bench; +and Dame Weston again told her story, and, as before, on the full +cry. She had no witnesses, and the bruises of which she made +complaint had disappeared, and there were no women present to make +common cause with the sex. Still, however, the general feeling was +against Master Weston; and it would have gone hard with him when he +was called in, if a most unexpected witness had not risen up in his +favour. His wife had brought in her arms a little girl about +eighteen months old, partly perhaps to move compassion in her +favour; for a woman with a child in her arms is always an object +that excites kind feelings. The little girl had looked shy and +frightened, and had been as quiet as a lamb during her mother's +examination; but she no sooner saw her father, from whom she had +been a fortnight separated, than she clapped her hands, and laughed, +and cried, 'Daddy! daddy!' and sprang into his arms, and hung round +his neck, and covered him with kisses--again shouting, 'Daddy, come +home! daddy! daddy!'--and finally nestled her little head in his +bosom, with a fulness of contentment, an assurance of tenderness and +protection such as no wife-beating tyrant ever did inspire, or ever +could inspire, since the days of King Solomon. Our magistrates +acted in the very spirit of the Jewish monarch: they accepted the +evidence of nature, and dismissed the complaint. And subsequent +events have fully justified their decision; Mistress Weston proving +not only renowned for the feminine accomplishment of scolding +(tongue-banging, it is called in our parts, a compound word which +deserves to be Greek), but is actually herself addicted to +administering the conjugal discipline, the infliction of which she +was pleased to impute to her luckless husband. + +Now we cross the stile, and walk up the fields to the Shaw. How +beautifully green this pasture looks! and how finely the evening sun +glances between the boles of that clump of trees, beech, and ash, +and aspen! and how sweet the hedgerows are with woodbine and wild +scabious, or, as the country people call it, the gipsy-rose! Here +is little Dolly Weston, the unconscious witness, with cheeks as red +as a real rose, tottering up the path to meet her father. And here +is the carroty-poled urchin, George Coper, returning from work, and +singing 'Home! sweet Home!' at the top of his voice; and then, when +the notes prove too high for him, continuing the air in a whistle, +until he has turned the impassable corner; then taking up again the +song and the words, 'Home! sweet Home!' and looking as if he felt +their full import, ploughboy though he be. And so he does; for he +is one of a large, an honest, a kind, and an industrious family, +where all goes well, and where the poor ploughboy is sure of finding +cheerful faces and coarse comforts--all that he has learned to +desire. Oh, to be as cheaply and as thoroughly contented as George +Coper! All his luxuries a cricket-match!--all his wants satisfied +in 'home! sweet home!' + +Nothing but noises to-day! They are clearing Farmer Brooke's great +bean-field, and crying the 'Harvest Home!' in a chorus, before which +all other sounds--the song, the scolding, the gunnery--fade away, +and become faint echoes. A pleasant noise is that! though, for +one's ears' sake, one makes some haste to get away from it. And +here, in happy time, is that pretty wood, the Shaw, with its broad +pathway, its tangled dingles, its nuts and its honeysuckles;--and, +carrying away a faggot of those sweetest flowers, we reach Hannah +Bint's: of whom, and of whose doings, we shall say more another +time. + +NOTE.--Poor Dash is also dead. We did not keep him long, indeed I +believe that he died of the transition from starvation to good feed, +as dangerous to a dog's stomach, and to most stomachs, as the less +agreeable change from good feed to starvation. He has been +succeeded in place and favour by another Dash, not less amiable in +demeanour and far more creditable in appearance, bearing no small +resemblance to the pet spaniel of my friend Master Dinely, he who +stole the bone from the magpies, and who figures as the first Dash +of this volume. Let not the unwary reader opine, that in assigning +the same name to three several individuals, I am acting as an humble +imitator of the inimitable writer who has given immortality to the +Peppers and the Mustards, on the one hand; or showing a poverty of +invention or a want of acquaintance with the bead-roll of canine +appellations on the other. I merely, with my usual scrupulous +fidelity, take the names as I find them. The fact is that half the +handsome spaniels in England are called Dash, just as half the tall +footmen are called Thomas. The name belongs to the species. +Sitting in an open carriage one day last summer at the door of a +farmhouse where my father had some business, I saw a noble and +beautiful animal of this kind lying in great state and laziness on +the steps, and felt an immediate desire to make acquaintance with +him. My father, who had had the same fancy, had patted him and +called him 'poor fellow' in passing, without eliciting the smallest +notice in return. 'Dash!' cried I at a venture, 'good Dash! noble +Dash!' and up he started in a moment, making but one spring from the +door into the gig. Of course I was right in my guess. The +gentleman's name was Dash. + + + +NUTTING. + +September 26th.--One of those delicious autumnal days, when the air, +the sky, and the earth seem lulled into a universal calm, softer and +milder even than May. We sallied forth for a walk, in a mood +congenial to the weather and the season, avoiding, by mutual +consent, the bright and sunny common, and the gay highroad, and +stealing through shady, unfrequented lanes, where we were not likely +to meet any one,--not even the pretty family procession which in +other years we used to contemplate with so much interest--the +father, mother, and children, returning from the wheat-field, the +little ones laden with bristling close-tied bunches of wheat-ears, +their own gleanings, or a bottle and a basket which had contained +their frugal dinner, whilst the mother would carry her babe hushing +and lulling it, and the father and an elder child trudged after with +the cradle, all seeming weary and all happy. We shall not see such +a procession as this to-day; for the harvest is nearly over, the +fields are deserted, the silence may almost be felt. Except the +wintry notes of the redbreast, nature herself is mute. But how +beautiful, how gentle, how harmonious, how rich! The rain has +preserved to the herbage all the freshness and verdure of spring, +and the world of leaves has lost nothing of its midsummer +brightness, and the harebell is on the banks, and the woodbine in +the hedges, and the low furze, which the lambs cropped in the +spring, has burst again into its golden blossoms. + +All is beautiful that the eye can see; perhaps the more beautiful +for being shut in with a forest-like closeness. We have no prospect +in this labyrinth of lanes, cross-roads, mere cart-ways, leading to +the innumerable little farms into which this part of the parish is +divided. Up-hill or down, these quiet woody lanes scarcely give us +a peep at the world, except when, leaning over a gate, we look into +one of the small enclosures, hemmed in with hedgerows, so closely +set with growing timber, that the meady opening looks almost like a +glade in a wood; or when some cottage, planted at a corner of one of +the little greens formed by the meeting of these cross-ways, almost +startles us by the unexpected sight of the dwellings of men in such +a solitude. But that we have more of hill and dale, and that our +cross-roads are excellent in their kind, this side of our parish +would resemble the description given of La Vendee, in Madame +Laroche-Jacquelin's most interesting book.* I am sure if wood can +entitle a country to be called Le Bocage, none can have a better +right to the name. Even this pretty snug farmhouse on the hillside, +with its front covered with the rich vine, which goes wreathing up +to the very top of the clustered chimney, and its sloping orchard +full of fruit--even this pretty quiet nest can hardly peep out of +its leaves. Ah! they are gathering in the orchard harvest. Look at +that young rogue in the old mossy apple-tree--that great tree, +bending with the weight of its golden-rennets--see how he pelts his +little sister beneath with apples as red and as round as her own +cheeks, while she, with her outstretched frock, is trying to catch +them, and laughing and offering to pelt again as often as one bobs +against her; and look at that still younger imp, who, as grave as a +judge, is creeping on hands and knees under the tree, picking up the +apples as they fall so deedily,** and depositing them so honestly in +the great basket on the grass, already fixed so firmly and opened so +widely, and filled almost to overflowing by the brown rough fruitage +of the golden-rennet's next neighbour the russeting; and see that +smallest urchin of all, seated apart in infantine state on the turfy +bank, with that toothsome piece of deformity a crumpling in each +hand, now biting from one sweet, hard, juicy morsel and now from +another--Is not that a pretty English picture? And then, farther up +the orchard, that bold hardy lad, the eldest born, who has scaled +(Heaven knows how) the tall, straight upper branch of that great +pear-tree, and is sitting there as securely and as fearlessly, in as +much real safety and apparent danger, as a sailor on the top-mast. +Now he shakes the tree with a mighty swing that brings down a +pelting shower of stony bergamots, which the father gathers rapidly +up, whilst the mother can hardly assist for her motherly fear--a +fear which only spurs the spirited boy to bolder ventures. Is not +that a pretty picture? And they are such a handsome family too, the +Brookers. I do not know that there is any gipsy blood, but there is +the true gipsy complexion, richly brown, with cheeks and lips so +red, black hair curling close to their heads in short crisp rings, +white shining teeth--and such eyes!--That sort of beauty entirely +eclipses your mere roses and lilies. Even Lizzy, the prettiest of +fair children, would look poor and watery by the side of Willy +Brooker, the sober little personage who is picking up the apples +with his small chubby hands, and filling the basket so orderly, next +to his father the most useful man in the field. 'Willy!' He hears +without seeing; for we are quite hidden by the high bank, and a +spreading hawthorn bush that overtops it, though between the lower +branches and the grass we have found a convenient peep-hole. +'Willy!' The voice sounds to him like some fairy dream, and the +black eyes are raised from the ground with sudden wonder, the long +silky eyelashes thrown back till they rest on the delicate brow, and +a deeper blush is burning on those dark cheeks, and a smile is +dimpling about those scarlet lips. But the voice is silent now, and +the little quiet boy, after a moment's pause, is gone coolly to work +again. He is indeed a most lovely child. I think some day or other +he must marry Lizzy; I shall propose the match to their respective +mammas. At present the parties are rather too young for a wedding-- +the intended bridegroom being, as I should judge, six, or +thereabout, and the fair bride barely five,--but at least we might +have a betrothment after the royal fashion,--there could be no harm +in that. Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and +coquettish as if ten winters more had gone over her head, and poor +Willy would open his innocent black eyes, and wonder what was going +forward. They would be the very Oberon and Titania of the village, +the fairy king and queen. + +*An almost equally interesting account of that very peculiar and +interesting scenery, may be found in The Maid of La Vendee, an +English novel, remarkable for its simplicity and truth of painting, +written by Mrs. Le Noir, the daughter of Christopher Smart, an +inheritrix of much of his talent. Her works deserve to be better +known. + +**'Deedily,'--I am not quite sure that this word is good English; +but it is genuine Hampshire, and is used by the most correct of +female writers, Miss Austen. It means (and it is no small merit +that it has no exact synonym) anything done with a profound and +plodding attention, an action which engrosses all the powers of mind +and body. + +Ah! here is the hedge along which the periwinkle wreathes and twines +so profusely, with its evergreen leaves shining like the myrtle, and +its starry blue flowers. It is seldom found wild in this part of +England; but, when we do meet with it, it is so abundant and so +welcome,--the very robin-redbreast of flowers, a winter friend. +Unless in those unfrequent frosts which destroy all vegetation, it +blossoms from September to June, surviving the last lingering +crane's-bill, forerunning the earliest primrose, hardier even than +the mountain daisy,--peeping out from beneath the snow, looking at +itself in the ice, smiling through the tempests of life, and yet +welcoming and enjoying the sunbeams. Oh, to be like that flower! + +The little spring that has been bubbling under the hedge all along +the hillside, begins, now that we have mounted the eminence and are +imperceptibly descending, to deviate into a capricious variety of +clear deep pools and channels, so narrow and so choked with weeds, +that a child might overstep them. The hedge has also changed its +character. It is no longer the close compact vegetable wall of +hawthorn, and maple, and brier-roses, intertwined with bramble and +woodbine, and crowned with large elms or thickly-set saplings. No! +the pretty meadow which rises high above us, backed and almost +surrounded by a tall coppice, needs no defence on our side but its +own steep bank, garnished with tufts of broom, with pollard oaks +wreathed with ivy, and here and there with long patches of hazel +overhanging the water. 'Ah, there are still nuts on that bough!' +and in an instant my dear companion, active and eager and delighted +as a boy, has hooked down with his walking-stick one of the lissome +hazel stalks, and cleared it of its tawny clusters, and in another +moment he has mounted the bank, and is in the midst of the nuttery, +now transferring the spoil from the lower branches into that vast +variety of pockets which gentlemen carry about them, now bending the +tall tops into the lane, holding them down by main force, so that I +might reach them and enjoy the pleasure of collecting some of the +plunder myself. A very great pleasure he knew it would be. I +doffed my shawl, tucked up my flounces, turned my straw bonnet into +a basket, and began gathering and scrambling--for, manage it how you +may, nutting is scrambling work,--those boughs, however tightly you +may grasp them by the young fragrant twigs and the bright green +leaves, will recoil and burst away; but there is a pleasure even in +that: so on we go, scrambling and gathering with all our might and +all our glee. Oh, what an enjoyment! All my life long I have had a +passion for that sort of seeking which implies finding (the secret, +I believe, of the love of field-sports, which is in man's mind a +natural impulse)--therefore I love violeting,--therefore, when we +had a fine garden, I used to love to gather strawberries, and cut +asparagus, and above all, to collect the filberts from the +shrubberies: but this hedgerow nutting beats that sport all to +nothing. That was a make-believe thing, compared with this; there +was no surprise, no suspense, no unexpectedness--it was as inferior +to this wild nutting, as the turning out of a bag-fox is to +unearthing the fellow, in the eyes of a staunch foxhunter. + +Oh, what enjoyment this nut-gathering is! They are in such +abundance, that it seems as if there were not a boy in the parish, +nor a young man, nor a young woman,--for a basket of nuts is the +universal tribute of country gallantry; our pretty damsel Harriet +has had at least half a dozen this season; but no one has found out +these. And they are so full too, we lose half of them from +over-ripeness; they drop from the socket at the slightest motion. +If we lose, there is one who finds. May is as fond of nuts as a +squirrel, and cracks the shell and extracts the kernel with equal +dexterity. Her white glossy head is upturned now to watch them as +they fall. See how her neck is thrown back like that of a swan, and +how beautifully her folded ears quiver with expectation, and how her +quick eye follows the rustling noise, and her light feet dance and +pat the ground, and leap up with eagerness, seeming almost sustained +in the air, just as I have seen her when Brush is beating a +hedgerow, and she knows from his questing that there is a hare +afoot. See, she has caught that nut just before it touched the +water; but the water would have been no defence,--she fishes them +from the bottom, she delves after them amongst the matted grass-- +even my bonnet--how beggingly she looks at that! 'Oh, what a +pleasure nutting is!--Is it not, May? But the pockets are almost +full, and so is the basket-bonnet, and that bright watch the sun +says it is late; and after all it is wrong to rob the poor boys--is +it not, May?'--May shakes her graceful head denyingly, as if she +understood the question--'And we must go home now--must we not? But +we will come nutting again some time or other--shall we not, my +May?' + + + +THE VISIT. + +October 27th.--A lovely autumnal day; the air soft, balmy, genial; +the sky of that softened and delicate blue upon which the eye loves +to rest,--the blue which gives such relief to the rich beauty of the +earth, all around glowing in the ripe and mellow tints of the most +gorgeous of the seasons. Really such an autumn may well compensate +our English climate for the fine spring of the south, that spring of +which the poets talk, but which we so seldom enjoy. Such an autumn +glows upon us like a splendid evening; it is the very sunset of the +year; and I have been tempted forth into a wider range of enjoyment +than usual. This WALK (if I may use the Irish figure of speech +called a bull) will be a RIDE. A very dear friend has beguiled me +into accompanying her in her pretty equipage to her beautiful home, +four miles off; and having sent forward in the style of a running +footman the servant who had driven her, she assumes the reins, and +off we set. + +My fair companion is a person whom nature and fortune would have +spoiled if they could. She is one of those striking women whom a +stranger cannot pass without turning to look again; tall and finely +proportioned, with a bold Roman contour of figure and feature, a +delicate English complexion, and an air of distinction altogether +her own. Her beauty is duchess-like. She seems born to wear +feathers and diamonds, and to form the grace and ornament of a +court; and the noble frankness and simplicity of her countenance and +manner confirm the impression. Destiny has, however, dealt more +kindly by her. She is the wife of a rich country gentleman of high +descent and higher attainments, to whom she is most devotedly +attached,--the mother of a little girl as lovely as herself, and the +delight of all who have the happiness of her acquaintance, to whom +she is endeared not merely by her remarkable sweetness of temper and +kindness of heart, but by the singular ingenuousness and openness of +character which communicate an indescribable charm to her +conversation. She is as transparent as water. You may see every +colour, every shade of a mind as lofty and beautiful as her person. +Talking with her is like being in the Palace of Truth described by +Madame de Genlis; and yet so kindly are her feelings, so great her +indulgence to the little failings and foibles of our common nature, +so intense her sympathy with the wants, the wishes, the sorrows, and +the happiness of her fellow-creatures, that, with all her +frank-speaking, I never knew her make an enemy or lose a friend. + +But we must get on. What would she say if she knew I was putting +her into print? We must get on up the hill. Ah! that is precisely +what we are not likely to do! This horse, this beautiful and +high-bred horse, well-fed, and fat and glossy, who stood prancing at +our gate like an Arabian, has suddenly turned sulky. He does not +indeed stand quite still, but his way of moving is little better-- +the slowest and most sullen of all walks. Even they who ply the +hearse at funerals, sad-looking beasts who totter under black +feathers, go faster. It is of no use to admonish him by whip, or +rein, or word. The rogue has found out that it is a weak and tender +hand that guides him now. Oh, for one pull, one stroke of his old +driver, the groom! how he would fly! But there is the groom half a +mile before us, out of earshot, clearing the ground at a capital +rate, beating us hollow. He has just turned the top of the hill;-- +and in a moment--ay, NOW he is out of sight, and will undoubtedly so +continue till he meets us at the lawn gate. Well! there is no great +harm. It is only prolonging the pleasure of enjoying together this +charming scenery in this fine weather. If once we make up our minds +not to care how slowly our steed goes, not to fret ourselves by vain +exertions, it is no matter what his pace may be. There is little +doubt of his getting home by sunset, and that will content us. He +is, after all, a fine noble animal; and perhaps when he finds that +we are determined to give him his way, he may relent and give us +ours. All his sex are sticklers for dominion, though, when it is +undisputed, some of them are generous enough to abandon it. Two or +three of the most discreet wives of my acquaintance contrive to +manage their husbands sufficiently with no better secret than this +seeming submission; and in our case the example has the more weight +since we have no possible way of helping ourselves. + +Thus philosophising, we reached the top of the hill, and viewed with +'reverted eyes' the beautiful prospect that lay bathed in golden +sunshine behind us. Cowper says, with that boldness of expressing +in poetry the commonest and simplest feelings, which is perhaps one +great secret of his originality, + + 'Scenes must be beautiful, which, daily seen, + Please daily, and whose novelty survives + Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years.' + +Every day I walk up this hill--every day I pause at the top to +admire the broad winding road with the green waste on each side, +uniting it with the thickly timbered hedgerows; the two pretty +cottages at unequal distances, placed so as to mark the bends; the +village beyond, with its mass of roofs and clustered chimneys +peeping through the trees; and the rich distance, where cottages, +mansions, churches, towns, seem embowered in some wide forest, and +shut in by blue shadowy hills. Every day I admire this most +beautiful landscape; yet never did it seem to me so fine or so +glowing as now. All the tints of the glorious autumn, orange, +tawny, yellow, red, are poured in profusion among the bright greens +of the meadows and turnip fields, till the eyes are satiated with +colour; and then before us we have the common with its picturesque +roughness of surface tufted with cottages, dappled with water, +edging off on one side into fields and farms and orchards, and +terminated on the other by the princely oak avenue. What a richness +and variety the wild broken ground gives to the luxuriant +cultivation of the rest of the landscape! Cowper has described it +for me. How perpetually, as we walk in the country, his vivid +pictures recur to the memory! Here is his common and mine! + + 'The common overgrown with fern, and rough + With prickly gorse, that, shapeless and deform'd + And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom, + And decks itself with ornaments of gold;-- + --------------- there the turf + Smells fresh, and, rich in odoriferous herbs + And fungous fruits of earth, regales the sense + With luxury of unexpected sweets.' + +The description is exact. There, too, to the left is my +cricket-ground (Cowper's common wanted that finishing grace); and +there stands one solitary urchin, as if in contemplation of its past +and future glories; for, alas! cricket is over for the season. Ah! +it is Ben Kirby, next brother to Joe, king of the youngsters, and +probably his successor--for this Michaelmas has cost us Joe! He is +promoted from the farm to the mansion-house, two miles off; there he +cleans shoes, rubs knives, and runs on errands, and is, as his +mother expresses it, 'a sort of 'prentice to the footman.' I should +not wonder if Joe, some day or other, should overtop the footman, +and rise to be butler; and his splendid prospects must be our +consolation for the loss of this great favourite. In the meantime +we have Ben. + +Ben Kirby is a year younger than Joe, and the school-fellow and +rival of Jem Eusden. To be sure his abilities lie in rather a +different line: Jem is a scholar, Ben is a wag: Jem is great in +figures and writing, Ben in faces and mischief. His master says of +him, that, if there were two such in the school, he must resign his +office; and as far as my observation goes, the worthy pedagogue is +right. Ben is, it must be confessed, a great corrupter of gravity. +He hath an exceeding aversion to authority and decorum, and a +wonderful boldness and dexterity in overthrowing the one and +puzzling the other. His contortions of visage are astounding. His +'power over his own muscles and those of other people' is almost +equal to that of Liston; and indeed the original face, flat and +square and Chinese in its shape, of a fine tan complexion, with a +snub nose, and a slit for a mouth, is nearly as comical as that +matchless performer's. When aided by Ben's singular mobility of +feature, his knowing winks and grins and shrugs and nods, together +with a certain dry shrewdness, a habit of saying sharp things, and a +marvellous gift of impudence, it forms as fine a specimen as +possible of a humorous country boy, an oddity in embryo. Everybody +likes Ben, except his butts (which may perhaps comprise half his +acquaintance); and of them no one so thoroughly hates and dreads him +as our parish schoolmaster, a most worthy King Log, whom Ben +dumbfounds twenty times a day. He is a great ornament of the +cricket-ground, has a real genius for the game, and displays it +after a very original manner, under the disguise of awkwardness--as +the clown shows off his agility in a pantomime. Nothing comes amiss +to him. By the bye, he would have been the very lad for us in our +present dilemma; not a horse in England could master Ben Kirby. But +we are too far from him now--and perhaps it is as well that we are +so. I believe the rogue has a kindness for me, in remembrance of +certain apples and nuts, which my usual companion, who delights in +his wit, is accustomed to dole out to him. But it is a Robin +Goodfellow nevertheless, a perfect Puck, that loves nothing on earth +so well as mischief. Perhaps the horse may be the safer conductor +of the two. + +The avenue is quite alive to-day. Old women are picking up twigs +and acorns, and pigs of all sizes doing their utmost to spare them +the latter part of the trouble; boys and girls groping for +beech-nuts under yonder clump; and a group of younger elves +collecting as many dead leaves as they can find to feed the bonfire +which is smoking away so briskly amongst the trees,--a sort of +rehearsal of the grand bonfire nine days hence; of the loyal +conflagration of the arch-traitor Guy Vaux, which is annually +solemnised in the avenue, accompanied with as much of squibbery and +crackery as our boys can beg or borrow--not to say steal. Ben Kirby +is a great man on the 5th of November. All the savings of a month, +the hoarded halfpence, the new farthings, the very luck-penny, go +off in fumo on that night. For my part, I like this daylight +mockery better. There is no gunpowder--odious gunpowder! no noise +but the merry shouts of the small fry, so shrill and happy, and the +cawing of the rooks, who are wheeling in large circles overhead, and +wondering what is going forward in their territory--seeming in their +loud clamour to ask what that light smoke may mean that curls so +prettily amongst their old oaks, towering as if to meet the clouds. +There is something very intelligent in the ways of that black people +the rooks, particularly in their wonder. I suppose it results from +their numbers and their unity of purpose, a sort of collective and +corporate wisdom. Yet geese congregate also; and geese never by any +chance look wise. But then geese are a domestic fowl; we have +spoiled them; and rooks are free commoners of nature, who use the +habitations we provide for them, tenant our groves and our avenues, +but never dream of becoming our subjects. + +What a labyrinth of a road this is! I do think there are four +turnings in the short half-mile between the avenue and the mill. +And what a pity, as my companion observes--not that our good and +jolly miller, the very representative of the old English yeomanry, +should be so rich, but that one consequence of his riches should be +the pulling down of the prettiest old mill that ever looked at +itself in the Loddon, with the picturesque, low-browed, irregular +cottage, which stood with its light-pointed roof, its clustered +chimneys, and its ever-open door, looking like the real abode of +comfort and hospitality, to build this huge, staring, frightful, +red-brick mill, as ugly as a manufactory, and this great square +house, ugly and red to match, just behind. The old buildings always +used to remind me of Wollett's beautiful engraving of a scene in the +Maid of the Mill. It will be long before any artist will make a +drawing of this. Only think of this redness in a picture! this +boiled lobster of a house! Falstaff's description of Bardolph's +nose would look pale in the comparison. + +Here is that monstrous machine of a tilted waggon, with its load of +flour, and its four fat horses. I wonder whether our horse will +have the decency to get out of the way. If he does not, I am sure +we cannot make him; and that enormous ship upon wheels, that ark on +dry land, would roll over us like the car of Juggernaut. Really--Oh +no! there is no danger now. I should have remembered that it is my +friend Samuel Long who drives the mill team. He will take care of +us. 'Thank you, Samuel!' And Samuel has put us on our way, steered +us safely past his waggon, escorted us over the bridge and now, +having seen us through our immediate difficulties, has parted from +us with a very civil bow and good-humoured smile, as one who is +always civil and good-humoured, but with a certain triumphant +masterful look in his eyes, which I have noted in men, even the best +of them, when a woman gets into straits by attempting manly +employments. He has done us great good though, and may be allowed +his little feeling of superiority. The parting salute he bestowed +on our steed, in the shape of an astounding crack of his huge whip, +has put that refractory animal on his mettle. On we go! past the +glazier's pretty house, with its porch and its filbert walk; along +the narrow lane bordered with elms, whose fallen leaves have made +the road one yellow; past that little farmhouse with the +horse-chestnut trees before, glowing like oranges; past the +whitewashed school on the other side, gay with October roses; past +the park, and the lodge, and the mansion, where once dwelt the great +Earl of Clarendon;--and now the rascal has begun to discover that +Samuel Long and his whip are a mile off, and that his mistress is +driving him, and he slackens his pace accordingly. Perhaps he feels +the beauty of the road just here, and goes slowly to enjoy it. Very +beautiful it certainly is. The park paling forms the boundary on +one side, with fine clumps of oak, and deer in all attitudes; the +water, tufted with alders, flowing along on the other. Another +turn, and the water winds away, succeeded by a low hedge, and a +sweep of green meadows; whilst the park and its palings are replaced +by a steep bank, on which stands a small, quiet, village alehouse; +and higher up, embosomed in wood, is the little country church, with +its sloping churchyard and its low white steeple, peeping out from +amongst magnificent yew-trees:-- + + 'Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth + Of intertwisted fibres serpentine + Up-coiling, and invet'rately convolved.' + WORDSWORTH. + +No village church was ever more happily placed. It is the very +image of the peace and humbleness inculcated within its walls. + +Ah! here is a higher hill rising before us, almost like a mountain. +How grandly the view opens as we ascend over that wild bank, +overgrown with fern, and heath, and gorse, and between those tall +hollies, glowing with their coral berries! What an expanse! But we +have little time to gaze at present; for that piece of perversity, +our horse, who has walked over so much level ground, has now, +inspired, I presume, by a desire to revisit his stable, taken it +into that unaccountable noddle of his to trot up this, the very +steepest hill in the county. Here we are on the top; and in five +minutes we have reached the lawn gate, and are in the very midst of +that beautiful piece of art or nature (I do not know to which class +it belongs), the pleasure-ground of F. Hill. Never was the +'prophetic eye of taste' exerted with more magical skill than in +these plantations. Thirty years ago this place had no existence; it +was a mere undistinguished tract of field and meadow and common +land; now it is a mimic forest, delighting the eye with the finest +combinations of trees and shrubs, the rarest effects of form and +foliage, and bewildering the mind with its green glades, and +impervious recesses, and apparently interminable extent. It is the +triumph of landscape gardening, and never more beautiful than in +this autumn sunset, lighting up the ruddy beech and the spotted +sycamore, and gilding the shining fir-cones that hang so thickly +amongst the dark pines. The robins are singing around us, as if +they too felt the magic of the hour. How gracefully the road winds +through the leafy labyrinth, leading imperceptibly to the more +ornamented sweep. Here we are at the door amidst geraniums, and +carnations, and jasmines, still in flower. Ah! here is a flower +sweeter than all, a bird gayer than the robin, the little bird that +chirps to the tune of 'mamma! mamma!', the bright-faced fairy, whose +tiny feet come pattering along, making a merry music, mamma's own +Frances! And following her guidance, here we are in the dear round +room time enough to catch the last rays of the sun, as they light +the noble landscape which lies like a panorama around us, lingering +longest on that long island of old thorns and stunted oaks, the +oasis of B. Heath, and then vanishing in a succession of gorgeous +clouds. + +October 28th.--Another soft and brilliant morning. But the +pleasures of to-day must be written in shorthand. I have left +myself no room for notes of admiration. + +First we drove about the coppice: an extensive wood of oak, and +elm, and beech, chiefly the former, which adjoins the park-paling of +F. Hill, of which demesne, indeed, it forms one of the most +delightful parts. The roads through the coppice are studiously +wild; so that they have the appearance of mere cart-tracks: and the +manner in which the ground is tumbled about, the steep declivities, +the sunny slopes, the sudden swells and falls, now a close narrow +valley, then a sharp ascent to an eminence commanding an immense +extent of prospect, have a striking air of natural beauty, developed +and heightened by the perfection of art. All this, indeed, was +familiar to me; the colouring only was new. I had been there in +early spring, when the fragrant palms were on the willow, and the +yellow tassels on the hazel, and every twig was swelling with +renewed life; and I had been there again and again in the green +leafiness of midsummer; but never as now, when the dark verdure of +the fir-plantations, hanging over the picturesque and unequal +paling, partly covered with moss and ivy, contrasts so remarkably +with the shining orange-leaves of the beech, already half fallen, +the pale yellow of the scattering elm, the deeper and richer tints +of the oak, and the glossy stems of the 'lady of the woods,' the +delicate weeping birch. The underwood is no less picturesque. The +red-spotted leaves and redder berries of the old thorns, the scarlet +festoons of the bramble, the tall fern of every hue, seem to vie +with the brilliant mosaic of the ground, now covered with dead +leaves and strewn with fir-cones, now, where a little glade +intervenes, gay with various mosses and splendid fungi. How +beautiful is this coppice to-day! especially where the little +spring, as clear as crystal, comes bubbling out from the old +'fantastic' beech root, and trickles over the grass, bright and +silent as the dew in a May morning. The wood-pigeons (who are just +returned from their summer migration, and are cropping the ivy +berries) add their low cooings, the very note of love, to the slight +fluttering of the falling leaves in the quiet air, giving a voice to +the sunshine and the beauty. This coppice is a place to live and +die in. But we must go. And how fine is the ascent which leads us +again into the world, past those cottages hidden as in a pit, and by +that hanging orchard and that rough heathy bank! The scenery in +this one spot has a wildness, an abruptness of rise and fall, rare +in any part of England, rare above all in this rich and lovely but +monotonous county. It is Switzerland in miniature. + +And now we cross the hill to pay a morning visit to the family at +the great house,--another fine place, commanding another fine sweep +of country. The park, studded with old trees, and sinking gently +into a valley, rich in wood and water, is in the best style of +ornamental landscape, though more according to the common routine of +gentlemen's seats than the singularly original place which we have +just left. There is, however, one distinctive beauty in the grounds +of the great house;--the magnificent firs which shade the terraces +and surround the sweep, giving out in summer odours really Sabaean, +and now in this low autumn sun producing an effect almost magical, +as the huge red trunks, garlanded with ivy, stand out from the deep +shadows like an army of giants. Indoors--Oh I must not take my +readers indoors, or we shall never get away! Indoors the sunshine +is brighter still; for there, in a lofty, lightsome room, sat a +damsel fair and arch and piquante, one whom Titian or Velasquez +should be born again to paint, leaning over an instrument* as +sparkling and fanciful as herself, singing pretty French romances, +and Scottish Jacobite songs, and all sorts of graceful and airy +drolleries picked up I know not where--an English improvisatrice! a +gayer Annot Lyle! whilst her sister, of a higher order of beauty, +and with an earnest kindness in her smile that deepens its power, +lends to the piano, as her father to the violin, an expression, a +sensibility, a spirit, an eloquence almost superhuman--almost +divine! Oh to hear these two instruments accompanying my dear +companion (I forgot to say that she is a singer worthy to be so +accompanied) in Haydn's exquisite canzonet, "She never told her +love,"--to hear her voice, with all its power, its sweetness, its +gush of sound, so sustained and assisted by modulations that +rivalled its intensity of expression; to hear at once such poetry, +such music, such execution, is a pleasure never to be forgotten, or +mixed with meaner things. I seem to hear it still. + + As in the bursting spring time o'er the eye + Of one who haunts the fields fair visions creep + Beneath the closed lids (afore dull sleep + Dims the quick fancy) of sweet flowers that lie + On grassy banks, oxlip of orient dye, + And palest primrose and blue violet, + All in their fresh and dewy beauty set, + Pictured within the sense, and will not fly: + So in mine ear resounds and lives again + One mingled melody,--a voice, a pair + Of instruments most voice-like! Of the air + Rather than of the earth seems that high strain, + A spirit's song, and worthy of the train + That soothed old Prospero with music rare. + +*The dital harp. + + + +HANNAH BINT. + +The Shaw, leading to Hannah Bint's habitation, is, as I perhaps have +said before, a very pretty mixture of wood and coppice; that is to +say, a tract of thirty or forty acres covered with fine growing +timber--ash, and oak, and elm, very regularly planted; and +interspersed here and there with large patches of underwood, hazel, +maple, birch, holly, and hawthorn, woven into almost impenetrable +thickets by long wreaths of the bramble, the briony, and the +brier-rose, or by the pliant and twisting garlands of the wild +honeysuckle. In other parts, the Shaw is quite clear of its bosky +undergrowth, and clothed only with large beds of feathery fern, or +carpets of flowers, primroses, orchises, cowslips, ground-ivy, +crane's-bill, cotton-grass, Solomon's seal, and forget-me-not, +crowded together with a profusion and brilliancy of colour, such as +I have rarely seen equalled even in a garden. Here the wild +hyacinth really enamels the ground with its fresh and lovely purple; +there, + + 'On aged roots, with bright green mosses clad, + Dwells the wood-sorrel, with its bright thin leaves + Heart-shaped and triply folded, and its root + Creeping like beaded coral; whilst around + Flourish the copse's pride, anemones, + With rays like golden studs on ivory laid + Most delicate; but touch'd with purple clouds, + Fit crown for April's fair but changeful brow.' + +The variety is much greater than I have enumerated; for the ground +is so unequal, now swelling in gentle ascents, now dimpling into +dells and hollows, and the soil so different in different parts, +that the sylvan Flora is unusually extensive and complete. + +The season is, however, now too late for this floweriness; and +except the tufted woodbines, which have continued in bloom during +the whole of this lovely autumn, and some lingering garlands of the +purple wild vetch, wreathing round the thickets, and uniting with +the ruddy leaves of the bramble, and the pale festoons of the +briony, there is little to call one's attention from the grander +beauties of the trees--the sycamore, its broad leaves already +spotted--the oak, heavy with acorns--and the delicate shining rind +of the weeping birch, 'the lady of the woods,' thrown out in strong +relief from a background of holly and hawthorn, each studded with +coral berries, and backed with old beeches, beginning to assume the +rich tawny hue which makes them perhaps the most picturesque of +autumnal trees, as the transparent freshness of their young foliage +is undoubtedly the choicest ornament of the forest in spring. + +A sudden turn round one of these magnificent beeches brings us to +the boundary of the Shaw, and leaning upon a rude gate, we look over +an open space of about ten acres of ground, still more varied and +broken than that which we have passed, and surrounded on all sides +by thick woodland. As a piece of colour, nothing can be well finer. +The ruddy glow of the heath-flower, contrasting, on the one hand, +with the golden-blossomed furze--on the other, with a patch of +buck-wheat, of which the bloom is not past, although the grain be +ripening, the beautiful buck-wheat, whose transparent leaves and +stalks are so brightly tinged with vermilion, while the delicate +pink-white of the flower, a paler persicaria, has a feathery fall, +at once so rich and so graceful, and a fresh and reviving odour, +like that of birch trees in the dew of a May evening. The bank that +surmounts this attempt at cultivation is crowned with the late +foxglove and the stately mullein; the pasture of which so great a +part of the waste consists, looks as green as an emerald; a clear +pond, with the bright sky reflected in it, lets light into the +picture; the white cottage of the keeper peeps from the opposite +coppice; and the vine-covered dwelling of Hannah Bint rises from +amidst the pretty garden, which lies bathed in the sunshine around +it. + +The living and moving accessories are all in keeping with the +cheerfulness and repose of the landscape. Hannah's cow grazing +quietly beside the keeper's pony; a brace of fat pointer puppies +holding amicable intercourse with a litter of young pigs; ducks, +geese, cocks, hens, and chickens scattered over the turf; Hannah +herself sallying forth from the cottage-door, with her milk-bucket +in her hand, and her little brother following with the +milking-stool. + +My friend, Hannah Bint, is by no means an ordinary person. Her +father, Jack Bint (for in all his life he never arrived at the +dignity of being called John, indeed in our parts he was commonly +known by the cognomen of London Jack), was a drover of high repute +in his profession. No man, between Salisbury Plain and Smithfield, +was thought to conduct a flock of sheep so skilfully through all the +difficulties of lanes and commons, streets and high-roads, as Jack +Bint, aided by Jack Bint's famous dog, Watch; for Watch's rough, +honest face, black, with a little white about the muzzle, and one +white ear, was as well known at fairs and markets as his master's +equally honest and weather-beaten visage. Lucky was the dealer that +could secure their services; Watch being renowned for keeping a +flock together better than any shepherd's dog on the road--Jack, for +delivering them more punctually, and in better condition. No man +had a more thorough knowledge of the proper night stations, where +good feed might be procured for his charge, and good liquor for +Watch and himself; Watch, like other sheep dogs, being accustomed to +live chiefly on bread and beer. His master, though not averse to a +pot of good double X, preferred gin; and they who plod slowly along, +through wet and weary ways, in frost and in fog, have undoubtedly a +stronger temptation to indulge in that cordial and reviving +stimulus, than we water-drinkers, sitting in warm and comfortable +rooms, can readily imagine. For certain, our drover could never +resist the gentle seduction of the gin-bottle, and being of a free, +merry, jovial temperament, one of those persons commonly called good +fellows, who like to see others happy in the same way with +themselves, he was apt to circulate it at his own expense, to the +great improvement of his popularity, and the great detriment of his +finances. + +All this did vastly well whilst his earnings continued proportionate +to his spendings, and the little family at home were comfortably +supported by his industry: but when a rheumatic fever came on, one +hard winter, and finally settled in his limbs, reducing the most +active and hardy man in the parish to the state of a confirmed +cripple, then his reckless improvidence stared him in the face; and +poor Jack, a thoughtless, but kind creature, and a most affectionate +father, looked at his three motherless children with the acute +misery of a parent who has brought those whom he loves best in the +world to abject destitution. He found help, where he probably least +expected it, in the sense and spirit of his young daughter, a girl +of twelve years old. + +Hannah was the eldest of the family, and had, ever since her +mother's death, which event had occurred two or three years before, +been accustomed to take the direction of their domestic concerns, to +manage her two brothers, to feed the pigs and the poultry, and to +keep house during the almost constant absence of her father. She +was a quick, clever lass, of a high spirit, a firm temper, some +pride, and a horror of accepting parochial relief, which is every +day becoming rarer amongst the peasantry; but which forms the surest +safeguard to the sturdy independence of the English character. Our +little damsel possessed this quality in perfection; and when her +father talked of giving up their comfortable cottage, and removing +to the workhouse, whilst she and her brothers must go to service, +Hannah formed a bold resolution, and without disturbing the sick man +by any participation of her hopes and fears, proceeded after +settling their trifling affairs to act at once on her own plans and +designs. + +Careless of the future as the poor drover had seemed, he had yet +kept clear of debt, and by subscribing constantly to a benefit club, +had secured a pittance that might at least assist in supporting him +during the long years of sickness and helplessness to which he was +doomed to look forward. This his daughter knew. She knew also, +that the employer in whose service his health had suffered so +severely, was a rich and liberal cattle-dealer in the neighbourhood, +who would willingly aid an old and faithful servant, and had, +indeed, come forward with offers of money. To assistance from such +a quarter Hannah saw no objection. Farmer Oakley and the parish +were quite distinct things. Of him, accordingly, she asked, not +money, but something much more in his own way--'a cow! any cow! old +or lame, or what not, so that it were a cow! she would be bound to +keep it well; if she did not, he might take it back again. She even +hoped to pay for it by and by, by instalments, but that she would +not promise!' and, partly amused, partly interested by the child's +earnestness, the wealthy yeoman gave her, not as a purchase, but as +a present, a very fine young Alderney. She then went to the lord of +the manor, and, with equal knowledge of character, begged his +permission to keep her cow on the Shaw common. 'Farmer Oakley had +given her a fine Alderney, and she would be bound to pay the rent, +and keep her father off the parish, if he would only let it graze on +the waste;' and he too, half from real good nature--half, not to be +outdone in liberality by his tenant, not only granted the requested +permission, but reduced the rent so much, that the produce of the +vine seldom fails to satisfy their kind landlord. + +Now Hannah showed great judgment in setting up as a dairy-woman. +She could not have chosen an occupation more completely unoccupied, +or more loudly called for. One of the most provoking of the petty +difficulties which beset people with a small establishment in this +neighbourhood, is the trouble, almost the impossibility, of +procuring the pastoral luxuries of milk, eggs, and butter, which +rank, unfortunately, amongst the indispensable necessaries of +housekeeping. To your thoroughbred Londoner, who, whilst grumbling +over his own breakfast, is apt to fancy that thick cream, and fresh +butter, and new-laid eggs, grow, so to say, in the country--form an +actual part of its natural produce--it may be some comfort to learn, +that in this great grazing district, however the calves and the +farmers may be the better for cows, nobody else is; that farmers' +wives have ceased to keep poultry; and that we unlucky villagers sit +down often to our first meal in a state of destitution, which may +well make him content with his thin milk and his Cambridge butter, +when compared to our imputed pastoralities. + +Hannah's Alderney restored us to one rural privilege. Never was so +cleanly a little milkmaid. She changed away some of the cottage +finery, which, in his prosperous days, poor Jack had pleased himself +with bringing home, the china tea-service, the gilded mugs, and the +painted waiters, for the useful utensils of the dairy, and speedily +established a regular and gainful trade in milk, eggs, butter, +honey, and poultry--for poultry they had always kept. + +Her domestic management prospered equally. Her father, who retained +the perfect use of his hands, began a manufacture of mats and +baskets, which he constructed with great nicety and adroitness; the +eldest boy, a sharp and clever lad, cut for him his rushes and +osiers; erected, under his sister's direction, a shed for the cow, +and enlarged and cultivated the garden (always with the good leave +of her kind patron the lord of the manor) until it became so ample, +that the produce not only kept the pig, and half kept the family, +but afforded another branch of merchandise to the indefatigable +directress of the establishment. For the younger boy, less quick +and active, Hannah contrived to obtain an admission to the +charity-school, where he made great progress--retaining him at home, +however, in the hay-making and leasing season, or whenever his +services could be made available, to the great annoyance of the +schoolmaster, whose favourite he is, and who piques himself so much +on George's scholarship (your heavy sluggish boy at country work +often turns out quick at his book), that it is the general opinion +that this much-vaunted pupil will, in process of time, be promoted +to the post of assistant, and may, possibly, in course of years, +rise to the dignity of a parish pedagogue in his own person; so that +his sister, although still making him useful at odd times, now +considers George as pretty well off her hands, whilst his elder +brother, Tom, could take an under-gardener's place directly, if he +were not too important at home to be spared even for a day. + +In short, during the five years that she has ruled at the Shaw +cottage, the world has gone well with Hannah Bint. Her cow, her +calves, her pigs, her bees, her poultry, have each, in their several +ways, thriven and prospered. She has even brought Watch to like +butter-milk, as well as strong beer, and has nearly persuaded her +father (to whose wants and wishes she is most anxiously attentive) +to accept of milk as a substitute for gin. Not but Hannah hath had +her enemies as well as her betters. Why should she not? The old +woman at the lodge, who always piqued herself on being spiteful, and +crying down new ways, foretold from the first she would come to no +good, and could not forgive her for falsifying her prediction; and +Betty Barnes, the slatternly widow of a tippling farmer, who rented +a field, and set up a cow herself, and was universally discarded for +insufferable dirt, said all that the wit of an envious woman could +devise against Hannah and her Alderney; nay, even Ned Miles, the +keeper, her next neighbour, who had whilom held entire sway over the +Shaw common, as well as its coppices, grumbled as much as so +good-natured and genial a person could grumble, when he found a +little girl sharing his dominion, a cow grazing beside his pony, and +vulgar cocks and hens hovering around the buck-wheat destined to +feed his noble pheasants. Nobody that had been accustomed to see +that paragon of keepers, so tall and manly, and pleasant looking, +with his merry eye, and his knowing smile, striding gaily along, in +his green coat, and his gold-laced hat, with Neptune, his noble +Newfoundland dog (a retriever is the sporting word), and his +beautiful spaniel Flirt at his heels, could conceive how askew he +looked, when he first found Hannah and Watch holding equal reign +over his old territory, the Shaw common. + +Yes! Hannah hath had her enemies; but they are passing away. The +old woman at the lodge is dead, poor creature; and Betty Barnes, +having herself taken to tippling, has lost the few friends she once +possessed, and looks, luckless wretch, as if she would soon die +too!--and the keeper?--why, he is not dead, or like to die; but the +change that has taken place there is the most astonishing of all-- +except, perhaps, the change in Hannah herself. + +Few damsels of twelve years old, generally a very pretty age, were +less pretty than Hannah Bint. Short and stunted in her figure, thin +in face, sharp in feature, with a muddled complexion, wild sunburnt +hair, and eyes whose very brightness had in them something +startling, over-informed, super-subtle, too clever for her age,--at +twelve years old she had quite the air of a little old fairy. Now, +at seventeen, matters are mended. Her complexion has cleared; her +countenance has developed itself; her figure has shot up into height +and lightness, and a sort of rustic grace; her bright, acute eye is +softened and sweetened by the womanly wish to please; her hair is +trimmed, and curled and brushed, with exquisite neatness; and her +whole dress arranged with that nice attention to the becoming, the +suitable both in form and texture, which would be called the highest +degree of coquetry, if it did not deserve the better name of +propriety. Never was such a transmogrification beheld. The lass is +really pretty, and Ned Miles has discovered that she is so. There +he stands, the rogue, close at her side (for he hath joined her +whilst we have been telling her little story, and the milking is +over!)--there he stands--holding her milk-pail in one hand, and +stroking Watch with the other; whilst she is returning the +compliment by patting Neptune's magnificent head. There they stand, +as much like lovers as may be; he smiling, and she blushing--he +never looking so handsome nor she so pretty in all their lives. +There they stand, in blessed forgetfulness of all except each other; +as happy a couple as ever trod the earth. There they stand, and one +would not disturb them for all the milk and butter in Christendom. +I should not wonder if they were fixing the wedding day. + + + +THE FALL OF THE LEAF. + +November 6th.--The weather is as peaceful to-day, as calm, and as +mild, as in early April; and, perhaps, an autumn afternoon and a +spring morning do resemble each other more in feeling, and even in +appearance, than any two periods of the year. There is in both the +same freshness and dewiness of the herbage; the same balmy softness +in the air; and the same pure and lovely blue sky, with white fleecy +clouds floating across it. The chief difference lies in the absence +of flowers, and the presence of leaves. But then the foliage of +November is so rich, and glowing, and varied, that it may well +supply the place of the gay blossoms of the spring; whilst all the +flowers of the field or the garden could never make amends for the +want of leaves,--that beautiful and graceful attire in which nature +has clothed the rugged forms of trees--the verdant drapery to which +the landscape owes its loveliness, and the forests their glory. + +If choice must be between two seasons, each so full of charm, it is +at least no bad philosophy to prefer the present good, even whilst +looking gratefully back, and hopefully forward, to the past and the +future. And of a surety, no fairer specimen of a November day could +well be found than this,--a day made to wander + + 'By yellow commons and birch-shaded hollows, + And hedgerows bordering unfrequented lanes;' + +nor could a prettier country be found for our walk than this shady +and yet sunny Berkshire, where the scenery, without rising into +grandeur or breaking into wildness, is so peaceful, so cheerful, so +varied, and so thoroughly English. + +We must bend our steps towards the water side, for I have a message +to leave at Farmer Riley's: and sooth to say, it is no unpleasant +necessity; for the road thither is smooth and dry, retired, as one +likes a country walk to be, but not too lonely, which women never +like; leading past the Loddon--the bright, brimming, transparent +Loddon--a fitting mirror for this bright blue sky, and terminating +at one of the prettiest and most comfortable farmhouses in the +neighbourhood. + +How beautiful the lane is to-day, decorated with a thousand colours! +The brown road, and the rich verdure that borders it, strewed with +the pale yellow leaves of the elm, just beginning to fall; hedgerows +glowing with long wreaths of the bramble in every variety of +purplish red; and overhead the unchanged green of the fir, +contrasting with the spotted sycamore, the tawny beech, and the dry +sere leaves of the oak, which rustle as the light wind passes +through them; a few common hardy yellow flowers (for yellow is the +common colour of flowers, whether wild or cultivated, as blue is the +rare one), flowers of many sorts, but almost of one tint, still +blowing in spite of the season, and ruddy berries glowing through +all. How very beautiful is the lane! + +And how pleasant is this hill where the road widens, with the group +of cattle by the wayside, and George Hearn, the little post-boy, +trundling his hoop at full speed, making all the better haste in his +work, because he cheats himself into thinking it play! And how +beautiful, again, is this patch of common at the hilltop with the +clear pool, where Martha Pither's children,--elves of three, and +four, and five years old,--without any distinction of sex in their +sunburnt faces and tattered drapery, are dipping up water in their +little homely cups shining with cleanliness, and a small brown +pitcher with the lip broken, to fill that great kettle, which, when +it is filled, their united strength will never be able to lift! +They are quite a group for a painter, with their rosy cheeks, and +chubby hands, and round merry faces; and the low cottage in the +background, peeping out of its vine leaves and china roses, with +Martha at the door, tidy, and comely, and smiling, preparing the +potatoes for the pot, and watching the progress of dipping and +filling that useful utensil, completes the picture. + +But we must go on. No time for more sketches in these short days. +It is getting cold too. We must proceed in our walk. Dash is +showing us the way and beating the thick double hedgerow that runs +along the side of the meadows, at a rate that indicates game astir, +and causes the leaves to fly as fast as an east-wind after a hard +frost. Ah! a pheasant! a superb cock pheasant! Nothing is more +certain than Dash's questing, whether in a hedgerow or covert, for a +better spaniel never went into the field; but I fancied that it was +a hare afoot, and was almost as much startled to hear the whirring +of those splendid wings, as the princely bird himself would have +been at the report of a gun. Indeed, I believe that the way in +which a pheasant goes off, does sometimes make young sportsmen a +little nervous, (they don't own it very readily, but the observation +may be relied on nevertheless), until they get as it were broken in +to the sound; and then that grand and sudden burst of wing becomes +as pleasant to them as it seems to be to Dash, who is beating the +hedgerow with might and main, and giving tongue louder, and sending +the leaves about faster than ever--very proud of finding the +pheasant, and perhaps a little angry with me for not shooting it; at +least looking as if he would be angry if I were a man; for Dash is a +dog of great sagacity, and has doubtless not lived four years in the +sporting world without making the discovery, that although gentlemen +do shoot, ladies do not. + +The Loddon at last! the beautiful Loddon! and the bridge, where +every one stops, as by instinct, to lean over the rails, and gaze a +moment on a landscape of surpassing loveliness,--the fine grounds of +the Great House, with their magnificent groups of limes, and firs, +and poplars grander than ever poplars were; the green meadows +opposite, studded with oaks and elms; the clear winding river; the +mill with its picturesque old buildings, bounding the scene; all +glowing with the rich colouring of autumn, and harmonised by the +soft beauty of the clear blue sky, and the delicious calmness of the +hour. The very peasant whose daily path it is, cannot cross that +bridge without a pause. + +But the day is wearing fast, and it grows colder and colder. I +really think it will be a frost. After all, spring is the +pleasantest season, beautiful as this scenery is. We must get on. +Down that broad yet shadowy lane, between the park, dark with +evergreens and dappled with deer, and the meadows where sheep, and +cows, and horses are grazing under the tall elms; that lane, where +the wild bank, clothed with fern, and tufted with furze, and crowned +by rich berried thorn, and thick shining holly on the one side, +seems to vie in beauty with the picturesque old paling, the bright +laurels, and the plumy cedars, on the other;--down that shady lane, +until the sudden turn brings us to an opening where four roads meet, +where a noble avenue turns down to the Great House; where the +village church rears its modest spire from amidst its venerable yew +trees: and where, embosomed in orchards and gardens, and backed by +barns and ricks, and all the wealth of the farmyard, stands the +spacious and comfortable abode of good Farmer Riley,--the end and +object of our walk. + +And in happy time the message is said and the answer given, for this +beautiful mild day is edging off into a dense frosty evening; the +leaves of the elm and the linden in the old avenue are quivering and +vibrating and fluttering in the air, and at length falling crisply +on the earth, as if Dash were beating for pheasants in the +tree-tops; the sun gleams dimly through the fog, giving little more +of light and heat than his fair sister the lady moon;--I don't know +a more disappointing person than a cold sun; and I am beginning to +wrap my cloak closely round me, and to calculate the distance to my +own fireside, recanting all the way my praises of November, and +longing for the showery, flowery April, as much as if I were a +half-chilled butterfly, or a dahlia knocked down by the frost. + +Ah, dear me! what a climate this is, that one cannot keep in the +same mind about it for half an hour together! I wonder, by the way, +whether the fault is in the weather, which Dash does not seem to +care for, or in me? If I should happen to be wet through in a +shower next spring, and should catch myself longing for autumn, that +would settle the question. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg eText of Our Village. diff --git a/old/vllg10.zip b/old/vllg10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d42b9f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/vllg10.zip |