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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 + +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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