ve secured: but of dignity, not a tittle. Besides, to tell
you the truth, the aforesaid irregularities are, to my thinking, most
entertaining, and in fact very touching indeed. Here am I, quit of
worldly affairs of every kind; for if superannuation does not mean that,
what does it mean? The world then, being, as the saying is, beyond my
ken, and being myself entirely removed from any accurate distinctions of
space or time, these mistakes in road-measure do not seriously offend
me. For in the infinite space of the heavens above (which in this
contracted sphere of mine I desire to imitate so far as may be) what
need is there of milestones? Local distance has to do with mortal
affairs. In my walks abroad, limited though they must be, I am quite at
my own disposal, and on that account I have a good word for our Enfield
clocks too. Their hands generally point without any servile reference to
this Sun of our World, in his _sub_-Empyrean position. They strike too
just as it happens, according to their own sweet
wiles,--one--two--three--anything they like, and thus to me, a more
fortunate Whittington, they pleasantly announce, that Time, so far as I
am concerned, is no more. Here you have my reasons for not attending in
this matter to the requests of a busy subsolar such as you are.

Furthermore, when I reach the milestone that counts from the Hicks-Hall
that stands now, I own at once the Aulic dignity, and, were I a
gaol-bird, I should shake in my shoes. When I reach the next which
counts from the site of the old Hall, my thoughts turn to the fallen
grandeur of the pile, and I reflect upon the perishable condition of the
most imposing of human structures. Thus I banish from my soul all pride
and arrogance, and with such meditations purify my heart from day to
day. A wayfarer such as I am, may learn from Vincent Bourne, in words
terser and neater than any of mine, the advantages of milestones
properly arranged. The lines are at the end of a little poem of his,
called Milestones--(Do you remember it or shall I write it all out?)

How well the Milestones' use doth this express,
Which make the miles [seem] more and way seem less.

What do you mean by this--I am borrowing hand and style from this
youngster of mine--your son, I take it. The style looks, nay on careful
inspection by these old eyes, is most clearly your very own, and the
writing too. Either R's or the Devil's. I will defer your explanation
till our n