litely
request to be favoured with a plan of so very commodious a Cottage, but
silently swear never again to sleep in a house of one story, till life's
brief tale be told.

But not one half the comforts of a Cottage have yet been enumerated--nor
shall they be by us at the present juncture. Suffice it to add, that the
strange coachman had been persuaded to put up his horses in the
outhouses, instead of taking them to an excellent inn about two miles
off. The old black long-tailed steeds, that had dragged the vehicle for
nearly twenty years, had been lodged in what was called the Stable, and
the horse behind had been introduced into the byre. As bad luck would
have it, a small, sick, and surly shelty was in his stall; and without
the slightest provocation, he had, during the night-watches, so handled
his heels against Mr Fox, that he had not left the senior a leg to stand
upon, while he had bit a lump out of the buttocks of Mr Pitt little less
than an orange. A cow, afraid of her calf, had committed an assault on
the roadster, and tore up his flank with her crooked horn as clean as if
it had been a ripping chisel. The party had to proceed with post-horses;
and although Mr Dick be at once one of the most skilful and most
moderate of veterinary surgeons, his bill at the end of autumn was
necessarily as long as that of a proctor. Mr Fox gave up the ghost--Mr
Pitt was put on the superannuated list--and Joseph Hume, the hack, was
sent to the dogs.

To this condition, then, we must come at last, that if you build at all
in the country, it must be a mansion three stories high, at the
lowest--large airy rooms--roof of slates and lead--and walls of the
freestone or the Roman cement. No small black-faces, no Alderneys, no
beehives. Buy all your vivres, and live like a gentleman. Seldom or
never be without a houseful of company. If you manage your family
matters properly, you may have your time nearly as much at your own
disposal as if you were the greatest of hunkses, and never gave but
unavoidable dinners. Let the breakfast-gong sound at ten o'clock--quite
soon enough. The young people will have been romping about the parlours
or the purlieus for a couple of hours--and will all make their
appearance in the beauty of high health and high spirits. Chat away as
long as need be, after muffins and mutton-ham, in small groups on sofas
and settees, and then slip you away to your library, to add a chapter to
your novel, or your history,