_ at
Lucknow, in India, from England, he was as impatient to open it as a
child would be with a new plaything; and immediately gave orders for
invitations to be sent to the whole settlement for a breakfast, _a la
fourchette_, next morning. Tables were accordingly spread for upwards of
a hundred persons, including his ministers and officers of state.
Nothing could be more splendid than the general appearance of this
entertainment; but the dismay may be more easily imagined than
described, on discovering that the servants had mistaken certain
utensils for milk-bowls, and had actually placed about twenty of them,
filled with that beverage, along the centre of the table. The
consequence was, the English part of the company declined taking any;
upon which the _Nawaab_ innocently remarked, "I thought that the English
were fond of milk." Some of them had much difficulty to keep their
countenances.

* * * * *

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

ENGLISH COUNTRY LIFE.

The country seats of England form, indeed, one of the most remarkable
features, not only in English landscape, but yet more in what may be
termed the genius and economy of English manners. Their great number
throughout the country, the varied grandeur and beauty of their parks
and gardens, the extent, magnificence, and various architecture of the
houses, the luxurious comfort and completeness of their internal
arrangements, and their relation generally to the character of the
peasantry surrounding them, justify fully the expression we have used.
No where has this mode of life attained so high a degree of perfection
and refinement. We will allude to two circumstances, amongst many
others, in illustration. The first of these is, the very great number of
valuable libraries belonging to our family seats. It has been sometimes
remarked as singular, that England should possess so few great public
libraries, while a poorer country, like Germany, can boast of its
numerous and vast collections at Vienna, Prague, Munich, Stutgard,
Goettingen, Wolfenbuttel, &c. The fact is partly explained by the many
political divisions and capitals, and by the number of universities in
Germany. But a further explanation may be found in the innumerable
private libraries dispersed throughout England--many of them equal to
public ones in extent and value, and most of them well furnished in
classics, and in English and French literature.

The other pecu