man of fifty or upward moved restlessly about from spots where
his betrothed was not to the spot where she was. Enjoyment was pretty
general, and so much the more prevailed in being unhampered by
conventional restrictions. Absolute confidence in each other's good
opinion begat perfect ease, while the finishing stroke of manner,
amounting to a truly princely serenity, was lent to the majority by the
absence of any expression or trait denoting that they wished to get on in
the world, enlarge their minds, or do any eclipsing thing whatever--which
nowadays so generally nips the bloom and bonhomie of all except the two
extremes of the social scale.

Shepherd Fennel had married well, his wife being a dairyman's daughter
from a vale at a distance, who brought fifty guineas in her pocket--and
kept them there, till they should be required for ministering to the
needs of a coming family. This frugal woman had been somewhat exercised
as to the character that should be given to the gathering. A sit-still
party had its advantages; but an undisturbed position of ease in chairs
and settles was apt to lead on the men to such an unconscionable deal of
toping that they would sometimes fairly drink the house dry. A dancing-
party was the alternative; but this, while avoiding the foregoing
objection on the score of good drink, had a counterbalancing disadvantage
in the matter of good victuals, the ravenous appetites engendered by the
exercise causing immense havoc in the buttery. Shepherdess Fennel fell
back upon the intermediate plan of mingling short dances with short
periods of talk and singing, so as to hinder any ungovernable rage in
either. But this scheme was entirely confined to her own gentle mind:
the shepherd himself was in the mood to exhibit the most reckless phases
of hospitality.

The fiddler was a boy of those parts, about twelve years of age, who had
a wonderful dexterity in jigs and reels, though his fingers were so small
and short as to necessitate a constant shifting for the high notes, from
which he scrambled back to the first position with sounds not of unmixed
purity of tone. At seven the shrill tweedle-dee of this youngster had
begun, accompanied by a booming ground-bass from Elijah New, the parish-
clerk, who had thoughtfully brought with him his favourite musical
instrument, the serpent. Dancing was instantaneous, Mrs. Fennel
privately enjoining the players on no account to let the dance exceed the
lengt