r a
catastrophe had occurred, or the great heat of a cloudless summer day
had tempted an eccentric couple to seek for coolness in the directest
fashion, without absolute disregard to propriety. I made a point
of listening for the accentuation of the 'my dear' which was being
interchanged, but the key-note to the harmony existing between husband
and wife was neither excessively unctuous, nor shrewd, and the connubial
shuttlecock was so well kept up on both sides that I chose to await the
issue rather than speculate on the origin of this strange exhibition. I
therefore, as I could not be accused of an outrage to modesty, permitted
myself to maintain what might be invidiously termed a satyr-like watch
from behind a forward flinging willow, whose business in life was to
look at its image in a brown depth, branches, trunk, and roots. The sole
indication of discomfort displayed by the pair was that the lady's hand
worked somewhat fretfully to keep her dress from ballooning and puffing
out of all proportion round about her person, while the vicar, who stood
without his hat, employed a spongy handkerchief from time to time in
tempering the ardours of a vertical sun. If you will consent to imagine
a bald blackbird, his neck being shrunk in apprehensively, as you may
see him in the first rolling of the thunder, you will gather an image of
my friend's appearance.

He performed his capital ablutions with many loud 'poofs,' and a casting
up of dazzled eyes, an action that gave point to his recital of the
invocation of Chryses to Smintheus which brought upon the Greeks
disaster and much woe. Between the lines he replied to his wife, whose
remarks increased in quantity, and also, as I thought, in emphasis,
under the river of verse which he poured forth unbaffled, broadening
his chest to the sonorous Greek music in a singular rapture of
obliviousness.

A wise man will not squander his laughter if he can help it, but will
keep the agitation of it down as long as he may. The simmering of humour
sends a lively spirit into the mind, whereas the boiling over is but
a prodigal expenditure and the disturbance of a clear current: for the
comic element is visible to you in all things, if you do but keep
your mind charged with the perception of it, as I have heard a great
expounder deliver himself on another subject; and he spoke very truly.
So, I continued to look on with the gravity of Nature herself, and I
could not but fancy, and with less