or one occupation, and can never
hear of a gathering of people, whatever might be the occasion, without
longing to find himself amongst them.

Moreover, he had, or professed to have, a passion for field sports of
every description; and having that very season contrived, with his usual
curious infelicity, to get into as many scrapes in shooting as shall
last most sportsmen their whole lives--having shot a spaniel instead of
a hare, a keeper instead of a partridge, and his own foot instead of
a pheasant, and finally, having been taken up for a poacher, although
wholly innocent of the death of any bird that ever wore feathers,--after
all these woeful experiences, (to say nothing of mischances in angling
which might put to shame those of our friend Mr. Thompson,) he found
himself particularly well disposed to a diversion which appeared to
combine in most choice union the appearance of sporting, which he
considered essential to his reputation, with a most happy exemption from
the usual sporting requisites, exertion or skill. All that he would
have to do would be to look on and talk,--to throw out a hint here and
a suggestion there, and find fault with everything and everybody, like a
man who understood what was going forward.

The weather was most propitious; a bright breezy sunny October day, with
light snowy clouds, chased by a keen crisp wind across the deep
blue heavens,--and the beautiful park, the turf of an emerald green,
contrasting with the brown fern and tawny woods, rivalling in richness
and brightness the vivid hues of the autumnal sky. Nothing could
exceed the gorgeous tinting of the magnificent trees, which, whether in
detached clumps or forest-like masses, formed the pride and glory of
the place. The oak still retaining its dark and heavy verdure; the elm
letting fall a shower of yellow leaves, that tinged the ground beneath;
the deep orange of the horse-chestnut, the beech varying from ruddy gold
to greenish brown; and above all, the shining green of the holly, and
the rich purplish red of the old thorns, those hoary thorns, the growth
of centuries, gave to this old English gentleman's seat much of the
variety and beauty of the American backwoods. The house, a stately
ancient mansion, from the porch of which you might expect to see Sir
Roger de Coverley issue, stood half-way up a gentle hill, finely backed
by woods of great extent; and the pond, which was the object of the
visit, was within sight of the wind