en expanse, frisk and gambol out a sportive colthood, or graze and
hobble through a tranquil old age, with the active and laborious honours
of a public life past, but not forgotten. Little shall be said of that
smooth and narrow pool, scarce visible among the rising shrubs which
belt in and shroud the grounds from the incurious wayfarer; or of such
carp and tench as, having escaped the treacherous toils of the nightly
plunderer, gasp and tumble on its surface, delighting to display their
golden pride in the mid-day sun, before the gaze of lawful possession.
Nor shall the casual reader be led carelessly and wearily to note the
many sweet memorials of private friendship, records of the living and
the dead, which, standing forth from amid the lightsome glades and leafy
shadows around, make the place sacred to many a strong affection.
Romantic the scenery without is not, and for spacious halls and gorgeous
canopies the eye may search in vain within. But for the warm cheer of
the little oak library,--for the quaint carvings, the tracery of other
times, which abound therein,--for the awful note of the blood-hound,
baying upon his midnight chain,--and the pleasing melancholy of the
hooting owl from his hereditary chamber in the roof,--and for the
tunefulness of the cooing wood-quests, and the morning rooks which
bustle and caw, and of the high winds that pipe and roar, daily and
nightly, through the boughs,--and for the deep glossy verdure of the
pastures stretching forth to the brave distant hills which fence the
vale,--to those, who in such things take delight, Lilies hath still
its charms.
From the fireside of the afore-mentioned little oak library the
following legends proceed.
[Few of the pieces fall under the denomination of "Legends," if we
except "the Feast of alle Deuiles, an ancient ballad;" "the Costly
Dague;" "the Ladye's Counselloure;" and "the Dole of Tichborne;" which
are in the quaint olden style. Throughout the other papers there is a
pleasant spice of dry humour and knowledge of character, intermixed
with a few touches of pathos, and a nice perception of the finest
affections: now, with these various characteristics, the legends must
prove attractive and amusing. We have only space to quote briefly from
one of the most desultory of the papers--an ingenious one, on "Solecisms
in Language."]
"Is it your _pleasure_," now and then asks a dentist, "is it your
_pleasure_ to have your tooth out to-day?"
"I
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