asking in front of the hearth, supported on a
round brass footman. It was a sight which might have given a man an
appetite at any time, but, after a two-mile walk on a cold winter's
morning, it was like a glimpse of paradise.

"Here," said Brown--"here's breakfast, old fellows. Come and make your
bows to Mrs Nutt, who is the very pattern of breakfast makers, and fit
to concoct tea for the Emperor of China. Ah! if ever I marry, Mrs
Nutt, it shall be somebody who is just like you."

Mrs Nutt laughed merrily, and welcomed us with many curtsies, and
hopes that we should find things comfortable; and when the worthy
farmer, after a brief apology, sat down with us, and the strong black
tea and rich cream were duly amalgamated, what a breakfast we did
make! There was not much conversation; but such a hissing and
frizzling of ham upon the gridiron, such a crumping of toast and
rattling of knives, forks, cups and saucers, surely five people seldom
made. We were hungry enough; and our hospitable entertainers were so
pressing in their attentions, that we caught ourselves eating
plum-cake with broiled ham, honey with fresh-laid eggs, and taking
gulps of strong tea and sips of raspberry-brandy alternately. We bore
up against it all, however, wonderfully; the prospect of a long day's
walk put headache and indigestion out of the question, and we were
beginning to think of moving when certain ominous preparations on the
part of our hostess attracted our attention. A hot slice of toast
having been saturated with brandy, she proceeded, to our undisguised
amazement, to pour upon it the richest and thickest cream her dairy
could produce, and to cover this again with sundry wavy lines of
treacle. This was the _bonne bouche_ with which, in her part of the
world, Devonshire I think she said, a breakfast to be perfect must
always conclude. Start not, delicate reader, until you have had an
opportunity of trying this remarkable compound; but take my word for
it, it only wants a French name to make it a first-rate sweetmeat. We
too regarded it at first with fear and trembling; tasted it out of
courtesy to the fair compoundress, and finally, like Oliver Twist,
asked for more.

"Now these gentlemen know what a breakfast is, Mr Nutt," said John;
"but I am afraid we can't introduce your good wife's receipt into
college; our cows give nothing but skim-milk. Well, now we had better
be off, if you mean to have any shooting."

Off we set accordingly,