nd brown, recalling, in
their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings
ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins,[300-12]
squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons,
and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently
entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten
after dinner. The very gold and silver fish, set forth among these
choice fruits in a bowl, though members of a dull and stagnant-blooded
race, appeared to know that there was something going on; and, to a
fish, went gasping round and round their little world in slow and
passionless excitement.

The Grocers'! oh the Grocers'! nearly closed, with perhaps two shutters
down, or one; but through those gaps such glimpses! It was not alone
that the scales descending on the counter made a merry sound, or that
the twine and roller parted company so briskly, or that the canisters
were rattled up and down like juggling tricks, or even that the blended
scents of tea, and coffee were so grateful to the nose, or even that the
raisins were so plentiful and rare, the almonds so extremely white, the
sticks of cinnamon so long and straight, the other spices so delicious,
the candied fruits so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make the
coldest lookers-on feel faint and subsequently bilious. Nor was it that
the figs were moist and pulpy, or that the French plums blushed in
modest tartness from their highly-decorated boxes, or that everything
was good to eat and in its Christmas dress: but the customers were all
so hurried and so eager in the hopeful promise of the day, that they
tumbled up against each other at the door, clashing their wicker baskets
wildly, and left their purchases upon the counter, and came running back
to fetch them, and committed hundreds of the like mistakes in the best
humour possible; while the Grocer and his people were so frank and fresh
that the polished hearts with which they fastened their aprons behind
might have been their own, worn outside for general inspection, and for
Christmas daws to peck at if they chose.

But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and
away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and
with their gayest faces. And at the same time there emerged from scores
of by-streets, lanes, and nameless turnings, innumerable people carrying
their dinner to the bakers' shops. The si