isdom or simplicity.

R.

FOOTNOTES:

[63] _Conversation._ Intercourse with. Compare note on p. 28.

[64] _Jetting._ Bulging.

[65] _Target._ Targe or small shield.

[66] _Tournament._ Lists.

[67] _Insolence._ Triumph.

[68] _Bass-viol._ Violoncello.

[69] _For all._ In spite of the fact that.

[70] _Slashes._ Ornamental slits in a doublet, etc.

[71] _Knight of this shire._ M.P. for the county.

[72] _Such a degree._ A fixed amount.

[73] _Discourse of._ Discourse about.

[74] _Whim._ Absurd notion.

NO. 110. FRIDAY, JULY 6

_Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent._

VIRG. _AEn._ ii. ver. 755.

All things are full of horror and affright,
And dreadful ev'n the silence of the night.

DRYDEN.

At a little distance from Sir Roger's house, among the ruins of an old
abbey, there is a long walk of aged elms; which are shot up so very high,
that when one passes under them, the rooks and crows that rest upon the
tops of them seem to be cawing in another region. I am very much
delighted with this sort of noise, which I consider as a kind of natural
prayer to that Being who supplies the wants of his whole creation, and
who, in the beautiful language of the Psalms, feedeth the young ravens
that call upon him. I like this retirement the better, because of an ill
report it lies under of being _haunted_; for which reason (as I have been
told in the family) no living creature ever walks in it besides the
chaplain. My good friend the butler desired me with a very grave face not
to venture myself in it after sunset, for that one of the footmen had
been almost frighted out of his wits by a spirit that appeared to him in
the shape of a black horse without an head; to which he added, that about
a month ago one of the maids coming home late that way with a pail of
milk upon her head, heard such a rustling among the bushes that she let
it fall.

I was taking a walk in this place last night between the hours of nine
and ten, and could not but fancy it one of the most proper scenes in the
world for a ghost to appear in. The ruins of the abbey are scattered up
and down on every side, and half covered with ivy and elder bushes, the
harbours of several solitary birds which seldom make their appearance
till the dusk of the evening. The place was formerly a churchyard, and
has still several marks in it of graves and burying-places. There is such
an echo among the old ruins and