e saucer broke); a new hoop, so wide round that methinks I shall
never dare to wear it in the country; a charming piece of dove-coloured
damask, and a petticoat, to wear with it, of blue quilted satin; two
calico gowns from India, a beautiful worked scarf from the same country,
six pair pearl-coloured silk stockings, a new fan, painted with flowers,
most charmingly done, a splendid piece of white and gold brocade, and a
superb set of turquoise and pearl jewellery. I cannot think when or how
I am to wear them; they seem so unfit for the wife of a country curate.

"Oh, wait till I am a bishop," says Ephraim, laughingly; "then you can
make the Dean's lady faint away for envy of all your smart things. And
as to the white and gold brocade, keep it till the King comes to stay
with us, and it will be just the thing for a state bed for him."

"I wonder what colour it will be!" said I. "Which king?"

Ephraim makes me a low bow--over the water bottle. [Note 1.]

I must lay down my pen, for I hear a shocking smash in the kitchen.
That girl Dolly is so careless! I don't believe I shall ever have much
time for writing now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Langbeck Rectory, under the Cheviots, August the 28th, 1747.
Nearly a whole year since I writ one line!

Our lot is settled now, and we moved in here in May last. I am very
thankful that the lines have fallen to me still in my dear North--I have
not pleasant recollections of the South. And I fancy--but perhaps
unjustly--that we Northerners have a deeper, more yearning love for our
hills and dales than they have down there. We are about midway between
Brocklebank and Abbotscliff, which is just where I would have chosen to
be, if I could have had the choice. It is not often that God gives a
man all the desires of his heart; perhaps to a woman He gives it even
less often. How thankful I ought to be!

My Aunt Kezia was so good as to come with us, to help me to settle down.
I should not have got things straight in twice the time if she had not
been here. Sophy spent the days with Father while my Aunt Kezia was
here, and just went back to the Vicarage for the night. Father is very
much delighted with Sophy's child, and calls him a bouncing boy, and a
credit to the family; and Sophy thinks him the finest child that ever
lived, as my Aunt Kezia saith every mother hath done since Eve.

The night before my Aunt Kezia w