IN MONMOUTHSHIRE.

A SEQUEL TO HOUSE-HUNTING IN WALES.

As we sat in the state of mind which has become characteristic of the
gallant Widdrington--in the large room at the Angel inn at
Abergavenny, wondering when our pilgrimage among the hotels would come
to an end--a messenger of joyful tidings made his appearance in the
person of our friendly landlord. He had just remembered that a house
about three miles off was occasionally let--he thought it was unlet at
that moment--it was the larger portion of a farm-house, originally
occupied by the 'squire, but now in the hands of a most respectable
farmer. We would hear no more; in ten minutes from this communication
we were careering along in a one-horse car to judge for ourselves--our
imaginations filled with the same celestial visions that blest the
slumbers of the friar, in the song--

"All night long of heaven I dream--
But that is fat pullets and clouted cream"--

and before we had conjured up one-half the delights of a residence in
a real farm-house, we turned in at some iron gates, drove up a
gravelled avenue, and stood at the door of a very nice,
comfortable-looking house, that in many advertisements would pass very
well for "a quiet and gentlemanly mansion, fit for a family of the
first distinction." The rooms were of good size--a beautiful lawn
before the door--a well-filled garden behind--fields, hedges, trees
all round--and the river winding through brushwood a few hundred yards
in front. It did not take long to settle about terms. We were
installed the very next day; and, after our ten days' wanderings, it
was no little satisfaction to find once more

"All that the heart can dream of heaven
--a home!"

Trunks were unpacked, books laid on the table, and, in spite of the
season of the year, a roaring fire went rushing up the chimney; and as
we looked round, after candles were brought in, and the novel skies
and unaccustomed earth shut out, we could hardly believe we had gone
through such a succession of coaches and cars, boats, busses, and
flies--Yorks, Westerns, Beauforts, Angels, Swans, Lions, and other
beasts of hospitable inclinations--but that we had long been
completely settled in our present quarters, while all these
conveyances and hotels were the phantasmata of a dreadful dream.

Even in the best furnished houses, in Aladdin's palace itself,
new-comers always discover some deficiency; and a few things were
wanting in this t