"His Lady says it is vulgar; and yet even she might be the better for knowing how to keep her place." Pray who was she?" "The daughter of old Grains the brewer, at Marlborough; as good a man as ever stepped. But though the match was thought great for her, and at first she was very contented, yet ever since Lady Grandborough has visited her, they say she has been unhappy; for though she turned off all her old tradesmen at Marlborough,`and had every thing from London, she says Felix Hall can never be like Grandborough. Now, I may as well be unhappy too, because my farm at Ravenscroft cannot be like Felix Hall." 66 66 Lady Grandborough, then, visits Felix Hall?" Why, yes; once in two or three years, just before election time; for you see, our 'Squire always supports my Lord's friend.” 66 Upon my word,” said I, "I wish many great people, or those who think themselves so, would take the lesson you give; for which I for one am greatly obliged to you. But may we not know who it is (we had now come to the village) that has made the last mile so pleasant?" "Farmer Bigg," said he, "at your service," and he touched his hat; then turning in at a gate which led through a lane to a cheerful farm-house, VOL. III. с he thanked us for letting him keep company so far, and soon disappeared. 66 This is the best lesson I have heard for a long while," said I to poor Fawknor, on whom, though he had not opened his lips, it was by no means thrown away. I saw it in many turns of his countenance, though he did what he could to disguise it, and was rather annoyed at my reiterated praise of the observing yeoman's good sense; and when I pushed the matter with him, he said with some spleen, that he did not think I could be so taken with mere commonplace, and that I reminded him of what Ben Jonson once said of a farmer who had been sharp upon him, that he had never been so pricked by a hob-nail before. Nevertheless, I could plainly perceive that farmer Bigg's sermon had had some effect upon my friend,-who from having been chatty and disposed to be amused before we met him, fell into musing, which, hoping it might possibly give a turn to his sickly mind, was careful not to disturb. SECTION XVII. "Gods! what lies I have heard, Our courtiers say all's savage but at court; CYMBELINE, A FEW miles' ride prepared him better for our visit to Blythfield, whom I had apprized of our intention the day before, and in sight of whose house we were now arrived. It was situated, as he had described, very near the road; which Fawknor declared was a solecism in good taste; quite agreeing with Lady Grandborough, that it was an absolute vulgarity. "But from your account," added he, " he must be a man of general low tastes; and with his connexions and pretensions to mix with high and elegant society, to bury himself like a hog in his straw, I should think he was as unwilling as unable to enjoy anything better. With submission indeed, I should guess he was one of that nu merous tribe of enviers of the higher orders, who affect to neglect, because they are not noticed by them." 66 66 He gave me no such idea," said I; and do not let us judge him without trial. His undoubted birth and original breeding gives him the fullest right to be enrolled in the ranks of fashion, if he please." "We shall see," said Fawknor, and we dismounted at the house-door. This was really what I have called it-a door, for it was not a gateway, nor was there a court-yard. It opened almost at once upon a public walk of limes and sycamores, from which it was only separated by a low paling. But the house had an ample range of many windows, showing good rooms commanding the walk, with gardens behind and at each end. This, and an immense brass knocker kept very bright, effectually did away the notion of a prouder lord-ofmanor mansion, in the midst of inclosures which hide it from the profane. I saw Fawknor's thought of it, by the toss of his chin when he alighted. We were conducted, however, through a tolerably spacious hall, into a long drawing-room, set out with old fashioned, high-backed, but well-stuffed chairs, covered with needle-work of very bright worsted, at least a century old. It was lined with an ample white wainscot, which might have looked cold, but that it was clothed all over with most respectable family pictures; for, as I have said, Blythfield was of no mean descent. At the upper end was one by Sir Joshua, purporting to be the Lady Matilda Blythfield, daughter of the Earl of Grandborough, 1770. This was Blythfield's mother; and her lace lappets, ruffles, and cloak, with many diamonds and rubies on her fingers, gave an additional lustre to the richness of the colouring. It altogether bespoke a portrait of nobility. As we went further back in point of time, other Grandboroughs and many Blythfields challenged our notice; the dresses changing with the age, till we got from the velvet coats and swords of Hudson, through the flowing draperies of Sir Godfrey, to the mantles, close vests, and ruffs, and wide-mouthed, untanned boots of Vandyck. "There is something in this," said I to my companion, as we were left alone till the master should appear. 66 Certainly not so Hottentot as I imagined," answered he: "it is something to be so well descended;" and I thought he gave a sort of sigh as he said this. "It only, however, moves one's wonder, that a man of such family, and so presentable everywhere, should shut himself up in such a place, and take to such a way of life as this." |