Bull!" Yet so universally popular did he become by the affability and kindness of his demeanor, that if he had remained a little longer within reach. of our good-will, it would have gone hard but we had made him a justice of the peace at the very least, if not something still more dignified, in spite of himself.

One peculiarity marked our friend which I think was never noted of so stout a gentleman before. He was the most scheming and visionary of men. His round, shining head was ever full of projects, great or small, for himself or others. He should (by rule) have been tall and slender, with all the indications of the temperament scientifically designated as "nervous-sanguine;" and a head whose developments should form little hills and dales upon the cranium. But his kind easiness of disposition, or something else, had rounded out head and body until there were no inequalities left to theorize upon. As a still further contradiction, though almost a Bacchus in contour, he was stoical in his indifference to personal accommodation and indulgence. So that we can heartily say, "May his shadow never be less!" since the substance gives him no sort of inconvenience.

When I first visited Mrs. Sibthorpe, I found her in a small and very inconvenient house, to which several workmen were engaged in building an additional part, on a much more tasteful plan, al

though still in cottage style. All was confusion and discomfort, as far as household arrangements were concerned. Every corner was strewed with boards, bricks, lime, and all the endless list of etceteras which carpenters and masons take care to scatter on all sides to give an air of importance to their business. The floors were uncarpeted and the windows were hung with paper curtains. The room was almost unfurnished, for it had not been judged best to open the boxes of household goods, which were stored at some distance, until the dirt and confusion which accompanies building any where, and in this country above all, should be out of the way.

The lady, a handsome woman of perhaps thirty or more, was seated on a rough bench, such as is sometimes used in farmers' kitchens, giving a lesson in geography to a pretty little girl, Mr. Sibthorpe's daughter by a former marriage. A small-sized globe stood on the bench between them. Mrs. Sibthorpe's eyes, shaded by a wilderness of ebon curls, were black, and quick and piercing, and her speech was correspondingly rapid and decided. She spoke with a strong English accent, (which does not mean cockneyism, whatever some of us may think,) and her conversation evinced at once. the woman of the world and the romantic enthusiast a rare combination certainly, but in this case a very delightful one. Her manners were those of

refined and fashionable society; her sentiments fresh and artless enough for a Swiss mountain girl, or a native of our own bright West.

She received us with frank cordiality, and with scarcely a reference to the scene of confusion in which we found her, though the bench on which she was sitting formed a tolerably fair specimen of the whole temporary arrangement. A small wri

ting-table, with implements of bronze and silver, stood in a corner, and a handsome arm-chair was wheeled round for me, contrasting oddly enough with the bare floor and the paper-shaded windows. But the lady did not need the appliances which are all in all to the mere fashionable.

She was one in whose company one forgets chairs and tables. She was not so unwise, however, as to disdain the aid of dress, and, though surrounded by coarse objects, she herself was critically nice and lady-like in her appointments; and she seemed, with her bright smiles and her animated manner, to irradiate that rude cottage parlor.

Her table too-I dwell on these things partly because Mrs. Sibthorpe belonged to a much calumniated class of women, who, because they wear blue stockings occasionally, are supposed not to know how to wear any other, and partly because I do love to talk about Mrs. Sibthorpe, - the table was laid with English precision; and although the fare was plain enough, it was perfectly well served.

Indeed, if I ever envied any body an earthly possession, I certainly envied the Sibthorpes the three or four English servants who moved like clockwork through their several duties, in spite of the discouraging aspect of things around them. Something that looked very much like a carpenter's bench served as a side table, but it was covered with delicate damask, and the sober-looking attendant used it as gravely as if it had been mahogany or marble.

This

The lady herself had evidently never yet known any of the solicitudes of an American housekeeper in the country. Her whole heart was in the conversation, and the conversation was as far as possible from all reference to those commonplace affairs which fill the souls of so many of us. was perhaps the more noticeable and enviable to me, because I am-habitually if not naturallyone whom cares devour, and who finds in the minute attention required by the impossibility of being well served in the woods, a dead weight forever counterbalancing the pleasure to be derived from the most interesting or brilliant conversation. This is a weakness, I know, but it finds some apology in the weakness of others. Who cannot recollect, among his friends or visitors, some one who is made utterly uncomfortable by the least deficiency in the ménage? Such people abound in the United States as well as elsewhere, - people in whom "a taste for physical well-being,"

as De Tocqueville defines the foible, taken the place of all other tastes.

such people, in this country, with only home-bred domestics, is a very trying pleasure indeed. Small philosophy becomes very necessary on both sides.

When Mr. and Mrs. Sibthorpe returned our visit, they had experienced some difficulties in consequence of the marriage of one of the maids with an excellent man-servant who had been Mr. Sibthorpe's factotum, and who now bought land with his wages, and assumed the position of country neighbor instead of that of faithful domestic. However, as the newly-married couple were living quite near them, they still had the benefit of their occasional services, and were in the mean time making diligent inquiry after others, who might at least be trained to fill their places. Mrs. Sibthorpe was in fine spirits, boasting that she had learned to make bread, and was even taking lessons in making butter; and declaring that she really believed the best thing that could happen to her would be the desertion of all her servants in time, in order that the domestic employments which she felt to be so rational and so healthful, might become compulsory, at least long enough to oblige her to obtain an insight into their mysteries.

It was delightful to see her taking her inoculation thus kindly, and we found her gaiety and goodhumor more charming than ever.

The next time we visited Newton Grange we