and all the means of comfort and employment; and with these and the cherished correspondence of a few dear friends (yourself among the number we count on) we can never be dull even in the woods which you represent as so ineffably dismal. I shall give you a token now and then that ennui has not absolutely devoured us; and I promise to be honest. I will give you the dark shades of the picture as well as the sunshine. And you in return must promise to reform your worldly opinions, and dress your estimate of comfort after our model in any degree you shall see fit. Honor bright! Yours, 68 LETTER II. Mr. Sibthorpe to Mr. Williamson. SINCE my last we have taken up our - The abode in the wilderness in good earnest, not in "sober sadness," as you think the phrase ought to be shaped. There is, to be sure, an insignificant village within two or three miles of us, but our house is the only dwelling on our little clearing the immense trunks of trees, seemingly as old as the creation, walling us in on every side. There is an indescribable charm in this sort of solitary possession. In Alexander Selkirk's case, I grant that the idea of being "monarch of all I survey," with an impassable ocean around my narrow empire, might suggest some inconvenient ideas. knowledge that the breathing and sentient world is within a few minutes' walk, forms, it must be owned, no unpleasant difference between our lot and his. But with this knowledge, snugly in the background, not obtrusive, but ready for use, comparative solitude has charms, believe me. The constant sighing of the wind through the forest leaves; the wild and various noises of which we have not yet learned to distinguish one from the other distinct yet softly mingled-clearly audible, yet only loud enough to make us remark more frequently the silence which they seem scarcely to disturb, such masses of deep shade that even in the sunny spots the light seems tinged with green-these things fill the mind with images of repose, of leisure, of freedom, of tranquil happiness, untrammelled by pride and ceremony; - of unbounded opportunity for reflection, with the richest materials for the cultivation of our better nature. Nothing can be more delicious than the weather at this season, in this Western country. Italian skies may be set off, perhaps, by relics of ancient power and splendor, and still more by the associations connected with those relics; but I am certain that even you, scornful skeptic as you are on all points touching what you are pleased to call "rural fury," could not deny that the deep, transparent blue which roofs this natural Coliseum, gives out the outline of yonder towering elm with an accuracy a delicacy which no Calabrian azure ever surpassed. The very sun-glints that flash from the white wings of the eagle which, even as I write, soars majestically across the sky, are distinctly visible, though the distance is so great as to make the bird of heaven seem scarce larger than a dove. But I am forgetting that all this will cost you numberless "Fudges," and I will quit the poetical for the practical at once. Know then, O commonplace mortal! that the fates have not denied to your "mad" friends a tolerably comfortable house; or rather, ke the acknowledgment lest you should be tempted by my descriptions to visit us before we make our additions, and so accuse me of delusion or exaggeration,) I confess that the present house is, more properly, the beginning or nucleus of a house, than a structure deserving that title as serving for a gentleman's residence. Yet here, where no allowance or provision is to be made for pride, and where there is no necessity for spending money to buy the good graces of people who are nobody to you, and who care as little about you in return, the house answers our temporary need tolerably well, having a (so called) parlor; a kitchen; a bedchamber, of modest dimensions it is true; a closet for our little Charlotte, and a loft for Chadwell and the faithful Rose, who is willing to put up with any thing but the "hodd" ways of the people. John and Sophy, who, as you know, have, by the aid of a neighboring justice of the peace, lately become one, are obliged at present to find lodging at the house of a neighbor who lives somewhere within a mile of us, in the depths of the wood. On our first arrival, John proposed making an extempore lodging-room in the barn, on which occasion we discovered that this essential addition to a country house had been quite forgotten in my survey of Mr. Doolittle's flattering bargain. You may laugh, but who can think of every thing? and really, the weather is so fine, that one is almost independent of roofs and walls. A bivouac be neath such skies, would be rather attractive than appalling. Some difficulties have attended the transportation of our movables, and I find too that my estimate of the "must-haves" was rather limited. Florella, who is, you know, of a meditative and abstract turn of mind, would have thought a still shorter list might comprise all that was necessary. But she, as well as myself, will be glad of your friendly aid in procuring for us certain articles which you will find enumerated at the close of my letter, and which you will be so good as to see securely packed, and forwarded to the care of Messrs. Detroit. The piano-forte has not yet arrived, and I confess myself at a loss how to bestow it when it does come. It had not occurred to me, that in a very small parlor, embellished with no less than six doors and four windows, to say nothing of a staircase and an immense fireplace, there would be but little space for large articles of furniture. And the sofa on which I promised myself many a sweet siesta during the hot months, is taking its own rest undisturbed in its box, under a shed at some distance from the house. But we shall soon build, and then these little inconveniences will be obviated. Besides, are there not sofas of turf? I find them a more than tolerable substitute when they do not smell of rheumatism. In one respect I find myself disappointed. The wheat lands, which I bought at a large additional |