had been told also, it seems by Counsellor Snarl, to watch any marks of intimacy between the Squire and Willoughby, as an aggravating circumstance in the petition to the Chancellor for the dismissal of the former from the Commission.

The impudence of this man, and his character for discontent, were also far from being curbed by the sacredness of the place. This showed itself, whenever the king was mentioned, by a significant shake of the head; and when the prayer for the Royal Family and all Bishops were read, he closed the book with a loud clap, looking the minister full in the face, that all might observe him. But his conduct was most felt by the poor clerk, who, being equally fond of the 100th and the 104th Psalm, and having given out the latter, though thinking all the while of the former, began with the well-known words," All people." This occasioning a little puzzle, Bullcock could not help chuckling, and called out from his seat, " Sam. Stave, thee beest not fit to be a clerk; thee dost not know thy business, nor one psalm from another.”

Broadbent with authority told him to be silent; and afterwards gave us an excellent practical discourse, in which, as it happened, he touched

upon the respect due to the sacred place, and the ministers of religion; observing, that where that was lost, it was a strong indication that religion itself was lost too.

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We had the pleasure of observing that this was properly applied by the simple folk who heard it, for they all turned their looks towards Bullcock, who " grinned horribly a ghastly smile." All the rest of the day passed peaceably, and at one o'clock I might add merrily; for at that hour, divers brown dishes, full of hot savours, smoaked, under the conduct of many a neat handed Phillis, who bore them, each from the bake-house to her family; which made the Sunday still more what it ought always to be, a day of gladness as well as of prayer.

This enjoyment of the Sabbath by the lower orders of the community, has always appeared to me one of the rays of real pleasure belonging to their lot, which tend towards a balance of happiness between them and the rich; who, from every day being Sunday with them, can have no knowledge of it. But all pride and pleasure are, with the poor, resolvable into Sunday.

"Ah! si vous voudriez me donner," said a poor French peasant once to my mother, "une vieille mouchoire de poche, pour me moucher le Dimanche !"

In fine, nothing could be more orderly, or apparently contented, than the rustics of this hamlet; where, to quote the pleasing description of Gray, writing of Grassmere, "All was neatness and happy poverty, in its simplest and most engaging attire."

SECTION VI.

CHANGES AMONG COUNTRY GENTLEMEN.

"So sickened their estates, that never shall they abound as formerly."

HENRY VIII.

Į BADE adieu to this pleasant nook, seemingly much more remote from the world than it actually was, with feelings of absolute regret. The unaffected simplicity and primitiveness of Heartfree's life; his perfect independence, unsoiled by any bad passion, or unattainable ambition; his manly, useful, and healthy occupations, and the real patriarchal manner in which he lived with his neighbours ;-all this quite charmed me.

It is this patriarchal mode of living that so sweetens what we now rather read of, than see in the present day. I was observing this to Heartfree, and thought him peculiarly lucky, though only sixty miles from London, and all about him crowded with the effects of luxury, commerce, and speculation, to enjoy the life of his choice in

a manner so unsophisticated. "This," said I, "in almost a home county, to one of your turn, must be agreeable beyond calculation."

"Why, yes!" he replied. "I owe much to the sort of insulated situation of my dwelling, protected by these verdant mounds, which shelter me from all I would avoid; yet easily passable, if I wish to view the world. It is the very epitome of what ought to be a moderate man's life. My neighbours, therefore, are of a simpler sort and character, than in richer, more enclosed, or more populous counties, such as Middlesex, Hertfordshire, and parts of Kent and Essex, where villas start up almost as plentiful as trees, and London pours forth all its myriads of insects of an hour, born of a sun-beam, and who scarcely know how they came there. These, certainly, come not within that description of country gentlemen of whom one reads with such fondness in ancient lore; the right worshipfuls of our friend Gervase Markham, and still less of the De Coverleys, whom it is almost a duty now to quiz and laugh at.

"I am quite aware of all the convincing arguments of the Economists, the upholders of Stocks, and the enemies of the rights of primogeniture, as well as of small farms, to the increase, you will say, of our wealth, and the destruction of our