abuse it also; in the meanwhile, worthy reader, I hope you will not
think lightly of me, because I cannot believe this to be so very bad a
world as it is represented.

Thine truly,

GEOFFREY CRAYON.




THE HALL.

The ancient house, and the best for housekeeping in this county or
the next; and though the master of it write but squire, I know no
lord like him.

--_Merry Beggars_.


The reader, if he has perused the volumes of the Sketch-Book, will
probably recollect something of the Bracebridge family, with which I
once passed a Christmas. I am now on another visit to the Hall, having
been invited to a wedding which is shortly to take place. The Squire's
second son, Guy, a fine, spirited young captain in the army, is about
to be married to his father's ward, the fair Julia Templeton. A
gathering of relations and friends has already commenced, to celebrate
the joyful occasion; for the old gentleman is an enemy to quiet,
private weddings. "There is nothing," he says, "like launching a young
couple gayly, and cheering them from the shore; a good outset is half