week. Her abode is about half a mile from the suburbs of the
town in which I reside, and is accessible, not only by the
highroad, from which it stands at some distance, but by means of
a greensward footpath leading through some pretty meadows. I
have so little left to torment me in life, that it is one of my
greatest vexations to know that several of these sequestered
fields have been devoted as sites for building. In that which is
nearest the town, wheelbarrows have been at work for several
weeks in such numbers, that, I verily believe, its whole surface,
to the depth of at least eighteen inches, was mounted in these
monotrochs at the same moment, and in the act of being
transported from one place to another. Huge triangular piles of
planks are also reared in different parts of the devoted
messuage; and a little group of trees that still grace the
eastern end, which rises in a gentle ascent, have just received
warning to quit, expressed by a daub of white paint, and are to
give place to a curious grove of chimneys.

It would, perhaps, hurt others in my situation to reflect that
this little range of pasturage once belonged to my father (whose
family was of some consideration in the world), and was sold by
patches to remedy distresses in which he involved himself in an
attempt by commercial adventure to redeem his diminished fortune.
While the building scheme was in full operation, this
circumstance was often pointed out to me by the class of friends
who are anxious that no part of your misfortunes should escape
your observation. "Such pasture-ground!--lying at the very
town's end--in turnips and potatoes, the parks would bring L20
per acre; and if leased for building--oh, it was a gold mine!
And all sold for an old song out of the ancient possessor's