animals; some may think them handsome and graceful: this is, as yet,
an unsettled question. They certainly figure pretty extensively in all
sketches of rural scenery, and may, therefore, be considered as
picturesque objects; but I think that on canvas they take to
themselves beauties which they do not possess in actual life. I do not
object to see them at a distance, quietly grazing in a meadow by the
brink of a winding stream, and all that sort of thing, provided the
distance is very great, and a strong fence intervenes. For I would
have you know, that I am a delicate young lady of nervous temperament
and keen sensibilities, and have a mortal dread of cows. I am not used
to the customs of country life, which place this animal on a level
with domestic pets, and when my brother asked me to pat the side of
one of these great, coarse brutes, I screamed at the mere idea. For I
should be extremely unwilling to provoke one of them, because I have
been told that, when heated with passion, as these beasts often are,
it sometimes happens that the powder-horns on top of their heads
explode, and spread ruin and desolation around. People here bestow a
vast deal too much consideration on these unpleasant animals, for they
are often seen--that is, those of them that are troubled with weak
eyes--walking along the streets with boards over their faces, as a
protection from the rays of the sun. I don't believe that is the real
reason of the thing, though my brother assures me that it is. I think,
myself, that it is intended as a keen satire upon those young ladies
who wear veils in the streets; but I never will yield my point. I
_will_ wear my veil, so long as I have a complexion worth protecting,
and so long as there are gentlemen worth cutting. The Brighton Bridge
Battery is a delightful promenade on a warm summer's day, it is _so_
shady; but it is closed, I may say, every Wednesday and Thursday, to
accommodate these detestable pets of the public. It seems, as my
brother informs me, that the drovers, from humane considerations, are