on our steed, in the shape of an astounding crack of his huge whip,
has put that refractory animal on his mettle. On we go! past the
glazier's pretty house, with its porch and its filbert walk; along
the narrow lane bordered with elms, whose fallen leaves have made
the road one yellow; past that little farmhouse with the
horse-chestnut trees before, glowing like oranges; past the
whitewashed school on the other side, gay with October roses; past
the park, and the lodge, and the mansion, where once dwelt the great
Earl of Clarendon;--and now the rascal has begun to discover that
Samuel Long and his whip are a mile off, and that his mistress is
driving him, and he slackens his pace accordingly. Perhaps he feels
the beauty of the road just here, and goes slowly to enjoy it. Very
beautiful it certainly is. The park paling forms the boundary on
one side, with fine clumps of oak, and deer in all attitudes; the
water, tufted with alders, flowing along on the other. Another
turn, and the water winds away, succeeded by a low hedge, and a
sweep of green meadows; whilst the park and its palings are replaced
by a steep bank, on which stands a small, quiet, village alehouse;
and higher up, embosomed in wood, is the little country church, with
its sloping churchyard and its low white steeple, peeping out from
amongst magnificent yew-trees:--

'Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine
Up-coiling, and invet'rately convolved.'
WORDSWORTH.

No village church was ever more happily placed. It is the very
image of the peace and humbleness inculcated within its walls.