CHAPTER 5

A new and great acquaintance introduced. What we place most hopes
upon, generally proves most fatal


At a small distance from the house my predecessor had made a
seat, overshaded by an hedge of hawthorn and honeysuckle. Here,
when the weather was fine, and our labour soon finished, we
usually sate together, to enjoy an extensive landschape, in the
calm of the evening. Here too we drank tea, which now was become
an occasional banquet; and as we had it but seldom, it diffused a
new joy, the preparations for it being made with no small share
of bustle and ceremony. On these occasions, our two little ones
always read for us, and they were regularly served after we had
done. Sometimes, to give a variety to our amusements, the girls
sung to the guitar; and while they thus formed a little concert,
my wife and I would stroll down the sloping field, that was
embellished with blue bells and centaury, talk of our children
with rapture, and enjoy the breeze that wafted both health and
harmony.

In this manner we began to find that every situation in life
might bring its own peculiar pleasures: every morning waked us to
a repetition of toil; but the evening repaid it with vacant
hilarity.

It was about the beginning of autumn, on a holiday, for I kept