impromptu "grace"--that thanksgiving which the scholar felt was for
something more than the carnal food--which had first commanded his
respect and wakened his interest. Then that innocent careless talk--part
uttered to dog and child, part soliloquized, part thrown out to the ears
of the lively teeming Nature--had touched a somewhat kindred chord in the
angler's soul; for he was somewhat of a poet and much of a soliloquist,
and could confer with Nature, nor feel that impediment in speech which
obstructed his intercourse with men. Having thus far indicated that oral
defect in our new acquaintance, the reader will cheerfully excuse me for
not enforcing it over much. Let it be among the things /subaudita/, as
the sense of it gave to a gifted and aspiring nature, thwarted in the
sublime career of Preacher, an exquisite mournful pain. And I no more
like to raise a laugh at his infirmity behind his back, than I should
before his pale, powerful, melancholy face; therefore I suppress the
infirmity in giving the reply.

OXONIAN.--" On the other side the lane, where the garden slopes downward,
is my father's house. This ground is his property certainly, but he puts
it to its best use, in lending it to those who so piously acknowledge
that Father from whom all good comes. Your child, I presume, sir?"

"My grandchild."

"She seems delicate: I hope you have not far to go?"

"Not very far, thank you, sir. But my little girl looks more delicate
than she is. You are not tired, darling?"

"Oh, not at all!" There was no mistaking the looks of real love
interchanged between the old man and the child; the scholar felt much