indeed, it was along of his studies of the heathen poets that he had
first thought of becoming a farmer. And she asked him to repeat some of
the verses which he had at his tongue's end. He laughed, and said he
did suppose she meant some lines of Horace, which had been thus
Englished:--

"I often wished I had a farm,
A decent dwelling, snug and warm,
A garden, and a spring as pure
As crystal flowing by my door,
Besides an ancient oaken grove,
Where at my leisure I might rove.

"The gracious gods, to crown my bliss,
Have granted this, and more than this,--
They promise me a modest spouse,
To light my hearth and keep my house.
I ask no more than, free from strife,
To hold these blessings all my life!"

Tam exceedingly pleased, I must say, with the prospect of my cousin
Polly. Her suitor is altogether a worthy young man; and, making
allowances for the uncertainty of all human things, she may well look
forward to a happy life with him. I shall leave behind on the morrow
dear friends, who were strangers unto me a few short weeks ago, but in
whose joys and sorrows I shall henceforth always partake, so far as I do
come to the knowledge of them, whether or no I behold their faces any
more in this life.