Beatrice.

pleasant ancl fragrant drawing-room—for that well-known " sanctum opened out into a real old English garden— -I must now say a few words . There was the clergyman and his wife ancl the curate—all very pleasant people in their way . The clergyman was one of the good old school , somewhat obsolete , I fear , now—very learned , but very tolerant , who , if like "Dr . Brown , " immortalized by Praed , " vir nulla , non donandus latirit , " was yet an ornament to his Church , and a friend to his people .

He might perhaps be called "slow" in these go-ahead days , ancl amid new-fangled ideas ancl habits , ancl dresses of various kinds ancl hues , but he always kept his ' church and schools full . He never sent his congregation to sleep ; he knew all his congregation , and especially his lads and lasses , by their Christian names ! He was an able , an amiable , ancl an accomplished man , one of a sort of which too few linger in our town houses , or our pleasant rural rectories .

His wife was an excellent helpmeet for him—of good birth , good manners , good looks , good temper , ancl a thoroughly good honest woman to boot . Young Brabazon , who for a short time was curate there , and a great friend of mine , always liked to say , " You see , she is a model parson ' s wife ; she is up to anything ; she has no nonsense ; she will go with a young man in a dog-cart , and think nothing of it ; she ' s always cheery , she likes a joke , ancl she is one of the most hard-working women you

can find between Dover and the Land ' s End . " She was a woman , moreover , of cultivated taste ancl a literary turn , a good musician , and could sketch a church tower with great effect . She was one of the best wives , too , I ever met . The curate was an amiable youth , not very strong , perhaps , in anything , but who did his duty very pleasantly and peacefully , and was very much hi love with a gay member of that little circle—one of Colonel Morley ' s pretty daughters . "If they do get together" as

, Molesey of Molesey used to like to say confidentially to me , ( I believe he was a little smitten with the gipsy himself , ) "I hope that she will ginger him up , old fellow . " " I'll tell you what , Tomlinson , " he would add , " that girl has a pluck ancl spirit in her for anything . lust put her on a horse and see her go across country ! "

Colonel Morley and his amiable famil y formed part also of that cheery coterie , ancl when I say of him that he was a gallant , straig htforward , somewhat prosy goodlooking old veteran , with a pleasant wife , and two very pretty daughters , and a fastish youth of a son , also hi the army , what more need I say ? He was not only an officer , but a gentleman . Jorrox , the Doctor , and his wife must be mentioned here , because they are somewhat important personages among our Bramatis Personce . lie was a little excitable , sentimental , good-natured , large-whiskered , pug-nosed man , who was an

excellent doctor , but always getting into scrapes , out of which he , however , always contrived to extricate himself . His character will be more fully developed in the following chapters , so I say nothing more here of him . His wife was his very opposite , matter-of-fact ancl precise , a little prudish , and fond of maxims and adages of all kinds ; but still , as the French say , au fond , a good-hearted , well-intentioned , ancl rightprincipled woman . She and the Doctor were compared by their facetious assistant Twamley to an " effervescing draught . " "She , sir , " he used to say , "is the soda , he is the nitric acid ; he is all " phiz , " she ' s all sediment . "

The family lawyer , Mr . Malcolm , was an excellent old-fashioned individual , one of an ancient " caste " of lawyers now almost disappeared , who had a good business , a good house , and a neat little fortune . He too had a pleasant wife , a good-looking daughter , and an ambitious son at Oxford , of whom his fond mamma predicted much . Then there was an old maid , Miss Mutton , always amiable at whist and Lansquenetancl an old bachelorMr . Websteralways grumbling under every circumstance

, , , of life . Society put it down to an early disappointment , but Twamley used to say it " lay between his balance at his bankers ancl his bilious ducts ; " but as Twamley was always "free of his jokes , " no one heeded Twamley ; though in my opinion Twamley had more brains in his head than most people of my acquaintance . Some of-the county