Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

We were then led over the flower garden in front of the hall, which was very tastefully arranged in beds, and walks of white Derbyshire gravel, from whence we had a view up a long avenue of ancient trees in the park.

Some part of the family being at home we had not an opportunity of looking through the interior of the house, which, we were told, is furnished in very superior style.

The building appears to have been newly erected on the site of some old country mansion. It is a handsome struc- | ture, neat and chaste in its style and proportions; but quite retired, and limited in its prospects by the gardens and parks which surround it.

As we said of the conservatory, so we must say of the whole place it is altogether a beautiful spot-as beautiful as wealth and art could make it. And yet, after all, such little earthly paradises are not perfect. The eye is not satisfied with seeing the same objects, however natural or splendid, again and again, but in order to enjoy them afresh,' we must leave them for a time and seek relief by mixing in common life, and looking on objects common to all. And more than this, no cordon can be placed around such lovely spots to keep off the thousand ills and ailings which flesh is heir to. Sickness may come there! and the king of terrors may there poise and drive home his dreadful dart! There is no place on earth now where such visitations can be avoided. We should never forget that; and we believe that the owners of this delightful mansion do not. Long may they and their children enjoy it in health and happiness!

Whilst writing the last few lines an incident of two great

[ocr errors]

men came to our recollection, and we will tell it to our young friends. About one hundred years ago Samuel Johnson and David Garrick were conspicuous characters in London. Johnson was a great writer, and Garrick was a great actor. They both came from the same place in the country to London-poor lads. Johnson, like many more writers, had to struggle long with poverty, and was never very rich. Garrick, as an actor on the stage, drew thousands to see and hear him, and became rich. He built himself a beautiful villa near London, and laid out the grounds and walks and gardens very tastefully, and ornamented them with statues and grottoes. One day he sent for his old companion to come and see him, and he went. He shewed Johnson his house and gardens, and all that he had done to make the place so beautiful and attractive. As they walked along, Johnson suddenly stopped, and laying his hand on Garrick's shoulder, said, "David! David! these are the things which make a death-bed terrible!"

And so they will if the owner of them fixes his heart on them and them alone, and if in that heart of his there be no reverence of God his Maker, and no love of Christ his Saviour. Can palaces and pictures, and gardens and grottoes, make a man happy in a dying hour? Oh no! they cannot then. Nay, if then he have no hope of going to a heavenly mansion, leaving his own splendid earthly mansion will only make him yet more miserable. Better far it would have been for him if he had been poor in this world, but rich in faith, for then death to him would not have been terrible, but a friendly messenger sent from God to bid him

leave his poverty and pains, and come up to take possession of a kingdom and a crown which should be his for ever!

Such thoughts as these, or something like them, passed through our mind as we drove away from the lovely and interesting scenes we had just visited. Not because we thought that those who now enjoyed that charming retreat set all their affections on it. We have every reason for thinking otherwise. Sir Samuel and his lady are known to be worthy professors of religion, and generous in their contributions to the promotion of the gospel of Christ. Indeed few in the present day have done more, by pecuniary aid, for that great object, both at home and abroad, than this first of baptist baronets.

Returning, not by the way we went, we had an opportunity of seeing more of the country around Lowestoft, which was certainly much more pleasing than the marshy approach to the town by rails.

But having visited Somerleyton, we must again stop. How many more chapters we shall write about this visit we do not now know. We have yet a few more tales to tell; and if our young friends are not weary of hearing them, we are not yet weary of telling them. However two, or at most three, more chapters, will include all we wish to tell. Every year, for some years past now, we have been in the habit of taking them with us to the places we visited during the past summer; and if they have as much pleasure in reading our simple tales about what we saw as we have in recollecting them and writing them, we shall be both satisfied and rewarded.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

We have told you about a Pike fighting with an Otter in the water, for the fish which an Otter had got in its mouth. Here is an Otter with a Pike in its mouth, which it has caught, and is taking on land to eat.

The Otter is about two feet long; and his tail, which is very thick, is about sixteen inches. The head is large and flat; the ears are very short. The eyes are large and brilliant; and so placed, that the otter can see any object that is above it; a circumstance which adds to the singularity of its aspect. The feet are webbed, and the tail is flattened;

the fur is of two kinds, the inner short and thick, and the outer long, shining, and close. The colour is a blackish brown, with two small light spots on each side of the nose, and another under the chin.

The Otter is one of the few wild animals that remain alive in Britain, which were hunted in sport by our rude forefathers, before the introduction of the Roman name and power. It is voracious, crafty, active, and exceedingly destructive to the fish upon which it generally feeds; destroying many more than it is able to devour. Being quite at home in the water, it pursues its prey with great perseverance and speed; seldom failing to secure its victim. It can devour eight or ten fish at a meal; so that some idea may be formed of the devastation that one or two of these animals will create in a season. Some have been tamed and taught, like the cormorant in some countries, to catch fish for its master. A gentleman of Scotland possessed one which he had trained with such success to catch fish, that it would sometimes take as many as ten salmon in a day. When wearied with hunting, it would decline the pursuit, and then received its reward in a plentiful supply of the fish it had taken, when it would almost immediately fall asleep, in which state it was taken home.

The Otter is chiefly at work at night; reposing by day in its burrow or hole, which is always by the side of the water, the opening being mostly under water, overshadowed by the foliage of adjacent shrubs or trees. The burrows rise from the water to a considerable height up the bank, where, in a dry place, the female makes her bed, and brings forth

« AnteriorContinuar »