And lo! if we are not of that combustible race, who will
rather beat their heads in spite, than wipe their brows with the
curate, we look round and say, with the nauseated listlessness of
the king of Israel, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit."
I looked round with some such grave apophthegm in my mind when I
discovered, for the first time, a venerable pile, to which the
enclosure belonged. An air of melancholy hung about it. There was
a languid stillness in the day, and a single crow, that perched on
an old tree by the side of the gate, seemed to delight in the echo
of its own croaking.
I leaned on my gun and looked; but I had not breath enough to ask
the curate a question. I observed carving on the bark of some of
the trees: 'twas indeed the only mark of human art about the place,
except that some branches appeared to have been lopped, to give a
view of the cascade, which was formed by a little rill at some
distance.
Just at that instant I saw pass between the trees a young lady with
a book in her hand. I stood upon a stone to observe her; but the
curate sat him down on the grass, and leaning his back where I
stood, told me, "That was the daughter of a neighbouring gentleman
of the name of WALTON, whom he had seen walking there more than
once.
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