My sojourn in the world of dreams continued till the sound of the morning-bell recalled me to the perception and the consciousness of grosser and more material entities. Few moments were necessary to restore my senses to their wonted activity, and I sprung up to prepare for participation in the pleasures and business of that less visionary world of which I again found myself a denizen. My preparations, however, were made with less facility than usual. The duties of the toilet were protracted for a space considerably transcending the limits o.dinarily found sufficient for their due discharge. I was uncommonly fastidious about the adjustment of my hair, displayed through the interstice of my waistcoat an unwonted superfluity of frill, and, after many unsuccessful experiments, remember of being eventually by no means satisfied with the tie of my cravat. On descending, I found the party (with the exception of Lady Amersham, who seldom appeared till considerably later in the day,) assembled in the breakfast-room. Lord Amersham, in his morning

habiliments, exhibited the same grotesque figure which had excited my astonishment the day before at our meeting in the park. After breakfast, which he despatched as hurriedly as possible, his lordship addressed many apologies to Lady Pynsent for his speedy departure.

"Your ladyship will, I hope, excuse me, but we farmers, Lady Pynsent, cannot neglect our calling, or our calling will neglect us; the eye of the master must overlook, as the proverb goes, or the plough will speed badly. If your ladyship only knew the torrent of business I have to encounter. In the first place, my wool; I have to receive offers for that, and sell to the best bidder-never show favour or affection in a case of that sort--all fair and above board-sealed offers, and the highest carries the day. Then comes Tompkinson with contract for two steam engines, thirty horse power, to set the coal mines agoing. People may talk of the Golconda mines as much as they please, but none are so valuable, you may take my word for it, Lady Pynsent, as the black diamond mines. Then I have to superintend the preparation of my two-bout ridges, an original invention of my own; no succession of crops necessary-wheat-wheat for ever, and the soil never exhausted-fresh as after the first crop. Quite a new era in farming-expect to be awarded the gold medal at the next meeting of the Agricultural Society. Mr. Coke is jealous as the devil of my success, and Sir John Sinclair pretends to undervalue it. Sir John is a Scotchman, so no wonder. But your ladyship must not seduce me to stand tittle-tattling a moment longer. I must endeavour to carry off Lord Pynsent, however.-Lord Pynsent, is your lordship inclined this morning for a walk to the farm? You know t'other day we were interrupted

by the rain, and I had not time to show you half my lions."

As an excuse for declining the proffered honour, Lord Pynsent pleaded the fact of having that morning received important letters, which required to be answered by return of post.

"Well, then, young gentlemen," said Lord Amersham, addressing Mr. Pynsent and myself, "I must lay an embargo on you. One of you is a fighting man already, and the other, I dare say, would give his ears to become one; but the time will come at last, when, like me, you will imitate Cincinnatus, and turn your swords into ploughshares, and the sooner you begin to prepare for the change the better. As for you, Mr. Thornton, I want you to be able to tell your father all about my improvements, for I know he has a taste for farming. Come along, come along-not a moment to spare. Good morning, au revoir, ladies; necessity, you know-dire necessity" And, without finishing the sentence, his lordship waddled out into the hall, and, having seized his long weeding-hook, and ensconced his cranium in the broad-brimmed drab-coloured hat already commemorated, we set out for the farm.

Most probably, good reader, you are not a farmer, and have not the smallest curiosity to be troubled at length with the details of the many inventions and improvements with which on that morning we were made acquainted. Suffice it, therefore, that it was proved by his lordship to demonstration, that the simplest operations of husbandry might be performed, if need were, by very complicated machinery; that capital, to almost any extent, may be expended on the soil, without any adequate return; and, lastly, that farming by a nobleman on a great scale, however strong his partiality for the business may be,

is, of all modes of employing an estate, the most unprofitable. Such are the principal corollaries that appeared to flow naturally from an involuntarily minute inspection of Lord Amersham's home farm. At the commencement of my task, I was not without hopes of effecting my escape, after cursorily examining the more prominent wonders of the scene, and Mr. Pynsent with some difficulty did so, pleading an engagement to drive Lady Amersham in her pony-chair. But his success only seemed to increase the obstacles to mine. In short, all my hopes and efforts proved alike abortive, and, making a merit of necessity, I submitted with the best grace I could to the penance that awaited me. Had I been merely called on to admire luxuriant crops, and specimens of mechanical ingenuity, the task might have been dull, but not positively unpleasant. But this was by no means all. Lord Amersham's experiments extended to the animal as well as the vegetable creation. There was a huge, bloated, scrofulous-looking animal, stall-fed on rape and oilcake, its limbs tottering under its unnatural and prodigious weight. A sight more thoroughly disgusting it is scarcely possible to conceive; yet this was called, par excellence, the Staunton Ox," to which the gold medal had been awarded by the Agricultural Society! Then there were pigs, the very sight of which was almost enough to justify a man. for turning Jew, and making the abjuration of bacon a part of his religion. And sheep too-but enough.

My patience was completely exhausted by the occupation of the morning, which seemed to me interminable. We returned to the house just in time. to dress for dinner. The party assembled in the drawing-room was the same as on the preceding day.

I had taken my situation beside Lady Melicent, in order to watch the opportunity, when dinner should be announced, of offering myself as her escort. In this I was baffled. Whether Lady Amersham perceived my intention, I know not, but she decreed me the unwelcome honour of supporting her to the dining-room, and the Lady Melicent followed, leaning on the arm of Sir Cavendish. At dinner I sat next Miss Pynsent, who had thrown off much of that retenu of manner in conversing with me, which had rather predominated at our first interview. She was amiable, modest, frank, and unaffected, and never descended to the use of those vulgar arts of captivation, which, in the present day, even demoiselles of high caste do not always scruple to employ.

To a young man whose feelings are fresh, and yet unblunted by worldly experience, there is a charm even in the most unimpassioned intercourse with the other sex. Woman! To him how vast a charm is comprised in the narrow compass of a word! In this single abstraction, unconnected it may be with any individual reality, are united all his purest dreams of happiness, all his brightest conceptions of imaginary beauty. With it no thought of grossness or sensuality comes to contaminate his fancy or his heart. This is at once the portion and the penalty of gray haired debauchery, the wormwood which mingles in the cup of pleasure, changing the sparkling contents of the goblet to bitterness. and poison.

Whether from accident or design, I enjoyed but few opportunities of particular conversation with Lady Melicent. When these did occur, she maintained towards me the same light and riant manner with which I had been originally delighted. Still,