440 ADVENTURES OF A SERENADER. 



adapted words in character with the occasion. I remember, too, the 

 quavers which my voice was pleased to insert ever and anon, more from 

 lack of steadiness, than abundance of execution. And, most of all, I 

 remember that I languished through one well-approved Irish melody, 

 three serenades, and the better half of Sola's volume, with no effect. 

 And yet there were lights in some of the rooms, and the moon would 

 have exhibited any apparition in those apartments which were in dark- 

 ness. I gazed and quavered looked and sighed; then marched nearer 

 to the house fancied there was something in an upper window, and 

 then scampered back again. This mode of warfare did not, however, 

 long continue. Euterpe, Clio, or some of those accomplished females 

 aided my courageous efforts, and in another moment, some moving 

 thing did verily appear. How I palpitated ! how I bellowed ! The 

 divinity or what not, (for I could see nothing but a white outline, very 

 beautiful, no doubt) still listened, and I launched into " Di Piacer." 

 Nothing could be more prosperous. My tenor notes, generally of a 

 mongrel description, exerted themselves very vigorously ; and I had 

 proceeded into the ' bowels of the song without impediment', till I arrived 

 at the dubious " che faro ?" when, as if the seraphim in the third story 

 understood Italian, my eyes were straightway greeted by the waving of 

 some " pendant flag, or pocket handkerchief," provoking a nearer 

 approach. 



It were difficult, now, to say with what specific feelings I welcomed 

 this invitation. That a resolution to accept it, was not instantly taken, 

 cannot be denied. Something of doubt and wonder started up in my 

 mind. I felt an indescribable awe, though it was of short continuance, 

 as the uncivil moon illuminated the scene around me. That paddock 

 and pale sunken fence, and thick coppice, should interpose themselves 

 between me and my love, was nothing. That I had my goodly limbs 

 accoutred in vast overalls, and a ponderous Bengy, was less than nothing ; 

 but that a sad-looking plaster of Paris edifice, with three tiers of three 

 windows, was staring me out of my fancy and my enthusiasm this was 

 the cause ! I could not, like Troilus, sigh my soul towards such Grecian 

 tents, though all the Cupids in the Troad lay there that night. I could 

 not but in less time than would be occupied by a detail of these shame- 

 faced thoughts, one of the most polite clouds I ever saw, threw us all into 

 shade. The disastrous building was no more a simple brick messuage, 

 or tenement, and I myself no longer an example 



" How greatly love is 

 Embarrassed at first starting with a novice." 



With no bad grace I accomplished a vault over a set of double rails, 

 marched triumphantly through a stunted hedge, and with great success 

 withdrew my boots from the briars and bushes, the mire and the swamps, 

 which strove to detain them. With the loss of a little breath, and the 

 gain of much mud, I came to an open area, fronting the castle-gate. 

 Strange achievement ! What could I have thought of on the road ? 

 This has much puzzled me since. The complacence with which the 

 challenge was accepted, the little ceremony employed in pursuing the 

 scheme, and the nonchalance which characterized the progress of the 

 exploit, have occurred to me often, as most professional and proper. 



