452 



ON FEMININE TASTE IN RURAL AFFAIRS. 



and sentiment, which, like a bright halo, 

 seemed to encircle the whole person, — I 

 confess the fictions of poetry became sub- 

 stantial, and the beau ideal of my youth- 

 ful imagination was realized. 



" In the morning I first met her at pray- 

 ers ; for, to the honor of England, there is 

 scarcely a family, among the hundreds 

 whose hospitality I have shared, where the 

 duties of the day are not preceded by family 

 worship ; and the master and the servant, 

 the parent and the child, the teacher and 

 the taught, the friend and the stranger, 

 come together to recognise and strengthen 

 the sense of their common equality, in the 

 presence of their common Father, and to 

 acknowledge their equal dependence upon 

 his care and mercy. She was then kind 

 enough to tell me, after her morning's ar- 

 rangements, she claimed me for the day. 

 She first showed me her children, whom, 

 like the Roman mother, she deemed her 

 brightest jewels, and arranged their studies 

 and occupations for the day. She then 

 took me two or three miles on foot, to visit 

 a sick neighbor ; and, while performing 

 this act of kindness, left me to visit some 

 of the cottages upon the estate, whose in- 

 mates I found loud in the praises of her 

 kindness and benefactions. Our next ex- 

 cursion was to see some of the finest, and 

 largest, and most aged trees in the park, 

 the size of which was truly magnificent : 

 and I sympathised in the veneration which 

 she expressed for them, which was like 

 that with which one recalls the illustrious 

 memory of a remote progenitor. Our next 

 visit was to the green-houses and gardens ; 

 and she explained to me the mode adopted 

 there, of managing the most delicate plants, 

 and of cultivating, in the most economical 

 and successful manner, the fruits of a warm- 

 er region. From the garden we proceeded 

 to the cultivated fields ; and she informed 

 me of the system of husbandry pursued on 

 the estate, the rotation of crops, the ma- 

 nagement and application of manures, the 

 amount of seed sown, the ordinary yield, 

 and the appropriation of the produce, with 

 a perspicuous detail of the expenses and re- 

 sults. She then undertook to show me the 

 yards and offices, the byres, the feeding 

 stalls, the plans for saving, increasing and 

 managing the manure ; the cattle for feed- 



ing, for breeding, the milking stock, the 

 piggery, the poultry-yard, the stables, the 

 harness-rooms, the implement-rooms, the 

 dairy. She explained to me the process of 

 making the different kinds of cheese, and 

 the general management of the milk, and 

 the mode of feeding the stock; and then, 

 conducting me into the bailiff"s house, she 

 exhibited to me the Farm Journal, and the 

 whole systematic mode of keeping the ac- 

 counts and making the returns, with which 

 she seemed as familiar as if they were the 

 acounts of her own wardrobe. This did 

 not finish our grand tour ; for, on my re- 

 turn, she admitted me into her boudoir, 

 and showed me the secrets of her own ad- 

 mirable housewifery, in the exact accounts 

 which she kept of everything connected 

 with the dairy, the market, the table, and 

 the drawing-room, and the servants' hall. 

 All this was done with a simplicity and a 

 frankness, which showed an absence of all 

 consciousness of any extraordinary merit in 

 her own department, and which evidently 

 sprang solely from a kind desire to gratify 

 a curiosity on my part, which, I hope, un- 

 der such circumstances, was not unreason- 

 able. 



" A short hour after this brought us into 

 another relation ; for the dinner bell sum- 

 moned us, and this same lady was found 

 presiding over a brilliant circle of the high- 

 est rank and fashion, with an ease, ele- 

 gance, wit, intelligence, and good humor, 

 with a kind attention to every one's wants, 

 and an unaffected concern for every one's 

 comfort, which would lead one to suppose 

 that this was her only and her peculiar 

 sphere. Now I will not say how many 

 mud-puddles we had waded through, and 

 how many manure heaps we had crossed, 

 and what places we had explored, and how 

 every farming topic was discussed ; but I 

 will say that she pursued her object with- 

 out any of that fastidiousness and affected 

 delicacy, which pass with some persons for 

 refinement, but which, in many cases, indi- 

 cate a weak, if not a corrupt mind. * * 



" Now I do not say that the lady to whom 

 I have referred was herself the manager of 

 the farm ; that rested entirely with her hus- 

 band ; but I have intended simply to show 

 how gratifving to him must have been the 

 lively interest and sympathy which she 



