THE VICARAGE. 2?9 



Such is a short description of this village sanc- 

 tuary, which appeared to stand in the grounds 

 belonging to the vicarage. No fence separated 

 them, but a well-kept and narrow gravelled walk 

 led through a little shrubbery to the porch of the 

 church, close to which an enormous yew-tree 

 flourished with a seat around it, and at the eastern 

 end was a shattered though still magnificent elm. 

 The vicarage stood on rather elevated ground, and 

 was built with the red sand-stone of the country. 

 It had its mullioned windows, its little porch, and 

 old gables, with its walls covered with creepers, 

 vines, and roses. Everything around it was in the 

 neatest order, and gave the idea of peace, hap- 

 piness, and contentment. That the Vicar appre- 

 ciated the charms of such a retirement, and such 

 a country, was sufficiently evident. He had found 

 out the secret, that to be happy ourselves we must 

 make others so ; and he acted upon it on all occa- 

 sions. He was beloved by the poor around him, 

 for he was their friend and adviser in all their dif- 

 ficulties and distresses, while in his own family he 

 was regarded with unbounded affection. It is al- 

 ways a delightful sight to see parents and children 

 "knit together in unity " and love. A charming 

 halo, if the expression may be applied, a moral in- 

 fluence, is shed around, not only the house, but 

 the neighbourhood, by the example thus afforded. 

 So it was in the village of T . There was a 



