JULY 129 



cottage are ludicrously inadequate for the admission 

 of light and air, and the dog lying on the doorstep 

 is more the size of a blackbeetle than of a dog, 

 for Choice's hand has been guided by the Vicar, 

 and proportion and perspective have been to some 

 extent recognised in consequence. The many 

 chromos on the kitchen wall are accepted as mere 

 pictures, not being comparable with anything exist- 

 ing in nature. But everyone knows old Toby, 

 and loud guffaws would be likely to follow the 

 exhibition of a portrait which makes him look 

 no larger than a wasp on the window-pane. 



"When there's anything in a picter as can't be 

 understood, Merire, or anything as looks unnateral, 

 depend upon it 'tis summat somethink artistic. 

 This here sketch shows talent, and this here sketch 

 is up to date. I shall make a frame fer it the next 

 wet day we gets, an' Choice shall be an artis'." 



Daniel is a keen observer of the phenomena 

 of nature, and a student of White's History of 

 Selborne, which he borrows from the village library. 

 He cordially agrees with most of the theories con- 

 tained in this book, not excepting that one which 

 represents the swallow as hibernating in the mud 

 at the bottom of ponds. He holds that he could 

 have told the author many details which are miss- 

 ing from the History, as well as much that he 

 reads therein, and could in this latter case have 

 spared him the trouble of puzzling them out for 

 himself. He has lately taken to astronomy, and 

 has learnt the names and positions of a few of the 

 principal constellations, and at times of eclipses and 

 of the reappearance of comets he has much to say. 

 K 



