THE "DEVIL-ON-THKEE -STICKS." 27 



its particular application that he purposes ; it is not 

 to invalidate the truth of the rule as against man, 

 but to prove it by an exception, in the case of one 

 individual of the species he knows of. And the 

 clear rectangular pencil-work, and the softening 

 shades of the brush of the accomplished artist- 

 architect do their work upon his eyes, like Yauity 

 reflected in a mirror, as he beholds (on pasteboard) 

 the "Splendid Elevation," and then reads with 

 delight in one corner of the sketch, beautifully 

 printed in Indian ink, the "exceedingly moderate 

 Estimate" Such is "the taper that has lighted 

 fools" each on his solitary track out of the beaten 

 high-road of old Experience, leading them on by the 

 marsh-light hope of individual exemption from the 

 Common Lot. And old men shake their heads, and 

 only smile at the sallies of youthful arrogance that 

 rise and break in succession upon the shore of life, 

 and need no reproach but that which their own sure 

 ebb will bring with it. 



And so they felt, and so they looked on me, in 



the autumn of no, I dare not say how long 



ago! when the arrival of load after load of Drain- 

 ing-tiles gave parish notice of the attempt to drain 

 what Antiquity had pronounced undrainable, since 

 the Deluge. 



