FROM THE HEART OF THE WOLDS. 195 



than the finest language, and the authoress evidently thought 

 that when she reached such unfamiliar places as Burton Stather 

 and Alkborough, but a very little distance further lay Ultima 

 Thule. Miss Hatfield saw white poppies in many gardens near 

 Coleby, and was surprised " that the simple, healthy peasants' 

 of Lincolnshire should seek the deleterious enjoyment" of 

 their narcotic qualities, though her amazement would be in- 

 creased could she have known that, at present, multitudes of 

 men and women in the Fens purchase weekly, on market-day, 

 sufficient opium and laudanum for the next week's consumption. 

 She describes, in a feeble manner, some of the northern Wold 

 villages which she had seen, as Lady A. had told her, "I 

 know you do not wish to remain in a quiescent state." A 

 sunset, at page 193, is positively too gorgeous to be so much as 

 reflected in our pages ; but the description of morning must be 

 quoted as a sample of the boarding-school diction of the period. 

 "This morn, Aurora, with a lively step, drew aside night's 

 sable curtains, and began to dress the chambers of the east 

 with crimson drapery. The god of day, quickly mounting, 

 with rapid course rolled his chariot wheels o'er ethereal space, 

 throwing reproachful glances upon the couch of the drowsy 

 slumberer. Awakened by his salutation as he passed my 

 window, round which the jessamine and woodbine twining 

 soften his too ardent rays, I started from my pillow, upon which 

 balmy sleep had rested upon his downy pinions," &c., &c. 

 (p. 73). These buds of fancy, had the authoress attempted to 

 write in verse, would naturally have blossomed into such 

 poetry as Laura Matilda's in the Rejected Addresses. 



Although it is said to be a peculiarity of chalk hills that they 

 never form watersheds, we shall place the reader on the best 

 imitation of one, on a declivity towards the centre of the Wolds, 

 near Ludford. The Bain river, which, however, is for many 

 miles but a rivulet, runs hence, on one side of the hill, towards 

 Horncastle and the south. A "beck," to give its Scandi- 



