168 SPRING-TIDE. 



atmosphere of my own land. I love to see 

 the flying showers which so often visit us 

 at this season of the year, and watch the 

 fantastic shapes and motions of the ever- 

 changing clouds heightening the effect of 

 Nature's panorama. 



J. But do you not, at times, find the 

 hours pass heavily in your retreat ? 



S. Never : when the weather absolutely 

 defies me to walk abroad, I have abundance 

 of occupation within doors ; good companions 

 who have cheered me in hours of sadness 

 and monitors even for the grey head. Like 

 Horace, I once sighed : 



" Rus, quando ego te aspiciam ?" 



but not that I might doze away my life 

 in dreamy apathy and uselessness, I was 

 always an enemy to 



" The ministre and the norice unto vices 

 Which that men clepe in English idelnesse ;" 



nor that I might altogether shun the society 



