THE 'DEVIL-ON-THREE-STICKS.' 9 



general, but to parry 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 that 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 

 Vanity reflected in a mirror, as he beholds (on paste- 

 board) 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 succes- 

 sion 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 Draining-tiles 

 gave parish notice of the attempt to drain what Anti- 

 quity had pronounced undrainable, since the Deluge. 



But why can't it be drained ? asked Greenhorns. 



