ADVICE FOR LACKLAND. 77 



a thatch of broom, or of sedge. Yet who does not 

 see written all over it plain as it is : Loiter if you 

 like ! Come in, if you like ! And I love to think that 



some little maid, under it in some by-gone year 

 said her good-night to some parting Leander. Who 

 shall laugh at this, that has ever been young ? Are 

 not the little maids and the Leanders always growing 

 up about us ? I always felt sure when I found such 

 covered wickets that no curmudgeon lived within. 



A second example of somewhat more orderly pro- 

 portions, but identical in expression, I take from my 

 note-book of travel, finding it credited to some little 

 hamlet of Warwickshire ; the posts and supporting 

 arms being of unhewn elm, and the roof a neat thatch 

 of wheat straw, which at the time of my visit was 

 gray and mossy. 



Has not somebody somewhere a cottage home, 

 whose homeliness would be enforced and beautified 

 by such a cosy covered wicket of thatch ? 



