180 THE COTTAGE LIBRAKY. 



matter abandoned, and that Emily's better judgment, if not 

 her good feeling, had determined her to give up her own 

 liking, on this the very first occasion on which, we believe, 

 her husband had ever thwarted it. 



Well whether, as with us, awaited in silence, or, as with 

 the many, harbingered by the music of many voices the grand 

 event marched on ; and a day was only wanted of its expected 

 arrival, when business called F to London, from whence he 

 was not to return till late at night. Soon after his departure, 

 which followed an early breakfast, we left Emily, as we sup- 

 posed, to the business of her little household, and repaired, as 

 was our wont, to the library, a small apartment which our 

 friend F had made the very bijou of his pretty cottage. It 

 was tastefully fitted up in the gothic style, with a window of 

 painted glass, a window, by the way, especially suited to a 

 book-room, not merely as pleasing to the eye but for a corre- 

 spondence which has often struck us. The many-coloured 

 panes, through which the light of day finds entrance, form no 

 unfitting symbol of a library's contents, whereby the light of 

 intelligence is poured upon the mind through as many varied 

 mediums, from the deep, cold, black and blue of learned and 

 scientific lore, to the glowing flame colour and crimson of 

 poetry and romance. Having taken down a choice copy of 

 the Faery Queen, we committed our person to an ebony arm- 

 chair, and our spirit to the magic guidance of "our author's 

 fancy. Obedient to its leading, we were careering somewhere 



