90 MR. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOUR. 



reverent and becoming way. Distance often lends boldness to the 

 tongue, as the poet Campbell says it 



Lends enchantment to the view, 

 And robes the mountain in its azure hue. 



There are few great men who haven't a dozen people, at least, who 

 "keep them right," as they call it. To hear some of the creatures 

 talk, one would fancy a lord was a lunatic as a matter of course. 



Spigot at last put an end to their efforts by announcing that 

 *' tea and coffee were ready ! " just as Mr. Sponge buzzed his bottle 

 of port. They then adjourned from the gloom of the large oak- 

 wainscoted dining-room, to the effulgent radiance of the well-lit, 

 highly-gilt drawing-room, where our fair friends had commenced 

 talking Mr. Sponge over as soon as they retired from the dining- 

 room. 



" And what do you think of him ? " asked mamma. 



" Oh, I think he's very well," replied Emily, gaily. 



" I should say he was very foor-lerable," drawled Miss Jawleyford, 

 who reckoned herself rather a judge, and indeed had had some 

 experience of gentlemen. 



" Tolerable, my dear ! " rejoined Mrs. Jawleyford, " I should say 

 he's very well — rather distingue, indeed." 



" I shouldn't say that," replied Miss Jawleyford ; " his height 

 and figure are certainly in his favour, but he isn't quite my idea of 

 a gentleman. He is evidently on good terms with himself ; but I 

 should say, if it wasn't for his forwardness, he'd be awkward and 

 uneasy." 



" He's a foxhunter, you know," observed Emily. 



" Well, but I don't know that that should make him different to 

 other people," rejoined her sister. "Captain Curzon, and Mr. 

 Lancaster, and Mr. Preston, were all foxhunters ; but they didn't 

 stare, and blurt, and kick their legs about, as this man does." 



" Oh, you are so fastidious ! " rejoined her mamma ; " you 

 must take men as you find them." 



" I wonder where he lives ? " observed Emily, who was quite 

 ready to take our friend as he was. 



" I wonder where he does live ? " chimed in Mrs. Jawleyford, 

 for the suddenness of the descent had given them no time for 

 inquiry. 



" Somebody said Manchester," observed Miss Jawleyford, drily. 



"So much the better," observed Mrs. Jawleyford, "for then he 

 is sure to have plenty of money." 



" Law, ma ! but you don't s'pose pa would ever allow such a. 

 thing," retorted Miss, recollecting her papa's frequent exhortations 

 to them to look high. 



" If he's a landowner," observed Mrs. Jawleyford, " we'll soon 



