MR. sponge's sporting tour. 89 



" "What time do you dine ? " asked Mr. Sponge, rubbing his hands 

 as he spoke. 



" Six o'clock," replied Mr. Jawleyford, " six o'clock — say six 

 o'clock — not particular to a moment — days are short, you see — days 

 are short." 



" I think I should like a glass of sherry and a biscuit, then," ob- 

 served Mr. Sponge. 



And forthwith the bell was rung, and in due course of time Mr. 

 Spigot arrived with a tray, followed by the Miss Jawleyfords, who 

 had rather expected Mr. Sponge to be shown into the drawing-room 

 to them, where they had composed themselves very prettily; one 

 working a parrot in chenille, the other with a lapful of crochet. 



The Miss Jawleyfords — Amelia and Emily — were lively girls ; 

 hardly beauties — at least not sufficiently so to attract attention in a 

 crowd ; but still, girls well calculated to " bring a man to book," in the 

 country. Mr. Thackera} r , who bound up all the home truths in cir- 

 culation, and many that exist only in the inner chambers of the heart, 

 calling the whole " Vanity fair," says, we think (though we don't ex- 

 actly know where to lay hand on the passage), that it is not your real 

 striking beauties who are the most dangerous — at all events, that do 

 the most execution — but sly, quiet sort of girls, who do not strike the 

 beholder at first sight, but steal insensibly upon him as he gets ac- 

 quainted. The Miss Jawleyfords were of this order. Seen in plain 

 morning gowns, a man would meet them in the street, without either 

 turning round or making an observation, good, bad or indifferent ; 

 but in the close quarters of a country house, with all the able assist- 

 ance of first-rate London dresses, well flounced and set out, each bent 

 on doing the agreeable, they became dangerous. The Miss Jawley- 

 fords were uncommonly well got up, and Juliana, their mutual maid, 

 deserved great credit for the impartiality she displayed in arraying 

 them. There wasn't a halfpenny's worth of choice as to which was 

 the best. This was the more creditable to the maid, inasmuch as 

 the dresses — sea-green graces — were rather dashed ; and the worse 

 they looked, the likelier they would be to become her property. 

 Half-dashed dresses, however, that would look rather seedy by con- 

 trast, come out very fresh in the country, especially in winter, when 

 the day begins to close in at four. And here we may observe, what 

 a dreary time is that which intervenes between the arrival of a guest 

 and the dinner hour, in the dead winter months in the country. The 

 English are a desperate people for overweighting their conversational 

 powers. They have no idea of penning up their small talk, and bring- 

 ing it to bear in generous flow upon one particular hour ; but they 

 keep dribbling out throughout the live-long day, wearying their listen- 

 ers without benefiting themselves — just as a careless waggoner scatters 

 his load on the road. Few people are insensible to the advantage 

 of having their champagne brisk, which can only be done by keeping 



