332 SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



revealing itself, like Heaven's blessings, just at the moment 

 when nothing could be more desired. How well the owner 

 of the premises knows how to minister to the wants and 

 pleasures of his guests ! Refreshed, we wander on through 

 a darkly-shaded copse, when a sudden elbow in the foot- 

 path brings us to the rock-built doorway of a rustic grotto. 

 The cool lintels are hung with brown and emerald fringes 

 of dew-dripping mosses, and the leaf-strewn portal of the 

 dusky hall reminds us of the cave of the Cumsean Sibyl. 

 The desire to enter this enchanted grotto has been foreseen 

 by the care which provided a flight of half a dozen steps, 

 down which we descend to the damp, chill floor of the Sib- 

 ylline abode. The long, dim hall before us fades into in- 

 distinctness in the distance, like the line of memories re- 

 ceding toward childhood's years; and just as our timid 

 steps are about to be reversed, we espy some matches and 

 a taper resting on a shelf of rock, and, with the light so 

 opportunely provided, explore the length of the charming 

 little cavern. 



Emerging from our subterranean exploitation, Ave visit, 

 in succession, all the remaining nooks and surprises of 

 the well-plotted grounds, and find that every where the 

 thoughtfulness of the proprietor has preceded us, and ush- 

 ered our coming with the most intelligent preparation. 

 Not the least admirable of the arrangements of his shrewd 

 forecasting is his occasional combination of geometrical fig- 

 ures cut in the turf of a growing grass-plot, or traced in 

 the airy edgings of the most exquisite flower-beds, them- 

 selves the achievements of geometrical skill, and adapted 

 specially to please the mind and fancy trained in mathe- 

 matical forms. The work itself bespeaks a skillful mind, 

 and equally proclaims an expectation of educated guests. 

 This lavishment of learned conceptions is not the mere 

 gamboling of genius for its own amusement. What we* 



