Yes, it is a true bill. Here are more fruits of Prophecy and Prejudice, quoth you!—I will give up anticipating.—It will save me a great deal of plague in future, not to think of people till they cross my path, and are actually before my eyes.
Before we set out on the return to Glenalta, I was as easy as an old shoe with Oliphant; but all his quaint practice and methodistical habits are hanging over in terrorem.
On the following day, which was Saturday, we met as usual at breakfast, and immediately afterwards, I was called by the girls and Frederick to come and see the treasures of which their tutor had been the escort. On entering the Library, I saw a valuable addition to the book-shelves; Clarke's Bible, handsomely, but unshewily bound, for my aunt; the Flora and Pomona Londinensis for Emily; a capital Biographical Dictionary for Charlotte; a fine Herodotus for Fred; and Withering's Botany for Fan. Besides these were writing-desks, drawing-books, pencils, port-folios, and a parcel containing the Pirates, Kenilworth, Quentin Durward, and the Inheritance, as food for the "Evening hour." In short, Domine must have been literally built up in the stack which brought him, as tightly as poor Rose de Beverley in the dungeon wall; and to have seen the good man deterré from such a mass of matter must have been diverting enough.
These various objects of acquisition were all gifts of Mr. Otway, who had made his own remarks upon the wants and wishes of his neighbours, and written to Oliphant accordingly, to come laden with whatever he thought most likely to gratify the family group. It is impossible to form an idea of the advantages in one respect which people living in these outposts of mankind possess over the civilized world. If my mother and sisters require a packet of books, or any thing else, from town, Gibson is ordered to write, the things come per next mail. Turner, my mother's maid, opens the store, and the contents are spread upon tables, where perhaps they lie for days before they are observed, and when looked at, are either to be returned, or if retained, it is ten to one if they produce the slightest degree of animation. Here the minds of the little party are so alive and fresh, that one catches the contagion; and I found myself bustling through wrapping papers and twine with an eagerness which I certainly never experienced upon the arrival of a similar importation at Selby.
"We have been so long wishing for these," said Emily, "that they are quite a mine of happiness."
"Yes," answered Charlotte, "and how magical are our dear Phil.'s guesses, for he always discovers what one wants most." "And I," added Fanny, "am just expiring to be off to Lisfarne, with a budget of thanks to our necromancer."
We all dispersed after this library scene; the young people to shew Mr. Oliphant puppies, kittens, young pheasants, and sundry other live stock, which had either grown or been acquired during his absence, and I, after promising to walk with my aunt in an hour or two, filed off to my room to fold up this enormous volume. On looking over my journal before doing so, I perceived an omission: you desired me to tell you more of the tastes of my fair friends in dress, furniture, etcetera, I thought that I had given you a coup d'oeil which might have sufficed; but if you must have more, learn now, and for ever after hold your peace, that you may walk from top to bottom of this house without hitching your skirts in any of the fopperies of a modern boudoir. There is no danger of being entangled amongst a nest of spider-tables covered with china, or of overturning a chiffoniere burthened with flower-pots. There are no scraps of japan, nor odds and ends of any sort to molest a visitor, and interrupt conversation. Glenalta is furnished with simplicity and convenience: the general character, is that of chaste uniformity, without any thing of the drab of quakerism. A few good pictures ornament the walls both of drawing-room and parlour. Some handsome busts in bronze give a finish to the bookcases of the library; and the hall, which is light and airy, has a very good appearance as you enter the house. The furniture is solid, and there is every real comfort of polished life to be found in its place without any exhibition of finery or nick-knackery, if I may coin a word for the occasion.—Altogether the best idea I can convey of my aunt's dwelling, is by telling you what it is not: it is not a shew-house—it is not a fashionable house, neither has it the cold, raw, uninhabited look of an English provincial residence; but it is strictly clean, bright, easy looking, and has an air of unpretending elegance.
Now, as to dress, hang me if I know the names of any manufacture; but I told you before, that the cousins have very pretty figures, beautiful hair, and are always perfectly presentable. They do not wear the gaudy colouring of the French school, nor are they squeezed as if in a vice, to look like wasps, without any visible connecting link to unite the upper and lower parts of the body. There is a natural grace and gentility in every movement; and the effect is pleasing to the eye from the repose which it meets with, equally remote from excitement on the one hand, and torpor on the other.
What can I tell you more particular? And had I not better say Adieu at once, than add to this mighty mass of paper by further general description?
Your affectionate friend,
Arthur Howard.