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visitors, they were glad, and they were sorry; on the whole, however, they rejoiced by two millions and a quarter, such being the surplus revenue of the year.

Last of all, I am hopeful because the lamps that have hitherto guided us will still be with us; and whether the new men will flare into brightness, flicker, or be snuffed out, we shall still have enough of light to see our way, and grope for a new Premier.

HOW OUR VILLAGE BECAME A CAPITAL

AND NEVER KNEW IT.

I LIVE in a "small neighbourhood," that is to say, I live in a circle so very limited that each of us knows perfectly every circumstance of the other his means, his tastes, his joys, troubles, and creditors. Were I, for instance, to try to palm off on this intelligent public any pleasing fiction about my having come to this remote spot to devote myself to that great historical work I am composing on Scandinavia, and of which I have already sold the French translation for twenty thousand pounds; or were I to attempt to ventilate the notion that Mrs O'Dowd and I are miserable at the forced separation we live in; that I am in daily pursuit of a beautiful house with beautiful grounds, a beautiful view, and beautiful gardens for her-devoted as she is to "the beautiful" in all things; there is nothing of either sex, over twelve

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years of age, would not laugh me to scorn. I repeat, that we all live with such accurate information about each other, that disguise or concealment would be the most miserable of all failures; and this same openness is more effectual in the suppression of many little affectations and snobberies than a régime of the most perfect good taste and good manners. We have public opinion in its most condensed form, like those patent essences, a spoonful of which is equal to a pint of the ordinary decoction; and I defy the most refractory spirit amongst us to brave its judgments or make light of its decrees.

I could no more dare to give sixpence more for the turbot in the market than my neighbour has offered, than I could make love to the wife of his bosom; for I know that the fishmonger must come down to his price, and it would be perfidy in me to enhance it.

In the same way I could no more pretend to suggest that our whist-points should be twenty centimes instead of ten, than I could assume to augment the income-tax. The man who would venture on such innovations would be hooted!

If there be some tyranny in this, as perhaps there is, it is not also without its advantage. It is a deathblow to all pretension, and to that worst form of pretension which consists in rivalry. We have none

of this.

The dietary of a workhouse is not more uniform than the entertainments we give each other. My leg of mutton is not a shade fatter, nor an ounce heavier, than my friend Simmons's next door; and I'll take good care that his chickens are not plumper than mine.

If I appear in a new coat a little earlier than my neighbours have come out in their fresh apparel, I am strictly careful to explain the circumstance, or attribute it to some disaster to my old one.

I have known public feeling even extend to the number of letters despatched or received by one amongst us, necessitating the precaution of having a portion of the correspondence addressed to a neighbouring village.

If I chafed a little at first at all this, I have learned to like it at last. In exchange for the pressure that I submit to, what a widespread freedom have I! If I be somewhat limited in my dealings with my own affairs, what a grand liberty do I enjoy with those of my neighbour! I should like to see how he would dare to give his daughter in marriage, to buy a new chimney-pot, or set up a wheelbarrow, without my cognisance and my approval.

With occasional little creaks and jars, our bearings, as the steam-engineers say, do get heated now and then; but I repeat, with slight occasional frictions,

the system works well-we have fraternity and equality, and perhaps as much liberty as is good for us. None of us ever travel, or if by any chance we do, we are especially minded to leave our foreign impressions with our contraband cigars at the frontier, and to re-enter our Happy Valley as simple-hearted, as bigoted, and as uninstructed as we quitted it.

If, however, we acquire little, we unlearn nothing, and time finds us only changed in aspect or activity -the soul is the same.

Strangers seldom come amongst us, and if they do, they soon take their leave. It is possible they find us dull-all exclusive societies are open to this reproach, and the Faubourg in Paris has long been deemed dreary by the "outsiders." Perhaps, too, we require for our due appreciation a closer view, a calmer inspection, a more careful examination than mere passers-through could afford us. There are certain pictures before which the connoisseur might be satisfied to sit long and patiently, waiting mayhap for the happy gleam of light here, or the half tint there, not impossibly aiding by a wet sponge the secret wealth of rich colouring to develop itself, and show what depth and power can come out of seeming blackness.

So say I of us. It is the eye of observant knowledge can alone see how beautifully "composed" we

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