ΤΗ

A FAIR MANSION OF OLD ENGLAND.

'HERE are many fair mansions in the "garden of England," many noble manorial halls and stately castles, but none, perhaps, of goodlier aspect, or more pleasantly situated, than Sir Philip Sidney's home at Penshurst. It stands upon an ample lawn in the green valley of the Medway, with swelling hills around, and patches of leafy woodland, gardens, bowers, and fertile meadows. No better description of it exists than that so boldly and felicitously drawn by Ben Jonson, in which he praises its walks for health as well as sport; its mount, where Pan and Bacchus made high feasts "beneath the broad beech and the chestnut shade;" its pasturage for "sheep, bullocks, kine, and calves;" its orchard fruit, its garden flowers. Commemorating, too, the well-ordered household by which the noble pile was tenanted, and the admirable example displayed before its youthful scions by its illustrious lord and lady:

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THE OLD MAN'S COMFORTS,

AND HOW HE GAINED THEM.

are old, Father William, the young man cried,
The locks which are left you are gray ;

You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

In the days of my youth, Father William replied,
I remember'd that youth would fly fast,
And abused not my health and my vigour at first,
That I never might need them at last.

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
And pleasures with youth pass away;

And yet you lament not the days that are gone,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

In the days of my youth, Father William replied,
I remember'd that youth could not last,

I thought of the future, whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past.

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
And life must be hastening away;

You are cheerful, and love to converse upon death,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

I am cheerful, young man, Father William replied,
Let the cause thy attention engage;

In the days of my youth I remember'd my God!

And He hath not forgotten my age.

Southey.