TICKLER TAKES A NAP. 239 Tickler. My dear Shepherd, will you have the goodness to help me to wheel round yonder sofa-bed towards the right flank of the fire? Shepherd. Surely, sir-but you're no gaun to sleep? Tickler. Why, James, I waltzed from eleven last night till three this morning Shepherd. You what? Tickler. Waltzed, and gallopaded, and mazourka'd. Shepherd. The man's mad. [TICKLER lies down on the sofa-bed, and the SHEPHERD covers him cosily with cloaks. Tickler. Pastor Fido! Shepherd. I wunner what Procrusty would hae thocht o' you, sir?—Noo, dinna snore nane. Though I snore mysel, I canna thole't in ithers-that's a gude callant-say your prayers-shut your een-and gang to sleep. Hushabyhushaby-hushaby-hushaby! Remember me, sir, to a' your freens in the Land o' Nod-a strange shadowy set, an unaccountable generation-leevin unner laws that hae subsisted sin' the Fa', and enjoyin sic a perfeck system o' misrepresentation, that nae desire hae they o' Parliamentary Reform. And hence, a beaming Goddess with her Nymphs, By echo multiplied from rock or cave), Swept in the storm of chase, as Moon and Stars Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven, When winds are blowing strong. The Traveller slaked The Naiad. Sunbeams, upon distant Hills Gliding apace, with Shadows in their train, Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed The Zephyrs, fanning, as they passed, their wings, The Excursion, book 4. 240 A SUDDEN IMPULSE-ENTER THE FIVE HUNDRED. Tickler (indistinctly) "A plague on both your houses." Shepherd. His een's fast glazin—there's a bit snorie-and noo I think that may be safely ca'd sleep. (Starting up)—Mr North, haud ma hauns! North. Hold your hands! What do you mean, James? Shepherd. I was seized just then wi' a shudderin impetus to murder Mr Tickler-and had there been a knife on the table, I do devootly believe I would hae nicked his craig.1 North (taking his crutch from its corner). I cannot just exactly say, James, that I altogether like the expression in these eyes of yours at present. Burke indeed is dead-but his accomplices are yet alive Shepherd. Oh, man! but you're easily frichtened-you're a great cooard North (cautiously restoring the crutch to its corner, while he still eyes the Shepherd). Well then-well-James. Shepherd. Wheesht, sir-wheesht. Speak lown, and ring the bell saftly-for eisters, and we'll cheat Tickler out o' the brodd. [Enter the Establishment with the Oyster-boardthe Council of Five Hundred. North. Now, my dear James, let us suck them up silently -not to disturb Timothy's dreams. Shepherd. Excessive sappy! North. Very. Shepherd. Young though lusty-their beards are no grown yet-ay, here's ane wi' a pair o' whuskers North. The natural history of the oyster Shepherd. Oh, sir! but I'm fonder and fonder every day o' the study o' natural history. North. You have Bewick, I know, James, at your fingerends Shepherd. Na-you ken nae sic thing. I hae little or nae knowledge at my finger-ends, or my tongue-tip either-it lies a' in my brain and in my heart. When, at times, the ideas come flashing out, my een are filled wi' fire-and when the emotions come flowin up, wi' water; at least in the ae case there's brichtness, and in the ither a haze. Aften the twa unite, like a cloud, veilin, but not hidin, the sun-like radiance on dew, showin it mair translucent ere it melt awa on the spring buds or the simmer flowers-an evanescence o' 1 Craig-throat. BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORY. 241 liquid lustre, out o' whase bosom the happy thochts flee awa to ither regions o' delicht, like bees obeyin their instincks, that lead them, without chart or compass, to every nook in the wilderness where blaws a family o' heather-bells. North. I know you have the Journal of a Naturalist, published by Mr Murray-a delightful volume-perhaps the most so-nor less instructive than delightful-given to natural history since White's Selborne.1 Shepherd. You gied me't, and I never lend byucks you gied me- -for to lend a byuck is to lose it—and borrowin's but a hypocritical pretence for stealin, and should be punished wi' death Tickler. Without benefit of clergy. Shepherd. True, indeed, sir; a clergyman could be o' nae benefit to sic an unjustified sinner. North. But there is another work, James, called The British Naturalist, published by Whittaker, Treacher, and Arnott, Ave-Maria Lane, which I must send out to you by the carrier Shepherd. What for no gie't to me the noo, and I'll put it in my pouch? North. 'Tis not in the Snuggery. Indeed, at present, both volumes are with Mrs Gentle. The author is not only well versed in natural science, but he is a close observer of nature. He has a keen eye and a fine ear, and writes, not only with perspicuity, but, like almost all good naturalists, with eloquence. He views his subjects in those masses in which we find them grouped in nature; and the plant or the animal has been taken in conjunction with the scenery, and the general and particular use-and when that arose easily, the lesson of morality or natural religion. Shepherd. A plan, I jalouse, at ance natural and feelosofical. North. The woodcuts of the various animals and insects are designed and executed by Mr W. N. Brooke—and those of the lake and the brook by Mr Bonner, from drawings by Harry Wilson, Esq., who, by the way, has recently published some interesting Views of Foreign Cities. Shepherd. What mean ye, sir, by the Lake and the Brook? North. Why, the first volume of The British Naturalist con1 The Rev. Gilbert White, author of the Natural History of Selborne, was born in 1720, and died in 1793. VOL. III. 242 BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORY. sists of parts, entitled the Mountain, the Lake, the River, the Sea, the Moor, and the Brook. Shepherd. Be sure to remember no to forget to keep it in your mind, sir, to attend to drappin a hint to Mrs Gentle, that ye hae promised to send out the twa volumms o' The British Naturalist to Altrive-and should they only be in boards, you had as weel get them bun', plainly but strongly, for wee Jamie's mad about a' crawlin, creepin, soomin, and fleein things, and I think o' gettin him made an Honorary Member o' the Wernerian Society. North. I will send you out, at the same time, my dear James, Menageries, written, I am told, by my most amiable and ingenious philosophic friend, Charles Knight, Editor (?) of the Library of Entertaining Knowledge. The "Tower Menagerie," containing the natural history of the animals contained in that establishment, with anecdotes of their character and history Shepherd. That wull be a feast to my darling. North. -illustrated by portraits, taken from life, by that admirable artist, William Harvey, and engraved on wood by Branston and Wright, who stand in the first rank of their profession. Shepherd. He'll wear his dear een out-God bless him-on the lions, teegers, and leopards-for though a lamb in gentleness o' disposition, the fiercer the animal, the deeper drauchts o' delight drinks his imagination frae the rings o' their een, and the spats on their hide, sae wildlike wi' the speerit o' the sandy deserts, yet mair beautifu' than ony tame creturs that walk peaceably aroun' the dwellins o' men. North. The literary department has been superintended by E. T. Bennet, Esq., F.L.S., an active member of the Zoological Society-and much valuable assistance afforded by N. A. Vigors, the Secretary Shepherd. Erudite, I dout not, on a' manner o' monsters North. Zoologists, James, of the first order. To the same gentlemen we owe a similar work, equally beautiful—The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society, Vol. I., "Quadrupeds " Shepherd. Pit it intil the parshel. But dinna tak the trouble o' payin the carriage-for I'll no grudge it, nor a couple o' caulkers to the carrier, wha's a steady man, and never sleeps in his cart, nor, when she's heavily laden, even up-hill, loups QUAKER POETS. THE HOWITTS. 243 on to ease himsel on the tram-a dangerous practice, that has made many an honest woman a widow, and many weans orphans. North. Your head, my dear James, is now touching Howitt's Book of the Seasons. Prig and pocket it. "Tis a jewel. 2 [The SHEPHERD seizes it from the shelf, and acts as per order. Shepherd. Is Nottingham far intil England, sir? For I would really like to pay the Hooitts a visit this simmer. Thae Quakers are, what ane micht scarcely opine frae first principles, a maist poetical Christian seck. There was Scott o' Amwell,1 wha wrote some simplish things in a preservin speerit o' earnestness; there is Wilkinson, yonner, wha wons on a beautifu' banked river, no far aff Peerith (is't the Eamont, think ye?) the owther o' no a few pomes3 delichtfu' in their domesticity-auld bachelor though he be-nae warld-sick hermit, but an enlichtened labourer o' love, baith in the kitchen and flower garden o' natur;-lang by letter has me and Bernard Barton* been acquent, and verily he is ane o' the mildest and modestest o' the Muses' sons, nor wanting a thochtfu' genie, that aften gies birth to verses that treasure themselves in folk's hearts;-the best scholar amang a' the Quakers is Friend Wiffen, a capital translator, Sir Walter tells me, o' poets wi' foreign tongues, sic as Tawso, and wi' an original vein too, sir, which has produced, as I opine, some verra pure ore; and feenally, the Hooitts, the three Hooitts,-na, there may be mair o' them for aught I ken, but I'se answer for William and Mary, husband and wife, and oh! but they're weel met; and eke for Richard, (can he be their brither?) and wha's this was tellin me about anither brither o' Wullie's, a Dr Godfrey Hooitt, ane o' the best botanists in a' England, and a desperate beetle-hunter? 5 North. Entomologist, James. A man of science. Shepherd. The twa married Hooitts I love just excessively, sir. What they write canna fail o' bein' poetry, even the maist 1 Scott of Amwell, the author of Amwell and other poems; born in 1739, died in 1783. 2 Wordsworth has sung the praises of this gentleman's spade, in the verses beginning, "Spade! with which Wilkinson hath tilled his lands." 3 Pomes-poems. 4 Bernard Barton, a friend of Charles Lamb; born 1784, died 1849. 5 J. H. Wiffen; born 1792, died 1836. 6 Since this was written, Mr and Mrs Howitt have adorned our literature with many agreeable contributions. |