quoted, “truly affectionate and sincere in Mrs. Unwin’s manner.  No one can express more heartily than she does her joy to have me at Olney; and as this must be for his sake it is an additional proof of her regard and esteem for him.”  She could even cheerfully yield precedence in trifles, which is the greatest trial of all.  “Our friend,” says Lady Hesketh, “delights in a large table and a large chair.  There are two of the latter comforts in my parlour.  I am sorry to say that he and I always spread ourselves out in them, leaving poor Mrs. Unwin to find all the comfort she can in a small one, half as high again as ours, and considerably harder than marble.  However, she protests it is what she likes, that she prefers a high chair to a low one, and a hard to a soft one; and I hope she is sincere; indeed, I am persuaded she is.”  She never gave the slightest reason for doubting her sincerity; so Mr. Scott’s coarse theory of the “two women” falls to the ground, though, as Lady Hesketh was not Lady Austen, room is still left for the more delicate and interesting hypothesis.

By Lady Hesketh’s care Cowper was at last taken out of the “well” at Olney and transferred with his partner to a house at Weston, a place in the neighbourhood, but on higher ground, more cheerful, and in better air.  The house at Weston belonged to Mr. Throckmorton of Weston Hall, with whom and Mrs. Throckmorton, Cowper had become so intimate that they were already his Mr. and Mrs. Frog.  It is a proof of his freedom from fanatical bitterness that he was rather drawn to them by their being Roman Catholics, and having suffered rude treatment from the Protestant boors of the neighbourhood.  Weston Hall had its grounds, with the colonnade of chestnuts, the “sportive light” of which still “dances” on the pages of The Task; with the Wilderness,—­

    Whose well-rolled walks,
  With curvature of slow and easy sweep,
  Deception innocent, give ample space
  To narrow bounds—­

with the Grove,—­

  Between the upright shafts of whose tall elms
  We may discern the thresher at his task,
  Thump after thump resounds the constant flail
  That seems to swing uncertain, and yet falls
  Full on the destined ear.  Wide flies the chaff,
  The rustling straw sends up a fragrant mist
  Of atoms, sparkling in the noonday beam.

A pretty little vignette, which the threshing-machine has now made antique.  There were ramblings, picnics, and little dinner-parties.  Lady Hesketh kept a carriage.  Gayhurst, the seat of Mr. Wright, was visited as well as Weston Hall; the life of the lonely pair was fast becoming social.  The Rev. John Newton was absent in the flesh, but he was present in the spirit, thanks to the tattle of Olney.  To show that he was, he addressed to Mrs. Unwin a letter of remonstrance on the serious change which had taken place in the habits of his spiritual children.  It was answered by her companion, who in repelling the censure mingles the dignity of self-respect with a just appreciation of the censor’s motives, in a style which showed that although he was sometimes mad, he was not a fool.