horn. I can imagine, perfectly well, what kind
of effect such a mode of life would have had on myself.
And very few readers are likely to have within themselves
an intellectual and moral fibre of bent and nature
so determined, that they are not what they are, mainly
through the influence of the external circumstances
which have been acting upon them all through life.
Did you ever think to yourself that you would like
to make trial for a few days’ space, of certain
modes of life very different from your own, and very
different from each other? I have done so many
a time. And a lazy summer afternoon here in the
green shade is the time to try and picture out such.
Think of being to-day in a stifling counting-house
in the hot bustling town. I have been especially
interested in a glazed closet which I have seen in
a certain immensely large and very crowded shop in
a certain beautiful city. It is a sort of little
office partitioned off from the shop it has a sloping
table, with three or four huge books bound in parchment.
There is a ceaseless bustle, crush, and hum of talking
outside; and inside there are clerks Bitting writing,
and receiving money through little pigeonholes.
I should like to sit for two or three days in a corner
of that little retreat; and to write a sermon there.
It would be curious to sit there to-day in the shadow,
and to see the warm sunbeams only outside through
a distant window, resting on sloping roofs. If
one did not get seasick, there would be something
fresh in a summer day at sea. It is always cool
and breezy there, at least in these latitudes, on
the warmest day. Above all there is no dust.
Think of the luxurious cabin of a fine yacht to-day.
Deep cushions; rich curtains; no tremor of machinery;
flowers, books, carpets inches thick; and through the
windows, dim hills and blue sea. Then, flying
away in spirit, let us go to-day (only in imagination)
into the Courts of Law at Westminster. The atmosphere
on a summer day in these scenes is always hot and choky.
There is a suggestion of summer time in the sunshine
through the dusty lanterns in the roofs. Thinking
of these courts, and all their belongings and associations,
here on this day, is like the child already mentioned
when he puts his foot into a very cold corner of his
bed, that he may pull it back with special sense of
what a blessing it is that he is not bodily in that
very cold corner. Yes, let us enjoy this spot
where we are, the more keenly, for thinking of the
very last place in this world where we should like
to-day to be. I went lately (on a bright day
in May) to revive old remembrances of Westminster
Hall. The judges of the present time are very
able and incorruptible men; but they are much uglier
than the judges I remember in my youth. Several
of them, in their peculiar attire, hardly looked like
human beings. Almost all wrore wigs a great
deal too large for them; I mean much too thick and
massive. The Queen’s Counsel, for the most
part, seemed much younger than they used to be; but