x-hunt, at which I had seen Thomas Moore
and Samuel Rogers, Esquires; and a boxing-match, in which the athletic
author of "Pelham" was pitched against the hardy mountain bard,
Wordsworth. You see my education was not neglected, for though I have
never read the works of the above-named ladies and gentlemen, yet I knew
their names well enough.

Time passed away. I, perhaps, was never so brilliant in conversation as
when excited by the Asmanshauser and the brilliant eyes of Dorothea that
day. She and her parents had dined at their usual heathen hour; but I
was, I don't care to own it, so smitten, that for the first time in my
life I did not even miss the meal, and talked on until six o'clock, when
tea was served. Madame Speck said they always drank it; and so placing
a teaspoonful of bohea in a cauldron of water, she placidly handed out
this decoction, which we took with cakes and tartines. I leave you to
imagine how disgusted Klingenspohr and Schnabel looked when they stepped
in as usual that evening to make their party of whist with the Speck
family! Down they were obliged to sit; and the lovely Dorothea, for that
night, declined to play altogether, and--sat on the sofa by me.

What we talked about, who shall tell? I would not, for my part, break
the secret of one of those delicious conversations, of which I and every
man in his time have held so many. You begin, very probably, about the
weather--'tis a common subject, but what sentiments the genius of Love
can fling into it! I have often, for my part, said to the girl of my
heart for the time being, "It's a fine day," or "It's a rainy morning!"
in a way that has brought tears to her eyes. Something beats in your
heart, and twangle! a corresponding string thrills and echoes in
hers. You offer her anything--her knitting-needles, a slice of
bread-and-butter--what causes the grateful blush with which she accepts
the one or the other? Why, she sees your heart handed over to her upon
the needles, and the bread-and-butter is to her a sandwich with love
inside it. If you say to your grandmother, "Ma'am, it's a fine day,"
or what not, she would find in the words no other meaning than their
outward and visible one; but say so to the girl you love, and she
understands a thousand mystic meanings in them. Thus, in a word, though
Dorothea and I did not, probably, on the first night of our meeting,
talk of anything more than the weather, or trumps, or some subjects
which to such list