ld trees; and after they have begun to feel the touch of decay, it is
long before they look melancholy; for while they continue to be used,
they cannot help looking cheerful, and even dilapidation is painful only
when felt to be lifeless. The house now in ruins, that we passed a few
hundred yards ago without your seeing it--we saw it with a sigh--among
some dark firs, just before we began to ascend the hill, was many years
ago inhabited by Miles Mackareth, a man of some substance, and
universally esteemed for his honest and pious character. His integrity,
however, wanted the grace of courteousness, and his religion was
somewhat gloomy and austere, while all the habits of his life were sad,
secluded, and solitary. His fireside was always decent, but never
cheerful--there the passing traveller partook of an ungrudging, but a
grave hospitality; and although neighbours dropping in unasked were
always treated as neighbours, yet seldom were they invited to pass an
evening below his roof, except upon the stated festivals of the seasons,
or some domestic event demanding sociality, according to the country
custom. Year after year the gloom deepened on his strong-marked
intellectual countenance; and his hair, once black as jet, became
untimely grey. Indeed, although little more than fifty years old, when
you saw his head uncovered, you would have taken him for a man
approaching to threescore and ten. His wife and only daughter, both
naturally of a cheerful disposition, grew every year more retired, till
at last they shunned society altogether, and were seldom seen but at
church. And now a vague rumour ran through the hamlets of the
neighbouring valleys, that he was scarcely in his right mind--that he
had been heard by shepherds on the hills talking to himself wild words,
and pacing up and down in a state of distraction. The family ceased to
attend divine worship, and as for some time the Sabbath had been the
only day they were visible, few or none now knew how they fared, and by
many they were nearly forgotten. Meanwhile, during the whole summer, the
miserable man haunted the loneliest places; and, to the terror of his
wife and daughter, who had lost all power over him, and durst not speak,
frequently passed whole days they knew not where, and came home, silent,
haggard, and ghastly, about midnight. His widow afterwards told that he
seldom slept, and never without dreadful dreams--that often he would sit
up all night in his bed, wi