liage. The beautiful and the vast blended
together; and the moment after you had beheld with delight a bed of
geraniums or of myrtles, you found yourself in an amphitheatre of
Italian pines. A strange exotic perfume filled the air: you trod on the
flowers of other lands; and shrubs and plants, that usually are only
trusted from their conservatories, like sultanas from their jalousies,
to sniff the air and recall their bloom, here learning from hardship
the philosophy of endurance, had struggled successfully even against
northern winters, and wantoned now in native and unpruned luxuriance.
Sir Ferdinand, when he resided at Armine, was accustomed to fill these
pleasure-grounds with macaws and other birds of gorgeous plumage; but
these had fled away with their master, all but some swans which still
floated on the surface of a lake, which marked the centre of this
paradise. In the remains of the ancient seat of his fathers, Sir
Ratcliffe Armine and his bride now sought a home.

The principal chamber of Armine Place was a large irregular room, with
a low but richly-carved oaken roof, studded with achievements. This
apartment was lighted by the oriel window we have mentioned, the upper
panes of which contained some ancient specimens of painted glass,
and having been fitted up by Sir Ferdinand as a library, contained a
collection of valuable books. From the library you entered through an
arched door of glass into a small room, of which, it being much out of
repair when the family arrived, Lady Armine had seized the opportunity
of gratifying her taste in the adornment. She had hung it with some
old-fashioned pea-green damask, that exhibited to a vantage several
copies of Spanish paintings by herself, for she was a skilful artist.
The third and remaining chamber was the dining-room, a somewhat gloomy
chamber, being shadowed by a neighbouring chestnut. A portrait of Sir
Ferdinand, when a youth, in a Venetian dress, was suspended over the
old-fashioned fireplace; and opposite hung a fine hunting piece by
Schneiders. Lady Armine was an amiable and accomplished woman. She had
enjoyed the advantage of a foreign education under the inspection of a
cautious parent: and a residence on the Continent, while it had afforded
her many graces, had not, as unfortunately sometimes is the case,
divested her of those more substantial though less showy qualities of
which a husband knows the value. She was pious and dutiful: her manners
were gracef