The Argosy — page 85: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Eve: An Idyll. © 75 On their arrival the merriment was at its height, and it must be owned a prettier picture was never presented to the eye. The richly- wooded landscape wore its best attire in the leafy month of June. The sun shone brightly, birds carolled their sweetest, brooks prattled their loudest, and the perfume of flowers and new-mown hay filled the . air, till every sense was charmed. The picturesque old house was almost covered with creeping plants and climbing roses, and around it, on homely chairs and rustic benches, sat the elders of the village, in sober suits, with calm, yet happy faces, gazing on the scene; while the young people, gaily clad in the picturesque fashion of the day, danced to the sound of the fiddle, or sat beneath the trees, whispering the old, old story, to the music of sighs, It was, in short, an exceptionally pretty rustic gathering ; hosts and guests were alike removed far above poverty, without seeking to aim at gentility—less tempted perhaps to that rather perilous ambition, in those days of comparative little intercourse, than they might be now, when most classes are but a bad imitation of those above them. The bride and bridegroom especially were unusually interesting ; the bride lovely, and the bridegroom loving, as is beseeming ; and all the assembly seemed to sympathize with, and rejoice in, their happiness. Lady Millamant was introduced as a friend, and welcomed with rustic cordiality. Immediately the country lads, forgetting their sweethearts and their sports, turned to gaze with a mixture of awe and admiration at the travestied Countess, whose wonderful beauty, and an air of grace and refinement which no disguise could conceal, astonished as much as it delighted them ; but of all the band, one only stepped forward and approached her. A handsome, strapping young fellow, with a fine shape, and a bright blue eye, which seemed likely to make havoc in the hearts of the fair. His dress was plain, and might have been worn either by a gentleman engaged in country pursuits, or by a gamekeeper or farm bailiff as his Sunday suit. It was, at all events, neat, clean, and becoming, and was worn with an ease and grace that many a man of quality might have envied. He addressed the stranger, who was for the time being “‘ the cynosure of neighbouring eyes.” How the rustic swains longed to imitate the self-possession with which he chatted to the beauty. They only dared admire from a distance, whilst he bore her off in triumph to take part in the dance about to begin. Why, they asked one another, should he have a better chance than themselves? He was staying at a small inn in the neighbourhood, with neither servants nor equipage of any kind, passing his time chiefly in fishing, and might reasonably be supposed to be of the same class as themselves ; and they grumbled accordingly. But grumble as they might, they could not but admire, as the. pair comicbooks.comgg