It was just six o’clock, when the sound of the porter’s bell, and the rolling of carriage-wheels, announced the approach of some important stranger to the lodge. It was Miss Villers. Were this a romance rather than an instructive history, we should, at once, charge our pencil with the glowing hues of the rainbow, and proceed to colour the outline which the imagination of the reader must have already sketched: but the character of the present composition fortunately renders such a task unnecessary; we say “fortunately,” for the magazines of romance have actually become insolvent from the numerous and heavy drafts of the novel-writer; the regions of fancy have been so despoiled of their blossoms, that scarcely a flower can be culled by him who would entwine a garland for the brow of his heroine; and such even as may have escaped the grasp of this voracious horde, will be found to have faded under the withering influence of those insects of literature, which, fluttering or creeping about their petals, have rendered their fragrance pestilential, and turned their honey into bitterness. Where can be found the emblem of that damask lip which, arched like the bow of Cupid, shot an unerring dart, whenever a smile relaxed its tension? We might describe the perfect symmetry of her form, but what language could convey to the mind’s eye the witcheries with which the graces had surrounded it? We might depict the features of her countenance, but how could we catch and fix the varying expressions which lighted it up with the magic glow of intelligence? We must, therefore, exercise the judgment of Timanthes, and leave the reader to the sway of his own imagination. ----- Footnote 46: Toxoph. ed. 1571. folio 166. Footnote 47: Markham’s Art of Archerie, 1634. Footnote 48: Gen. xlix. 23, 24. Footnote 49: MS. Cott. Claud. B. IV. Footnote 50: See Shakspeare’s Henry VI. Footnote 51: The ancient nobility of Greece were instructed by the Scythians in the use of the bow, which in those days passed for a most princely education. _Potter, Arch. Græc._ tom. ii. 1. iii. cap. 4. _Aquin. Lex. Milit._ ii. 260. Footnote 52: The ‘_but_’ was a level mark; the ‘_pricke_,’ a mark of compass, but certain in its distance; the ‘_roaver_,’ was a mark of uncertain length. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XV. _A curious dialogue between the Vicar and Miss Villers.--An enigma.--The riddles of Samson and Cleobulus.--Sound.--How propagated by aërial vibration.--Music.--A learned discussion touching the superior powers of ancient Music.--The magic of Music, a game which the author believes is here described for the first time.--Adventures by Moonlight.--Spirits of the Valley._