COLLOQUY I. CHAPTER II. "Whate'er you see, whate'er you feel, display THE habitation of the individual with whom I had thus become acquainted, and for whom I was sensible of a sudden and singular interest, was situate in one of the pleasantest environs of London. The day was in a deep decline at the period of my presentment, but yielded still abundant light about the Lodge to display the neatness of its external aspect, which, as well as the arrangement of a limited parterre, bespoke its owner's sense of chasteness and propriety. The house was in its character more rural than, in that neighbourhood, suburban dwellings are in general; and whilst its size and situation might have adapted it for the retreat of a merchant, the absence of certain features pleasant to the eyes of a commerçant, convinced you that it was not the harbour of a merchantman, or that if it was, its appearance guaranteed his good taste and true gentility. [I protest, en passant, against any illiberal deduction from this remark, which merely implicates goût, not worth:-I rejoice over several clients in the commercial interest-all honorable men, very.] The entrance-gate opened by a peculiar catch, and formed part of a wooden fencing of lattice-work, which, being high and over-run with ivy, concealed from pedestrian passers-by the lower rooms of the Lodge. The house also was nearly covered with the same vagrant root, displaying two distinct hues that which grew upon the projections of the building being of a deeper green than that which overspread its recesses. A few vases and rustic flower-stands were dispersed in judicious display, and were garlanded with the snowdrop and primrose. And opposite the housedoor, and commanding obliquely the outer gate, a roomy kennel (also over-run with ivy) was established, from which there partially protruded the caput of a mastiff, "lifelike and awful to view," though merely carved and colored (as you discovered on a closer and keener |