It seemed to look round with a lordly air upon its
old hereditary domain, whose stillness was no longer broken by the tap of
the martial drum, nor the discordant clang of arms; and, as the breeze
whispered among its branches, it seemed to be holding friendly colloquies
with a few of its venerable contemporaries, who stooped from the opposite
bank of the pool, nodding gravely now and then, and gazing at themselves
with a sigh in the mirror below....
I entered, too, with some enthusiasm, into all the rural sports and
merrimakes of the village. The holidays were so many little eras of mirth
and good feeling; for the French have that happy and sunshine temperament
--that merry-go-mad character--which renders all their social meetings
scenes of enjoyment and hilarity. I made it a point never to miss any of
the fetes champetres, or rural dances, at the wood of Boulogne; tho I
confess it sometimes gave me a momentary uneasiness to see my rustic
throne beneath the oak usurped by a noisy group of girls, the silence and
decorum of my imaginary realm broken by music and laughter, and, in a
word, my whole kingdom turned topsy-turvy with romping, fiddling, and
dancing.
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