To George Mordaunt, Esq;
Friday.
WE returned yesterday about six in
the evening, and the moment we
alighted, my Lord leading us into the garden,
an unexpected scene opened on my
view, which recalled the idea of the fabulous
pleasures of the golden age, and could
not but be infinitely pleasing to every mind
uncorrupted by the false glare of tinsel
pomp and awake to the genuine charms of
simplicity and nature.
On a spacious lawn, bounded on every
side by a profusion of the most odoriferous
flowering shrubs, a joyous band of villagers
were assembled: the young men drest in
green, youth, health, and pleasure in their
air, led up their artless charmers, in straw
hats adorned with the spoils of Flora, to
the rustic sound of the tabor and pipe:
Round the lawn, at equal intervals, were
raised temporary arbors of branches of
trees, in which refreshments were prepared
for the dancers: and between the arbors,
seats of moss for their parents, shaded from
the sun by green awnings on poles, round
which were twined wreaths of flowers,
breathing the sweets of the spring. The
surprize, the gaiety of the scene, the flow
of general joy, the sight of so many happy
people, the countenances of the enraptured
parents, who seemed to live over again the
sprightly season of youth in their children,
with the benevolent pleasure in the looks
of the noble bestowers of the feast, filled
my eyes with tears, and my swelling heart
with a sensation of pure yet lively transport,
to which the joys of courtly balls are
mean.
The ladies, who were sitting in conversation
with some of the oldest of the villagers,
rose at our approach; and, my Lord
giving Lady Anne Wilmot's hand to my
father and honoring me with Lady Julia's,
we mixed in the rustic ball. The loveliest
of women had an elegant simplicity in
her air and habit which became the scene,
and gave her a thousand new charms:
she was drest in a straw-coloured lutestring
night gown, the lightest gauze linen, a
hat with purple ribbons, and a sprig of
glowing purple amaranthus in her bosom:
I know not how to convey an idea of the
particular stile of beauty in which she then
appeared.–Youth, health, sprightliness,
and innocence, all struck the imagination at
once.–Paint to yourself the exquisite proportion,
the playful air, and easy movement
of a Venus, with the vivid bloom of an
Hebe;–however high you raise your ideas,
they will fall infinitely short of the divine
original.
The approach of night putting an end
to the rural assembly, the villagers retired
to the hall, where they continued dancing,
and our happy party passed the rest of the
evening in that sweet and lively conversation,
which is never to be found but amongst
those of the first sense and politeness, united
by that perfect confidence which makes
the most trifling subjects interesting; none
of us thought of separating, or imagined
it midnight, when, my father opening a
window, the rising sun broke in upon us,
and convinced us on what swift and downy
pinions the hours of happiness flit away.
Adieu!
H. Mandeville.
