 | The works of Washington Irving |  |
FAMILY RELICS.
The dimple on her cheek: and such sweet skill
Hath from the cunning workman's pencil flown,
These lips look fresh and lively as her own.
False colours last after the true be dead.
Of all the roses grafted on her cheeks,
Of all the graces dancing in her eyes,
Of all the music set upon her tongue,
Of all that was past woman's excellence
In her white bosom; look, a painted board
Circumscribes all!
Dekker.
An old English family mansion is a
fertile subject for study. It abounds with
illustrations of former times, and traces
of the tastes, and humours, and manners
of successive generations. The alterations
and additions, in different styles of
architecture; the furniture, plate, pictures,
hangings; the warlike and sporting
implements of different ages and
fancies; all furnish food for curious and
amusing speculation. As the squire is
very careful in collecting and preserving
all family relics, the Hall is full of remembrances
of the kind. In looking
about the establishment, I can picture to
myself the characters and habits that
have prevailed at different eras of the
family history. I have mentioned on a
former occasion the armour of the crusader
which hangs up in the Hall. There
are also several jack-boots, with enormously
thick soles and high heels, that
belonged to a set of cavaliers, who filled
the Hall with the din and stir of arms
during the time of the Covenanters. A <