ROBINS AND STARLINGS.

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complete cockney I am, George. I am tolerably well acquainted with your friends the birds and bees, through my friends the poets; but I have very little personal knowledge of their habits, and various foods, so that most of what your brother and sisters have been telling me about their pets has been new and interesting to me."

"But now, as we have, I think, visited them all," said Mr. Warden, "suppose we set forth on our proposed walk."

As the party proceeded towards the house, that they might equip themselves with hats, bonnets, &c., Mr. Singleton repeated, for little George's amusement, some

LINES TO A SPARROW,

"WHO COMES TO MY WINDOW EVERY MORNING FOR HIS
BREAKFAST.

"Master Dicky, my dear,

You have nothing to fear,

Your proceedings I mean not to check, sir;
Whilst the weather benumbs,

We should pick up our crumbs,

So, I pry'thee, make free with a peck, sir.

"I'm afraid it's too plain

You 're a villain in grain;

But in that you resemble your neighbours;

For mankind have agreed

It is right to suck seed,

Then, like you, hop the twig with their labours.

"Besides this, Master Dick,

You of trade have the trick;

In all branches you traffic at will, sir;
You have no need of shops

For your samples of hops,

And can ev'ry day take up your bill, sir.

"Then in foreign affairs

You may give yourself airs;

In the way you like best,

And live high, without fear of mishap, sir;
You are fond of your grub,

Have a taste for some shrub,

And for gin-there you understand trap, sir.

"Tho' the rivers won't flow

In the frost and the snow,

And for fish other folks vainly try, sir;
Yet you 'll have a treat,

For in cold or in heat,

You can still take a perch with a fly, sir.

"In love, too, oh, Dick,

(Tho' you oft when love-sick

On the course of good-breeding may trample;
And though often hen-peck'd

Yet) you scorn to neglect

To set all mankind an eggsample.

"Your opinions, 'tis true,

Are flighty a few,

But at this I, for one, will not grumble;
So-your breakfast you 've got,

And you 're off like a shot;

Dear Dicky, your humble cum-tumble."

Out-of-door Sports-The long walk-Driving-Riding-SailingRowing Swimming-Skating-Archery-Shooting-Colonel Hamilton Smith's curious experiments on Aims and Colours-The Lunch by the Trout-stream-Angling.

66

"PLEASANT is horseback-the light strenuous dance upon the saddle; pleasant is rolling onward in a coach, all ease and cushion,' " quoted Mr. Singleton, as the party set forth on their walk. "Yes," continued he, a drive is all very well, very pleasant, very luxurious, and very dignifiedly indolent; but give me a good, stout walk, on my own stout legs, 'thoro' bush, thoro' briar, over park, over pale,' if I please so to stray in my course from the beaten carriage-road, to which driving confines me. 'Independence and a carpet-bag' is a good motto for travelling, as 'liberty

of rambling, and one's own legs,' is for seeing a beautiful neighbourhood to advantage."

"And yet a low, safe carriage, a quiet old horse, and a careful driver, are things not to be despised by an indifferent walker like myself," said Mrs. Warden, with a

smile.

"Papa has promised to give Mamma just such comforts," said William, "and I am to become the latter, and have the pleasure of driving her. Mr. Gathergem (who is an excellent whip) is going to teach me to drive; he has already told me two or three good hints how to manage, but he says he can only give me the finishing lessons by my spending a few days with him, when he 'll take me out in his chaise every morning, and I shall become a better coachman by watching him drive than by all the talkinglessons in the world. I believe," added he, in a confidential tone, "the fact is, he very kindly says this in order that Papa may allow me to go, knowing how much I should enjoy a visit to him at Moyston House."

"And what are the directions he has already given you, William ?" asked Bessie Mountain.

"Why, in the first place, he says the great thing is, to have a quick and accurate eye, a firm hand, a cool temper, and an entire conviction that, under any possible circumstances, you can and will be master of the animal you drive."

"Tolerably good requisites to begin with," said Bessie Mountain, smiling; "and do you think you shall possess these, William ? Because, remember, Mamma's neck, to say nothing of your own, will be in peril if you don't."

"I shall try for them, at any rate," said William; “for the fracture of Mamma's neck would involve that of all our hearts, so I shall take care and make myself a 'steady

driver' before I attempt to be her coachman. In the second place," resumed he, "the reins are to be held in the left hand, with a firm but light grasp; the near (that is, the left) rein passes between the thumb and first finger, and

the two first fingers separate the

near from the off (or right) rein. When held in this manner, a slight and almost imperceptible movement of the wrist is sufficient to tighten either rein, and thus to convey to

any horse with a 'good mouth' the wish of the driver that he should bear to one or other side of the road."

"Is there not some regulation about keeping particular sides of the road in driving?" asked Mr. Singleton, "I fancy I've heard something about 'If you go left, you go right; if you go right, you go wrong.'

"Oh, yes!" answered William; "in meeting another carriage, the law of the road is, that you should always take the left side of the road; in passing, you take the right. The rule of keeping to the left in meeting, Mr. Gathergem says, is invariable, except in the case of meeting led horses, that is, where a man on horseback leads one or more horses unattached to any carriage, by their bridles or halters. In this case, you take the right side; for, as the person leading the horses holds their bridles in his right hand, he has complete command over their heads only, and they might, if you took the left side, as usual, be tempted, from fright or fun, to bestow with their hind legs a passing salute, which might lead to awkward consequences."

"Awkward, indeed, for poor Mamma and her charioteer!" Isaid Bessie Mountain.

"By the bye," continued William, "he says the reins are, or at least always ought to be, made long enough to