One after the other, like
the antiphonies in the choral service, rise Fanny and the rose in June,
then back again the rose in June and Fanny. Then come both together, as
in a chorus--roses and Fannies, Fannies and roses, without end, thick
as blossoms in paradise. Then comes a venerable crocodile, in a royal
livery of scarlet and gold, with sixteen capes; and the crocodile is
driving four-in-hand from the box of the Bath mail. And suddenly we
upon the mail are pulled up by a mighty dial, sculptured with the
hours, that mingle with the heavens and the heavenly host. Then all at
once we are arrived at Marlborough forest, amongst the lovely
households [Footnote: "_Households_":--Roe-deer do not congregate
in herds like the fallow or the red deer, but by separate families,
parents and children; which feature of approximation to the sanctity of
human hearths, added to their comparatively miniature and graceful
proportions, conciliates to them an interest of peculiar tenderness,
supposing even that this beautiful creature is less characteristically
impressed with the grandeurs of savage and forest life.] of the roe-
deer; the deer and their fawns retire into the dewy thickets; the
thickets are rich with roses; once again the roses call up the sweet
countenance of Fanny; and she, being the granddaughter of a crocodile,
awakens a dreadful host of semi-legendary animals--griffins, dragons,
basilisks, sphinxes--till at length the whole vision of fighting images
crowds into one towering armorial shield, a vast emblazonry of human
charities and human loveliness that have perished, but quartered
heraldically with unutterable and demoniac natures, whilst over all
rises, as a surmounting crest, one fair female hand, with the
forefinger pointing, in sweet, sorrowful admonition, upwards to heaven,
where is sculptured the eternal writing which proclaims the frailty of
earth and her children.
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