long consultation, to call the coach back; and with innumerable precautions, terrors, and lamentations, crossed the brook. It was necessary, after this delay to amend our pace; and directions were accordingly given to the coachman, when Anthea informed us that it was com mon for the axle to catch fire with quick motion, and begged of me to look out every minute, lest we should all be consumed. I was forced to obey, and gave her, from time to time, the most solemn declarations that all was safe, and that I hoped we should reach the place without losing our lives either by fire or water. Thus we passed on, over ways soft and hard, with more or with less speed, but always with new vicissitudes of anxiety. If the ground was hard, we were jolted; if soft, we were sinking; if we went fast, we should be overturned; if slowly, we should never reach the place. At length she saw something which she called a cloud, and began to consider that at that time of the year it frequently thundered. This seemed to be the capital terror, for after that, the coach was suffered to move on; and no danger was thought too dreadful to be encountered, provided she could get into a house before the thunder. Thus, our whole conversation passed in dangers, and cares, and fears, and consolations, and stories of ladies dragged in the mire, forced to spend all the night on a heath, drowned in rivers, or burnt with lightning; and no sooner had a hair-breadth escape set us free from one calamity, but we were threatened with another. At length we reached the house where we intended to regale ourselves; and I proposed to Anthea the choice of a great number of dishes, which the place, being well provided for entertainment, happened to afford. She made some objection to every thing that was offered; one thing she hated at that time of the year; another she could not bear since she had seen it spoiled at Lady Feedwell's table; another she was sure they could not dress at this house; and another she could not touch without French sauce. At last she fixed her mind upon salmon; but there was no salmon in the house. It was, however, procured with great expedition; and when it came to the table, she found that her fright had taken away her stomach, which indeed she thought no great loss, for she could never believe that any thing at an inn could be cleanly got. Dinner was now over, and the company proposed (for I was now past the condition of making overtures) that we should pursue our original design of visiting the gardens. Anthea declared that she could not imagine what pleasure we expected from the sight of a few green trees, and a little gravel, and two or three pits of clear water: that, for her part, she hated walking till the cool of the evening; and thought it very likely to rain; and again wished that she had staid at home. We then reconciled ourselves to our disappointment, and began to talk on common subjects, when Anthea told us that, since we came to see gardens, she would not hinder our satisfaction. We all rose, and walked through the inclosures for some time, with no other trouble than the necessity of watching, lest a frog should hop across the way, which Anthea told us would certainly kill her, if she should happen to see him. Frogs, as it fell out, there was none; but when we came within a furlong of the gardens, Anthea saw some sheep, and heard the wether clink his bell, which she was certain was not hung upon him for nothing, and therefore, no assurances nor intreaties could prevail upon her to go a step farther; she was sorry to disappoint the company, but her life was dearer to her than ceremony. We came back to the inn; and Anthea now discovered that there was no time to be lost in returning, |