Such were the newspaper accounts from the country during the latter
part of November; but there was seen a fairer prospect from the
carriage windows of Sir Robert Somerset, when he and his gladdened
party, one bright morning, on quitting the splashy environs of
Hammersmith and Brentford, entered the broad expanse of Hounslow
Heath, on their way into Warwickshire, and beheld its wide common
covered with a fair carpet of spotless snow. Winter had then
seriously, or, rather, smilingly, set in. It was the 10th of
December; and the baronet, having signed and sealed all things
necessary to transfer with perfect satisfaction himself and family
(as was always his custom at this homeward season), now set forth to
one or other of his ancient domains, to pass his Christmas in the
bosom of an enlarged and a grateful domestic happiness. Thus, year
after year, he diffused from each of those parental mansions that
bounteous hospitality to high and low which he considered to be an
especial duty in an English gentleman, whether in the character of
"landlord" to noble guests and respected neighbors, or to wayfaring
strangers passing by; or, while graciously mingling with his widely-
established tenantry, or his equally regarded daily guests at this
"holy festival," the virtuous, lowly peasantry, laborers on the land.
Then smiled the cottager, with honest consciousness of yeoman worth,
when seated in the great hall, under the eye of his munificent lord,
who partook of the general feast.
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