Septembkr 29, 1877.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

A FEW DAYS IN A COUNTRY-HOUSE.

Being the account of a "Modern Symposium " with a vengeance, or a " Nicht wi' Boodels o'
Buodels." After which there can't be much more to be said or done.

ccupied deeply
with Volume the

» s~ '/^^S^^W^^^^S^^S//^^ 1k\ Second of some
^SJvVsillSl&x —"V^Tv-^^^y / (Slll§§^f%l^ li most interesting

novel, and with
Volume the Third
in her lap (on
the "one-down-
t'other - come - on
principle," as our
new arrival,
young C a li op,
would say), Mrs.

buddebmee sits

ensconced in a
comfortable arm-
chair in the
corner. Miss

buddebmee has

retired. Buddeb-
meb the Bald is
on the sofa, with
a philosophic-
looking meer-
schaum pipe,
eager to air his
latest opinions
culled from the
Spectator, Satur-
day, Contempo-
rary, and Fort-

C«s so* \. - 'www»w «2s» nightly Reviews.

His great delight

is a philosophical literary conversation. Boodels has looked forward to such a Symposium as is
now represented in his smoking-room.

Buddebmer has suggested the artistic channel into which the conversation is to flow, by saying
profoundly (Buddermer the Bald is nothing if not profound) to Mum ley, " Have you read Ruskin'8
article on — " when he is interrupted by Gallop's question to Boodels —

" How are you off for rats here ? "

Caltop does not mean this as an interruption. But we are so placed, that no two of us can enter
upon a conversation without cutting into, and right across, the subject of at least two other, if not
three, separate conversations. Boodels is obliged to listen to Caltop, it being the latter's first
visit; and besides he is a neighbour.

Buddermer, pretending to ignore the rat theme which continues as an accompaniment to his
air, and worries him considerably, continues:

" i see that Ruskin is going to bring out a new work on Mediaval Forms. Now, judging from
his "-■

Here Mum ley cutsin with a reply :

" Judging of Ruskin from the Fors Clavigera, you were going to say ? Well, it is hardly fair
to form an opinion of a future Work by the opinions put forward in-"

I am deeply interested. I want to know something about Fors Clavigera. Is it a Poem ? or a
Treatise? or English P or Latin? Bat the more eagerly I attempt to listen to them, the more
distinctly rises, under my nose, the account of a little Terrier Dog catching rats, which is being
given by Caltop to Boodels, in a louder tone than he would have otherwise used, had not Milbukd
from his end of the room cut in, and asked how " Fanny " (the Dog's name) was getting on.

" Oh, first rate! " replies the Sporting Young Man. " I am telling the Governor here," he
alludes to Boodels as the Governor, never having met him before in his life! ''how she wired
into that old rat under the barn floor. She did tackle him to-rights! Rather ! " And here he
pauses, as if dwelling on the recollection of a picture which beggars description.

Availing ourselves of this voluntary cessation, Boodels turns slightly towards Mumley, and so
do I, politely intimating by this movement that we wish to drop rats and take up Ruskin. Mumley,
who has the parole, is naturally pleased. Triumph of Mind over Ratter. Buddermee foresees his
turn will come, and, without in the least attending to Mumley, rehearses mentally what he is next
going to say. I know this by his shutting his eyes and smoking slowly, as if he were weighing
his opponent's arguments.

"Ruskin," says Mumley, with a contemptuous air, "flatters himself he has founded a school
—but, in this respect, he does flatter himself. In what has he ever shown himself as either a critic,

or a true student of Art in its highest sense, but a man of one, narrow-"

" Have you got that Fox-Terrier still?" asks Milburd, not loudly, but in an under-current
of voice, that takes away, as it were, the legs of the dialogue which, but for this, would go on
swimmingly.

Caltop nods, and, burning to Boodels, asks,—
_ "Did you ever see that little liver-coloured, dog of mine?" No, Boodels hasn't; and, having
said this much out of sheer politeness, he tries to catch up the Ruskin subject again, which, at the
present moment, is stationary, merely keeping itself afloat by spasmodic efforts with the hands
against the under-current aforesaid. These efforts are apparently unnoticed by Caltop. I try to
help Mumley and Buddermee, who are struggling. I say,—

"Didn't Ruskin get a lot of Oxford Men to work for him during the Vacation at digging?"
(It is all I know of Mr. Ruskin, but I think it represents the latest popular idea about that eminent
individual.)

If Buddermee, or Mumley, would only catch at this rope, it would save them ; but they won't;

they are above it; they are bent on
discussing Ruskin and High Art.
They both nod assent and dismiss
me, as it were, as not coming up to
their standard of intellect, and Bud-
dermer commences instantly about
"Ruskin being, after all, a mere

dilletante professor who-" just

as Pogmoeb, tired of silence, and
anxious to bring the conversation
round to the only subject in which
he is personally interested, observes
to me (over their heads, as he is
standing up to help himself to soda
and-brandy), " I saw you at the
Wagner Concert. Didn't you think,"
&c.

But at this moment, whatever was
to have been his question, it is lost
in a reply made to Caltop by
Boodels, who has become suddenly
interested in the former's conversa-
tion, on account of his having judi
ciously praised one of Boodels' little
dogs (the nervous one that won't
answer to its name, and is frightened
at the sound of its own bells round
its neck).

" Yes," says Boodels, pleased with
Caltop, who is evidently a sporting
man, and an authority on dogs and
horses, " he is a very good breed."

" Oh, I can see that," says Caltop,
eying the little animal, which is
curled up on the rug fast asleep
" he has all the points of a thorough-
bred black and tan. You don't often
see one like that now-a-days."

"No," says Boodels; "I am
rather proud of that dog."

"You used to have a pu?," Mil-
burd says, from his side to Boodels.
" A lovely pug. You ought to have
seen that" he remarks to Caltop.

" Oh, I often saw that pug," cries
Caltop. "He used to come as far
as the corner of the lane by Sir
Martin Cruppem's house, and then
run back again. You know Crupper,
don't you ? " he asks of Boodels.

No, Boodels doesn't. As a matter
of fact, he says, he has never culti-
vated his neighbours. Mrs. Bud-
dermee looks up from her book at
the mention of Sir Martin. Bdd-
dehjiek has caught the name, and
evidently begins to have a better
opinion of Caltop.

" Georgy Maetindale and Lord
Geassmere, you know," says Cal-
top to Boodels, with a careless look
round, which Milburd replies to
with a nod of intelligence, " were
standing at Sir Martin's stable-
door, and we often tried to coax
your pug in, but he wouldn't come."

Boodels is immensely pleased.
He fills his pipe modestly, and
almost blushes as he remarks that
that pug was a dog for whioh he
could have taken a first prize had
he wished to compete at the Crystal
Palace Dog Show. From this mo-
ment it is all up with Ruskin and
music. I think that even the interest
of Mrs. Buddermee in Volume the
Second is momentarily diminished.
We all help ourselves (not for the
first time) to refreshments. Pipes are
replenished. Mrs. Buddebmer, say-
ing, pleasantly, that she is '' quite
accustomed to smoke" (which means
that she intends to sit up for her
husband), takes up Volume the
Third, and then we settle down into
talk about dogs, horses, stables.

vol. vaaXi. n