With this preliminary explanation, we shall refer the reader to the
succeeding narrative for a more minute, and we hope for a more interesting
account of the incidents of a legend that may prove too homely for the
tastes of those, whose imaginations seek the excitement of scenes more
stirring, or of a condition of life less natural.
Chapter II.
Sir, I do know you;
And dare, upon the warrant of my art,
Commend a dear thing to you.
King Lear.
At the precise time when the action of our piece commences, a fine and
fruitful season was drawing to a close. The harvests of the hay and of the
smaller corns had long been over, and the younger Heathcote with his
laborers had passed a day in depriving the luxuriant maize of its tops, in
order to secure the nutritious blades for fodder, and to admit the sun and
air to harden a grain, that is almost considered the staple production of
the region he inhabited. The veteran Mark had ridden among the workmen,
during their light toil, as well to enjoy a sight which promised abundance
to his flocks and herds, as to throw in, on occasion, some wholesome
spiritual precept, in which doctrinal subtlety was far more prominent than
the rules of practice.
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