I shewed him a fine spoon I had made, or a neat basket which I had finished, he left me suddenly, ran through the whole hamlet, knocked at every window where he saw a light, disturbed our neighbours in their sleep, tired them with his unseasonable discourses, found every where wit, sound sense, simplicity, and honesty, honoured, at last, his mistress with a ballad of the time of Henry IV. or of Lewis XI. and persuaded her he had composed it for her that very day. When I returned with my gun or net, I generally went for him to her house, or delivered him from the teeth of some mastiffs, who could not conceive what business he could have in the street at so late an hour.
He made, however, excellent progress in his courtship. Annette had already confessed to him that she loved and preferred him to the rest of her lovers; and nothing but the marriage ceremony debarred him from the completion of his happiness. This was, however, a pointwith
