a blessing!” slowly and in a solemn tone.  “The oak alone goes far towards making this place a paradise.  In what other spot in the world, surely in none that I have hitherto visited, can you say confidently, it is perfectly impossible, physically impossible, that I should be disturbed?  Whether a man desire solitary study, or to enjoy the society of a friend or two, he is secure against interruption.  It is not so in a house, not by any means; there is not the same protection in a house, even in the best-contrived house.  The servant is bound to answer the door; he must appear and give some excuse:  he may betray, by hesitation and confusion, that he utters a falsehood; he must expose himself to be questioned; he must open the door and violate your privacy in some degree; besides there are other doors, there are windows at least, through which a prying eye can detect some indication that betrays the mystery.  How different is it here!  The bore arrives; the outer door is shut; it is black and solid, and perfectly impenetrable, as is your secret; the doors are all alike; he can distinguish mine from yours by the geographical position only.  He may knock; he may call; he may kick if he will; he may inquire of a neighbour, but he can inform him of nothing; he can only say, the door is shut, and this he knows already.  He may leave his card, that you may rejoice over it and at your escape; he may write upon it the hour when he proposes to call again, to put you upon your guard, and that he may be quite sure of seeing the back of your door once more.  When the bore meets you and says, I called at your house at such a time, you are required to explain your absence, to prove an alibi in short, and perhaps to undergo a rigid cross-examination; but if he tells you, ’I called at your rooms yesterday at three and the door was shut,’ you have only to say, ’Did you? was it?’ and there the matter ends.

“Were you not charmed with your oak? did it not instantly captivate you!”

“My introduction to it was somewhat unpleasant and unpropitious.  The morning after my arrival I was sitting at breakfast:  my scout, the Arimaspian, apprehending that the singleness of his eye may impeach his character for officiousness, in order to escape the reproach of seeing half as much only as other men, is always striving to prove that he sees at least twice as far as the most sharpsighted:  after many demonstrations of superabundant activity, he inquired if I wanted anything more; I answered in the negative.  He had already opened the door:  ‘Shall I sport, Sir?’ he asked briskly as he stood upon the threshold.  He seemed so unlike a sporting character, that I was curious to learn in what sport he proposed to indulge.  I answered—­’Yes, by all means,’ and anxiously watched him, but to my surprise and disappointment he instantly vanished.  As soon as I had finished my breakfast, I sallied forth to survey Oxford; I opened one door quickly, and not suspecting that there was a second, I struck my head against it with some violence.  The blow taught me to observe that every set of rooms has two doors, and I soon learned that the outer door, which is thick and solid, is called the oak, and to shut it is termed to sport.  I derived so much benefit from my oak, that I soon pardoned this slight inconvenience:  it is surely the tree of knowledge.”