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Ellen the Paper Doll
Cut-out paper Toys
Mazes
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our
stout walking-sticks in our hands to help us over the hills and
down the precipices which we may meet on our road. To our right
hand rises the Round Tower, a mighty Norman fortress, in the interior
of which is a curious museum of ancient armour and a choice gallery
of pictures. The vaults and dungeons, where the prisoners are confined,
make one's blood run cold to look at them. In the neighbourhood
of the Castle live the Amiable Ape, and the Tailor who rides on
the Goose, also the little Boy taken before the Magistrate for picking
a gentleman's pocket. To the left, on enter, are perceive the ruins
of an old Abbey. How delightful to rest at midday among those quiet
moss-grown towers, and repose under the cool shade of the silent
arches! But we have scarcely been resting a few minutes when we
hear a well-known "Roo-ti-too-ti-too!" and recognize the
voice of our friend Punch, who tells us that he has come, like ourselves,
on a visit to the Maze, and can neither get in nor out.
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we hear an organ, and see coming alone a merry little Saxoyard-boy
with his Monkey, who promises to show us the way if we will accompany
him. At the same moment a horse dashes by at full speed, leaping over
all the obstacles, with a Jockey on his back, and we can only suppose
that it is a steeple-chase! To tell all the wonders we meet in this
Maze would fill a whole book. Some scenes remind us of foreign lands;
a Venetian Palace, from the balcony of which a lady is waving her
handkerchief to a gay party in a distant Gondola; a Grecian Temple
and Archaway, a wild Alpine bridge. At another spot, we find a Military
encampment and open plain, on which stands a Windmill; and Circus,
in which and equestrian Juggler is riding on a bare-backed horse,
while overhead some excursionists, more daring than ourselves, are
exploring the realms of ether, supported in mid-air by a frail fabric
of silk! Presently we reach the shore and admire the stately Lighthouse:
"Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge." We shall
also have passed in the course of our wanderings some emblems of the
greatest of our native land; the crown, a sign of her dominion; the
cornucopia, of her plenty and wealth; and the ships transporting her
produce to far - off lands. At last, we arrive at our place of destination,
and, tired as we are, we still find strength sufficient to sigh with
heart and voice a stave of the glorious, spirit-stirring song, BRITANNIA
RULES THE WAVES! |
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