Coming events have already begun to cast
their shadows before. One enterprising
landlord, with a view to possible visitors,
has rushed into speculation, in the form of
two ornamental cottages, with great
prodigality of porch, parlours ten feet square, and
bed-rooms on the same lavish scale of extent.
Architecturally speaking, they are an
improvement on the rest of the town; which
appears to have been planned in a puritanical
frame of mind, with a view to the mortilication
of men's eyes. The houses turn their
backs upon the valley, and range themselves
irregularly round a space, in the centre of
which stands a quaint three-gabled market-
house. In the good days that are coming,
that ancient relic will most likely be swept
away with the besom of improvement. Yet,
hideous as it is, it is the only place in the
town of which a stranger would be likely to
inquire " What is that old building?"
Pilgrims to Wensleydale would not, however,
lack accommodation; for, besides those two
pretty nests aforementioned, there are several
good inns and private abodes where they
can take up a temporary rest. It would be
well worth the tourist's while to turn out of
the beaten track of guide-books, and stay his
feet here for a few days or weeks. If out of
love with the doings of the world, and
generally inclined to misanthropy, the pure air
would help to invigorate his mind, and be
better than any tonic to his frame. He
would have his eyes refreshed with wholesome
faces where, if nature has not traced
her most delicate lines, starvation and neglect
have not defaced humanity; his ears might
regale on the purest Yorkshire dialect, and
his heart be none the worse for seeing a good
understanding still existing amongst rich
and poor, with perhaps more of the spirit of
old times than is to be found in less benighted
countries. There is mutual dependence
and mutual interest between cottage and
hall. People get a fair day's wages for a
fair day's work; and the prejudices that will
linger in remote districts are respectable
kindly prejudices, which would be awfully
shocked to know that gaunt hunger in any
shape, was shivering within a stone's-throw
of a plentiful table.

In Wensleydale it true that there are
many wealthy people, and the population is
not great. The landlords live amongst their
tenants—quiet stay-at-home folks for the
most part—and so it would be hard for any
want to remain undiscovered, or any suffering
to pass long unrelieved. It is to be hoped
that amongst the improvements and innovations
that connection with the world beyond
Wensleydale may bring, there will come no
violent class prejudices—no rule for screwing
down the labourer's hire to the lowest
farthing, and no separation and opposition of
interests between great and small. If such
do come, the gate into the beautiful valley
had better never have been unclosed, and its
decent people would have been happier left
to their old-fashioned ways till Doomsday.

Twenty years hence, Leyburn may,
possibly, be a fashionable watering-place; for, it
has springs of some medicinal nature; but at
this present day it does not rejoice in many or
various amusements. A septennial ball, talked
of three months before date, and six years
after, travelling menageries and the Cirque
National, are its grandest dissipations of a
public character. People will drive six, eight,
or ten miles to dinner and back; but that is
a trifle in country neighbourhoods elsewhere,
as well as here. On the last visit of the
wild beasts, the valley was edified by the
sight of a polar bear, which the showman
stated to have been taken when sitting on an
iceberg in the torrid zone. No longer ago
than last summer, a select troupe of
equestrians, who had been patronised (according
to the bills) by all the royalty and nobility of
Europe, gave a splendid morning entertainment
in the afternoon; during the course of
which the tent was blown over by a sudden
storm, whelming in one common wreck the
best bonnets of the reserved seats and the
clown, the Italian brothers François and
Carlotta, and all the commonalty. Gentlemen
performed prodigies of valour in rescuing
everybody, and no ladies fainted. But
it was raining at the time, they wore
elegant raiment, and consequently longed for
speedy shelter. I believe there was a concert
once, but whether anybody went I do not
know. On second thoughts I will not certify
the concert at all, as I can tell nothing about
it; but a conjuror comes, about once in three
years, and does all the old tricks to delighted
audiences. That is much better than indifferent
music.

I feel some diffidence in returning to the
subject of the circus; but I should like
to mention two of the clown's jokes, which
were quite new to us in Wensleydale, and
excited most enthusiastic applause;
because, perhaps, nobody who reads this paper
may have heard them. Towards the middle
of the entertainment, the clown hoarsely
defied the gentleman with the whip—who had
been boasting of his skill in the culinary art—
to make a certain pie which he should name.
Expectation and interest rose to the point of
a broad grin. We were sure something
excessively funny was coming, and listened
breathless. When our curiosity had been
sufficiently tantalised, and we were all
privately guessing through the pie section of the
cookery-book to find out what it could be,
Mr. Clown asked, " Can you make a magpie?"
at which sharp question the valley was
convulsed—even the reserved seats—with
laughter. The other joke had relation to
the war in the East. The clown stated that
recruiting went on slowly; but that he had
discovered an infallible plan for sending
every man in the kingdom to Sebastopol.
He put his scheme up to competition; but, as