Often she tried, as gently as might be, to wean him from this fanatic worship of the Muses. It was his monomania; on all ordinary subjects he was sensible enough, and fain was she to engage him in ordinary topics. He questioned her sometimes about his place at Nunnely; she was but too happy to answer his interrogatories at length. She never wearied of describing the antique priory, the wild silvan park, the hoary church and hamlet; nor did she fail to counsel him to come down and gather his tenantry about him in his ancestral halls.

Often she tried gently to wean him from his fanatical worship of the Muses. On all ordinary subjects he was sensible enough. He questioned her sometimes about his place at Nunnely; she was happy to describe the area, and advised him to visit his ancestral halls. 