Two months passed, and the Senior Subaltern still educated The Worm, who began to move about a little more as the
hot weather came on.
"Last summer I went, as you know, to pass the
hot weather term in the town of Meridian.
It is the custom in India to send a certain number of invalids from each regiment up to stations in the Himalayas for the
hot weather; and though the men ought to enjoy the cool and the comfort, they miss the society of the barracks down below, and do their best to come back or to avoid going.
This man was in other respects too eager after notice, and seemed to many to live in a very affected manner, with his flowing locks and his expensive ornaments, and a coarse warm vest which he wore, not only in the winter, but also in the
hot weather. As he was very desirous of the character of a universal scholar, he was the first who, not being actually engaged in the management of public affairs, sat himself to inquire what sort of government was best; and he planned a state, consisting of ten thousand persons, divided into three parts, one consisting of artisans, another of husbandmen, and the third of soldiers; he also divided the lands into three parts, and allotted one to sacred purposes, another to the public, and the third to individuals.
"You will go down to Cornwall for the
hot weather, I hope?" he said.
He described the balls at Government House, and the manner in which they kept themselves cool in the
hot weather, with punkahs, tatties, and other contrivances; and he was very witty regarding the number of Scotchmen whom Lord Minto, the Governor-General, patronised; and then he described a tiger-hunt; and the manner in which the mahout of his elephant had been pulled off his seat by one of the infuriated animals.
The
hot weather of July had crept upon them unawares, and the atmosphere of the flat vale hung heavy as an opiate over the dairy-folk, the cows, and the trees.
Send us now the peerless Clavileno, that our misfortune may be brought to an end; for if the
hot weather sets in and these beards of ours are still there, alas for our lot!"
It was pointed at an angle of ninety degrees, and suspended upon truncheons, so that the president could balance himself upon it as upon a rocking-chair, a very agreeable fact in the very
hot weather. Upon the table (a huge iron plate supported upon six carronades) stood an inkstand of exquisite elegance, made of a beautifully chased Spanish piece, and a sonnette, which, when required, could give forth a report equal to that of a revolver.
He hath now a dozen horses and servants at Gloucester; and nothing would serve him, but last night, it being very
hot weather, he must cool himself with a walk to yon high hill, whither I likewise walked with him to bear him company; but if ever you catch me there again: for I was never so frightened in all my life.
He has more leisure for musing in Staple Inn and in the Rolls Yard during the long vacation than at other seasons, and he says to the two 'prentices, what a thing it is in such
hot weather to think that you live in an island with the sea a-rolling and a-bowling right round you.
The
hot weather made him indolent, and he had shirked his studies, tried Mr.