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diff --git a/old/11160-8.txt b/old/11160-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..307fa2e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11160-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12520 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Cotswold Village, by J. Arthur Gibbs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Cotswold Village + +Author: J. Arthur Gibbs + +Release Date: February 19, 2004 [EBook #11160] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COTSWOLD VILLAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Morgan, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: _Photo, W. Shawncross, Guildford_.] + +[_Frontispiece_. J. ARTHUR GIBBS.] + + + + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE + +OR COUNTRY LIFE AND PURSUITS IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE + +BY J. ARTHUR GIBBS + + "Go, little booke; God send thee good passage, + And specially let this be thy prayere + Unto them all that thee will read or hear, + Where thou art wrong after their help to call, + Thee to correct in any part or all." + + GEOFFREY CHAUCER. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + +1918 + + + + +PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION + + +Before the third edition of this work had been published the author +passed away, from sudden failure of the heart, at the early age of +thirty-one. Two or three biographical notices, written by those who +highly appreciated him and who deeply mourn his loss, have already +appeared in the newspapers; and I therefore wish to add only a few words +about one whose kind smile of welcome will greet us no more in +this life. + +Joseph Arthur Gibbs was one of those rare natures who combine a love of +outdoor life, cricket and sport of every kind, with a refined and +scholarly taste for literature. He had, like his father, a keen +observation for every detail in nature; and from a habit of patient +watchfulness he acquired great knowledge of natural history. From his +grandfather, the late Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, he inherited his taste +for literary work and the deep poetical feeling which are revealed so +clearly in his book. On leaving Eton, he wrote a _Vale_, of which his +tutor, Mr. Luxmoore, expressed his high appreciation; and later on, +when, after leaving Oxford, he was living a quiet country life, he +devoted himself to literary pursuits. + +He was not, however, so engrossed in his work as to ignore other duties; +and he was especially interested in the villagers round his home, and +ever ready to give what is of greater value than money, personal trouble +and time in finding out their wants and in relieving them. His unvarying +kindness and sympathy will never be forgotten at Ablington; for, as one +of the villagers wrote in a letter of condolence on hearing of his +death, "he went in and out as a friend among them." With all his +tenderness of heart, he had a strict sense of justice and a clear +judgment, and weighed carefully both sides of any question before he +gave his verdict. + +Arthur Gibbs went abroad at the end of March 1899 for a month's trip to +Italy, and in his Journal he wrote many good descriptions of scenery and +of the old towns; and the way in which he describes his last glimpse of +Florence during a glorious sunset shows how greatly he appreciated its +beauty. In his Journal in April he dwells on the shortness of life, and +in the following solemn words he sounds a warning note:-- + +"Do not neglect the creeping hours of time: 'the night cometh when no +man can work.' All time is wasted unless spent in work for God. The best +secular way of spending the precious thing that men call time is by +making always for some grand end--a great book, to show forth the +wonders of creation and the infinite goodness of the Creator. You must +influence for _good_ if you write, and write nothing that you will +regret some day or think trivial." + +These words, written a month before the end came, tell their own tale. +The writer of them had a deep love for all things that are "lovely, +pure, and of good report"; and in his book one sees clearly the +adoration he felt for that God whom he so faithfully served. There are +many different kinds of work in this world, and diversities of gifts; to +him was given the spirit to discern the work of God in Nature's glory, +and the power to win others to see it also. He had a remarkable +influence for good at Oxford, and the letters from his numerous friends +and from his former tutor at Christ Church show that this influence has +never been forgotten, but has left its mark not only on his college, but +on the university. + +Like his namesake and relative, Arthur Hallam, of immortal memory, +Arthur Gibbs had attained to a purity of soul and a wisdom which were +not of this world, at an earlier age than is given to many men; and so +in love and faith and hope-- + + "I would the great world grew like thee, + Who grewest not alone in power + And knowledge; but by year and hour + In reverence and charity." + + LAURA BEATRICE GIBBS. + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + +To those of my readers who have ever lived beside a stream, or in an +ancient house or time-honoured college, there will always be a peculiar +charm in silvery waters sparkling beneath the summer sun. To you the +Gothic building, with its carved pinnacles, its warped gables, its +mullioned casements and dormer windows, the old oak within, the very +inglenook by the great fireplace where the old folks used to sit at +home, the ivy trailing round the grey walls, the jessamine, roses, and +clematis that in their proper seasons clustered round the porch,--to you +all these things will have their charm as long as you live. Therefore, +if these pages appeal not to some such, it will not be the subject that +is wanting, but the ability of the writer. + +It is not claimed for my Cotswold village that it is one whit prettier +or pleasanter or better in any way than hundreds of other villages in +England; I seek only to record the simple annals of a quiet, +old-fashioned Gloucestershire hamlet and the country within walking +distance of it. Nor do I doubt that there are manor houses far more +beautiful and far richer in history even within a twenty-mile radius of +my own home. For instance, the ancient house of Chavenage by Tetbury, or +in the opposite direction, where the northern escarpments of the +Cotswolds rise out of the beautiful Evesham Vale, those historic +mediaeval houses of Southam and Postlip. + +It is often said that in books like these we paint arcadias that never +did and never could exist on earth. To this I would answer that there +are many such abodes in country places, if only our minds are such as to +realise them. And, above all, let us be optimists in literature even +though we may be pessimists in life. Let us have all that is joyous and +bright in our books, and leave the trials and failures for the realities +of life. Let us in our literature avoid as much as possible the painful +side of human nature and the pains and penalties of human weakness; let +us endeavour to depict a state of existence as far as possible +approaching the Utopian ideal, though not necessarily the Nirvana of the +Buddhists nor the paradise of fools; let us look not downwards into the +depths of black despair, but upwards into the starry heavens; let us +gaze at the golden evening brightening in the west. Richard Jefferies +has taught us that such a literature is possible; and if we read his +best books, we may some day be granted that fuller soul he prayed for +and at length obtained. Would that we could all hear, as he heard, the +still small voice that whispers in the woods and among the wild flowers +and the spreading foliage by the brook! + +To any one who might be thinking of becoming for the time being "a +tourist," and in that capacity visiting the Cotswolds, my advice is, +"Don't." There is really nothing to see. There is nothing, that is to +say, which may not be seen much nearer London. And I freely confess that +most of the subjects included in this book are usually deemed unworthy +of consideration even in the district itself. Still, there are a few who +realise that every county in England is more or less a mine of interest, +and for such I have written. Realising my limitations, I have not gone +deeply into any single subject; my endeavour has been to touch on every +branch of country life with as light a hand as possible--to amuse rather +than to instruct. For, as Washington Irving delightfully sums up the +matter: "It is so much pleasanter to please than to instruct, to play +the companion rather than the preceptor. What, after all, is the mite of +wisdom that I could throw into the mass of knowledge? or how am I sure +that my sagest deductions may be safe guides for the opinions of others? +But in writing to amuse, if I fail, the only evil is in my own +disappointment. If, however, I can by any lucky chance rub out one +wrinkle from the brow of care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment +of sorrow; if I can now and then penetrate through the gathering film of +misanthropy, prompt a benevolent view of human nature, and make my +reader more in good humour with his fellow beings and himself, surely, +surely, I shall not then have written in vain." + +The first half of Chapter II. originally appeared in the _Pall Mall +Magazine_. Portions of Chapters VII. and VIII., and "The Thruster's +Song," have also been published in _Baily's Magazine_. My thanks are due +to the editors for permission to reproduce them. Chapter XII. owes its +inspiration to Mr. Madden's excellent work on Shakespeare's connection +with sport and the Cotswolds, the "Diary of Master William Silence." We +have no local tradition of any kind about Shakespeare. + +I am indebted to Miss E.F. Brickdale for the pen-and-ink sketches, and +to Colonel Mordaunt for his beautiful photographs. Three of the +photographs, however, are by H. Taunt, of Oxford, and a similar number +are by Mr. Gardner, of Fairford. + +_September 1898_. + + + +CONTENTS + +PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + +CHAPTER I. + +FLYING WESTWARDS + +The Thames Valley--The Old White Horse--Entering the Cotswolds. + +CHAPTER II. + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE + +Far from the Madding Crowd--An Old Farmhouse and Its Occupants--The +Manor House--Inscription on Porch--Interior of the House--The Garden--A +Fairy Spring--The Village Club--Labouring Folk--Village Politics--The +Trout Stream--Flowing Seawards--Village Architecture--The Charm of +Antiquity--The Spirit of Sacrifice--Wayside Crosses--Tithe Barns. + +CHAPTER III. + +VILLAGE CHARACTERS + +Quaint Hamlet Folk--The Village Impostor--Rural Economy--Stories of the +People--A Curious Analogy--Tom Peregrine, the Keeper--A Standing +Dish--A Great Character--Peregrine's Accomplishments and +Proclivities--Farmers and Foxes--Concerning Churchwardens--The Village +Quack--An Excellent Prescription--His Lecture--How the Old Fox was +Found--A Good Sort--Heroes of the Hamlet--Political Meetings--Humours of +the Poll--Gloucestershire Farmers. + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LANGUAGE OF THE COTSWOLDS, WITH SOME ANCIENT SONGS AND LEGENDS + +Strange Travellers--Smoking Concerts--The Carter's Song--Village +Choirs--The Chedworth Band--Sense of Humour of the Natives--Their +Geography "a Bit Mixed"--A Large Family--_Noblesse Oblige_--Rustic +Legends--Names of Fields--The Cotswold Dialect--How to Talk It--An +Ancient Ballad--Tom Peregrine Recites--Roger Plowman's Excursion--An +Expensive Luncheon--Oxtail Soup--"The Turmut Hower." + +CHAPTER V. + +ON THE WOLDS + +Varied Amusements--Nature on the Hills--The Mysteries of +Scent--Partridge-Shooting--A Mixed Bag--Plover--Pigeon-Shooting with +Decoys--Bird Life--Sunset on the Downs--A Wild, Deserted Country--An +Old Dog Fox. + +CHAPTER VI. + +A GALLOP OVER THE WALLS + +An October Meet--Cub-Hunting--The Old Fox Again! A Fast Gallop over the +Walls--The Charm of Uncertainty--Fliers of the Hunt--A Narrow Escape--A +Check--A Reliable Hound--Failure of Scent--An Excellent Tonic. + +CHAPTER VII. + +A COTSWOLD TROUT STREAM + +Loch Leven Trout--Curious Capture of an Eel--The Author Catches a +Red-Herring--Macomber Falls--A Sad Episode--South Country +Streams--Course of the Coln--Charles Kingsley on Fishing--A May-Fly +Stream--Evening Fishing--Dry-Fly Dogmas--Flies for the Coln--Scarcity of +Poachers--An Evening Walk by the River--Spring's Delights. + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHEN THE MAY-FLY IS UP + +Derby Day on the Coln--A Good Sportsman--The Right Fly--Pleasures of the +Country--Peregrine's Quaint Expressions--Sport with the Olive Dun--A +Fine Trout--Effects of Sheep-Washing--A Good Basket--Life by the +Brook--A Summer's Night--In the Heart of England. + +CHAPTER IX. + +BURFORD, A COTSWOLD TOWN + +Curious Names--The Windrush--Burford Priory--An Empty Shell--The +Kingmaker--Lord Falkland--Speaker Lenthall--Bibury Races--An Old +Tradition--Valued Relics--Burford Church--Mr. Oman's Discovery--Burford +during the Civil Wars. + +CHAPTER X. + +STROLL THROUGH THE COTSWOLDS + +The Old Coaching Days--Fairford--Anglo-Saxon +Relics--Hatherop--Coln-St.-Aldwyns--The "Knights Templar" of +Quenington--A Haunt of Ancient Peace--Bibury Village--Ancient +Barrows--The Prehistoric Age--Deserted Villages--The Philosopher's +Stone--True Nobleness--On Battues--Roman Remains--Chedworth Woods--An +Old Manor House. + +CHAPTER XI. + +COTSWOLD PASTIMES + +Whitsun Ale--Sports of Various Kinds--The Peregrine Family at +Cricket--_Prehistoric_ Cricket--A Bad Ground--A "Pretty" Ball--Charles +Dickens on Cricket--Dumkins and Podder, Limited--How Dumkins Hit a +"Sixer"--Downfall of "Podder"--Bourton-on-the-Water C.C.--A +Plague of Wasps--The Treatment of Cricket Grounds--The Author's +Recipe--Reflections on Modern Cricket. + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE COTSWOLDS THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. + +The Centre of Elizabethan Sport--A Digression on South Africa--The Halo +of Association--A Day's Stag-Hunting in 1592--A Benighted Sportsman--"A +Goodly Dwelling and a Rich"--An Old English Gentleman--Shakespeare on +Hounds--He Describes the Run--The Death of the Stag--The Ancestral +Peregrine--Bacon not Wanted--A "Black Ousel"--The Charm of +Music--Shakespeare's Dream--A Hawking Expedition--Peregrine, the Parson, +and the Poet--Methods and Language of Falconry--A Flight at a +Heron--Peregrine Views a Fox. + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CIRENCESTER + +Roman Remains--The Corinium Museum--The Church--Cirencester House--The +Park--The Abbey--The "Mop" or Hiring Fair--A Great Hunting Centre--A +Varied Country--The Badminton Hounds--Lord Bathurst's Hounds--The +Cotswold Hounds--Charles Travess--A Born Genius--The Cricklade +Hounds--The Right Sort of Horse--The Oaksey District--The Heythrop +Hounds--A Defence of Hard Riding--A Day in the Vale--A Hunting Poem. + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SPRING IN THE COTSWOLDS + +Habits of Moorhens--Mallard and Swan--Nuthatches--Woodpeckers--Humane +Traps--Badgers--Fox-terriers--Scotch +Deerhounds--Retrievers--Cray-fish--The +Rookery--Jackdaws--Foxes--Artificial Earths--Fox among Sheep--Foxes and +Fowls--Poultry Claims--Observations on Scent--The Hygrometer--How Trout +are Netted--Scarcity of Otters--Water-Voles. + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PROMISE OF MAY + +Wild Flowers--Cottage Gardens--The Paths of Literature--Description of a +Horse--Beauty of Trees--Their Loss Irreparable as the Loss of Friends--A +Fine Type of Englishman--Lines in Memory of W.D. Llewelyn. + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SUMMER DAYS ON THE COTSWOLDS + +A Walk in the Fields--Hedgerow Flowers--The Brookside--By "the +Pill"--Remarks on Gray--A Fine Piece of Miniature Scenery--The Cricket +Ground--The Book of Nature--At the Ford--Habits of Observation--In the +Conyger Wood--The Home of the Kingfisher--A Limestone Quarry--The Great +Stone Floor of the Earth--Nature's Endless Cycle--Beauty of the +Ash--Hedgehogs--Trout and Snake--Sunset on the Hills. + +CHAPTER XVII. + +AUTUMN + +Remarks on Country Life--Thrashing--The Flail--Gipsies--Harvest +Feasts--Fifty Years Ago--The Wolds in Autumn--By the +Stream--Wildfowl--Migration of Birds--Lapwings--Winter +Visitants--Thunderstorms--Glow-Worms--A Brilliant Meteor--Night on the +Hills--The "Blowing-Stone"--Christmas Day on the Cotswolds--A Solar +Halo--Hamlet Festivities--Tom Peregrine Baffled--The Mummers Play--The +Victorian Era--The True Days of "Merrie England"--_Carpe Diem_. + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN + +A Glorious Panorama--Peregrine as Secretary--The Light of Setting +Suns--Conclusion. + +APPENDIX. + +GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN + +INDEX + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MESSRS. SHAWCROSS. + +STOKE POGES CHURCH. + +THE OLD MANOR HOUSE. + +INSCRIPTION ON PORCH OF MANOR HOUSE. + +INTERIOR OF MANOR HOUSE. + +IN THE GARDEN. + +A COTSWOLD MANOR HOUSE. + +COTSWOLD COTTAGES. + +A FARMHOUSE BY THE COLN. + +AN OLD COTTAGE. + +THE HAMLET. + +ON THE WOLDS. + +OXEN PLOUGHING. + +THE OLD CUSTOMER. + +THE OLD MILL, ABLINGTON. + +THE COLN NEAR BIBURY. + +A BRIDGE OVER THE COLN. + +A DISH OF FISH. + +BURFORD PRIORY. + +BURFORD PRIORY. + +THE MANOR HOUSE, COLN-ST.-ALDWYNS. + +BIBURY STREET. + +ARLINGTON ROW. + +VILLAGE CRICKETERS. + +HAWKING. + +BIBURY COURT. + +THE ABBEY GATEWAY, CIRENCESTER. + +MARKET-PLACE, CIRENCESTER. + +AN OLD BARN. + +THE "PILL" BRIDGE. + +IN BIBURY VILLAGE. + +SIDE VIEW OF MANOR HOUSE. + +BIBURY MILL. + +BELOW THE "PILL". + +ABLINGTON MANOR. + +AN OLD-FASHIONED LABOURING COUPLE. + +COLN-ST.-ALDWYNS. + +[Illustration: Stoke Poges Church. 019.png] + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FLYING WESTWARDS. + +London is becoming miserably hot and dusty; everybody who can get away +is rushing off, north, south, east, and west, some to the seaside, +others to pleasant country houses. Who will fly with me westwards to the +land of golden sunshine and silvery trout streams, the land of breezy +uplands and valleys nestling under limestone hills, where the scream of +the railway whistle is seldom heard and the smoke of the factory +darkens not the long summer days? Away, in the smooth "Flying Dutchman"; +past Windsor's glorious towers and Eton's playing-fields; past the +little village and churchyard where a century and a half ago the famous +"Elegy" was written, and where, hard by "those rugged elms, that +yew-tree's shade," yet rests the body of the mighty poet, Gray. How +those lines run in one's head this bright summer evening, as from our +railway carriage we note the great white dome of Stoke House peeping out +amid the elms! whilst every field reminds us of him who wrote those +lilting stanzas long, long ago. + + "Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade! + Ah, fields, beloved in vain! + Where once my careless childhood strayed, + A stranger yet to pain: + I feel the gales that from ye blow + A momentary bliss bestow; + As waving fresh their gladsome wing + My weary soul they seem to soothe, + And redolent of joy and youth, + To breathe a second spring." + +But soon we are flashing past Reading, where Sutton's nursery gardens +are bright with scarlet and gold, and blue and white; every flower that +can be made to grow in our climate grows there, we may be sure. But +there is no need of garden flowers now, when the fields and hedges, even +the railway banks, are painted with the lovely blue of wild geraniums +and harebells, the gold of birdsfoot trefoil and Saint John's wort, and +the white and pink of convolvulus or bindweed. We are passing through +some of the richest scenery in the Thames valley. There, on the right, +is Mapledurham, a grand mediaeval building, surrounded by such a wealth +of stately trees as you will see nowhere else. The Thames runs +practically through the grounds. What a glorious carpet of gold is +spread over these meadows when the buttercups are in full bloom! Now +comes Pangbourne, with its lovely weir, where the big Thames trout love +to lie. Pangbourne used to be one of the prettiest villages on the +river; but its popularity has spoilt it. + +As we pass onwards, many other country houses--Purley, Basildon, and +Hardwick--with their parks and clustering cottages, add their charm to +the view. There are the beautiful woods of Streatley: hanging copses +clothe the sides of the hills, and pretty villages nestle amid the +trees. But soon the scene changes: the glorious valley Father Thames has +scooped out for himself is left behind; we are crossing the chalk +uplands. On all sides are vast stretches of unfenced arable land, though +here and there a tiny village with its square-towered Norman church +peeps out from an oasis of green fields and stately elm trees. On the +right the Chiltern Hills are seen in the background, and Wittenham Clump +stands forth--a conspicuous object for miles. The country round Didcot +reminds one very much of the north of France: between Calais and Paris +one notices the same chalk soil, the same flat arable fields, and the +same old-fashioned farmhouses and gabled cottages. + +But now we have entered the grand old Berkshire vale. "Fields and +hedges, hedges and fields; peace and plenty, plenty and peace. I should +like to take a foreigner down the vale of Berkshire in the end of May, +and ask him what he thought of old England." Thus wrote Charles Kingsley +forty years ago, when times were better for Berkshire farmers. But the +same old fields and the same old hedges still remain--only we do not +appreciate them as much as did the author of "Westward Ho!" + +Steventon, that lovely village with its gables and thatched roofs, its +white cottage walls set with beams of blackest oak, its Norman church in +the midst of spreading chestnuts and leafy elms, appears from the +railway to be one of the most old-fashioned spots on earth. This vale is +full of fine old trees; but in many places the farmers have spoilt their +beauty by lopping off the lower branches because the grass will not grow +under their wide-spreading foliage. It is only in the parks and +woodlands that the real glory of the timber remains. + +And now we may notice what a splendid hunting country is this Berkshire +vale. The fields are large and entirely grass; the fences, though +strong, are all "flying" ones--posts and rails, too, are frequent in the +hedges. Many a fine scamper have the old Berkshire hounds enjoyed over +these grassy pastures, where the Rosy Brook winds its sluggish course; +and we trust they will continue to do so for many years to come. Long +may that day be in coming when the sound of the horn is no longer heard +in this delightful country! + +High up on the hill the old White Horse soon appears in view, cut in the +velvety turf of the rolling chalk downs. But, in the words of the +old ballad, + + "The ould White Horse wants zettin' to rights." + +He wants "scouring" badly. A stranger, if shown this old relic, the +centre of a hundred legends, famous the whole world over, would find it +difficult to recognise any likeness to a fiery steed in those uncertain +lines of chalk. Nevertheless, this is the monument King Alfred made to +commemorate his victory over the Danes at Ashdown. So the tradition of +the country-side has had it for a thousand years, and shall a +thousand more. + +The horse is drawn as galloping. Frank Buckland took the following +measurements of him: The total length is one hundred and seventy yards; +his eye is four feet across; his ear fifteen yards in length; his +hindleg is forty-three yards long. Doubtless the full proportions of the +White Horse are not kept scoured nowadays; for a few weeks ago I was up +on the hill and took some of the measurements myself. I could not make +mine agree with Frank Buckland's: for instance, the ear appeared to be +seven yards only in length, and not fifteen; so that it would seem that +the figure is gradually growing smaller. It is the head and forelegs +that want scouring worst of all. There is little sign of the trench, two +feet deep, which in Buckland's time formed the outline of the horse; the +depth of the cutting is now only a matter of a very few inches. + +The view from this hill is a very extensive one, embracing the vale from +Bath almost to Reading the whole length of the Cotswold Hills, as well +as the Chilterns, stretching away eastwards towards Aylesbury, and far +into Buckinghamshire. Beneath your feet lie many hundred thousand acres +of green pastures, varied in colour during summer and autumn by golden +wheatfields bright with yellow charlock and crimson poppies. It has +been said that eleven counties are visible on clear days. + +The White Horse at Westbury, further down the line, represents a horse +in a standing position. He reflects the utmost credit on his grooms; for +not only are his shapely limbs "beautifully and wonderfully made," but +the greatest care is taken of him. The Westbury horse is not in reality +nearly so large as this one at Uffington, but he is a very beautiful +feature of the country. I paid him a visit the other day, and was +surprised to find he was very much smaller than he appears from the +railway. Glancing over a recent edition of Tom Hughes' book, "The +Scouring of the White Horse," I found the following lines:-- + +"In all likelihood the _pastime_ of 1857 will be the last of his race; +for is not the famous Saxon (or British) horse now scheduled to an Act +of Parliament as an ancient monument which will be maintained in time to +come as a piece of prosaic business, at the cost of other than Berkshire +men reared within sight of the hill?" + +Alas! it is too true. There has been no _pastime_ since 1857. + +It would have been a splendid way of commemorating the "diamond jubilee" +if a scouring had been organised in 1897. Forty years have passed since +the last pastime, with its backsword play and "climmin a greasy pole for +a leg of mutton," its race for a pig and a cheese; and, oddly enough, +the previous scouring had taken place in the year of the Queen's +accession, sixty-one years ago. It would be enough to make poor Tom +Hughes turn in his grave if he knew that the old White Horse had been +turned out to grass, and left to look after himself for the rest of +his days! + +Those were grand old times when the Berkshire; Gloucestershire, and +Somersetshire men amused themselves by cracking each other's heads and +cudgel-playing for a gold-laced hat and a pair of buckskin breeches; +when a flitch of bacon was run for by donkeys; and when, last, but not +least, John Morse, of Uffington, "grinned agin another chap droo hos +[horse] collars, a fine bit of spwoart, to be sure, and made the folks +laaf." I here quote from Tom Hughes' book, "The Scouring of the White +Horse," to which I must refer my readers for further interesting +particulars. + +There are some days during summer when the sunlight is so beautiful that +every object is invested with a glamour and a charm not usually +associated with it. Such a day was that of which we write. As we were +gliding out of Swindon the sun was beginning to descend. From a Great +Western express, running at the rate of sixty miles an hour through +picturesque country, you may watch the sun setting amidst every variety +of scenery. Now some hoary grey tower stands out against the intense +brightness of the western sky; now a tracery of fine trees shades for a +time the dazzling light; then suddenly the fiery furnace is revealed +again, reflected perhaps in the waters of some stream or amid the reeds +and sedges of a mere, where a punt is moored containing anglers in broad +wideawake hats. Gradually a dark purple shade steals over the long range +of chalk hills; white, clean-looking roads stand out clearly defined +miles away on the horizon; the smoke that rises straight up from some +ivy-covered homestead half a mile away is bluer than the evening sky--a +deep azure blue. The horizon is clear in the south, but in the +north-west dark, but not forbidding clouds are rising; fantastic +cloudlets float high up in the firmament; rooks coming home to roost are +plainly visible several miles away against the brilliant western sky. + +This Great Western Railway runs through some of the finest bits of old +England. Not long ago, in travelling from Chepstow to Gloucester, we +were fairly amazed at the surpassing beauty of the views. It was +May-day, and the weather was in keeping with the occasion. The sight of +the old town of Chepstow and the silvery Wye, as we left them behind us, +was fine enough; but who can describe the magnificent panorama presented +by the wide Severn at low tide? Yellow sands, glittering like gold in +the dazzling sunshine, stretched away for miles; beyond these a vista of +green meadows, with the distant Cotswold Hills rising out of dreamy +haze; waters of chrysolite, with fields of malachite beyond; the azure +sky overhead flecked with clouds of pearl and opal, and all around the +pear orchards in full bloom. + +While on the subject of scenery, may I enter a protest against the +change the Great Western Railway has lately made in the photographs +which adorn their carriages? They used to be as beautiful as one could +wish; lately, however, the colouring has been lavished on them with no +sparing hand. These "photo-chromes" are unnatural and impossible, +whereas the old permanent photographs were very beautiful. + +At Kemble, with its old manor house and stone-roofed cottages, we say +good-bye to the Vale of White Horse; for we have entered the Cotswolds. +Stretching from Broadway to Bath, and from Birdlip to Burford, and +containing about three hundred square miles, is a vast tract of hill +country, intersected by numerous narrow valleys. Probably at one period +this district was a rough, uncultivated moor. It is now cultivated for +the most part, and grows excellent barley. The highest point of this +extensive range is eleven hundred and thirty-four feet, but the average +altitude would not exceed half that height. Almost every valley has its +little brook. The district is essentially a "stone country;" for all the +houses and most of their roofs are built of the local limestone, which +lies everywhere on these hills within a few inches of the surface. There +is no difficulty in obtaining plenty of stone hereabouts. The chief +characteristics of the buildings are their antiquity and Gothic +quaintness. The air is sharp and bracing, and the climate, as is +inevitable on the shallow, porous soil of the oolite hills, wonderfully +dry and invigorating. "Lands of gold have been found, and lands of +spices and precious merchandise; but this is the land of _health_" Thus +wrote Richard Jefferies of the downs, and thus say we of the Cotswolds. + +And now our Great Western express is gliding into Cirencester, the +ancient capital of the Cotswold country. How fair the old place seems +after the dirt and smoke of London! Here town and country are blended +into one, and everything is clean and fresh and picturesque. The garish +church, as you view it from the top of the market-place, has a charm +unsurpassed by any other sacred building in the land. In what that charm +lies I have often wondered. Is it the marvellous symmetry of the whole +graceful pile, as the eye, glancing down the massive square tower and +along the pierced battlements and elaborate pinnacles, finally rests on +the empty niches and traceried oriel windows of the magnificent south +porch? I cannot say in what the charm exactly consists, but this stately +Gothic fane has a grandeur as impressive as it is unexpected, recalling +those wondrous words of Ruskin's: + +"I used to feel as much awe in gazing at the buildings as on the hills, +and could believe that God had done a greater work in breathing into the +narrowness of dust the mighty spirits by whom its haughty walls had been +raised and its burning legends written, than in lifting the rock of +granite higher than the clouds of heaven, and veiling them with their +various mantle of purple flower and shadowy pine." + +[Illustration: The Old Manor House. 029.png] + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE. + +The village is not a hundred miles from London, yet "far from the +madding crowd's ignoble strife." A green, well-wooded valley, in the +midst of those far-stretching, cold-looking Cotswold Hills, it is like +an oasis in the desert. + +Up above on the wolds all is bleak, dull, and uninteresting. The air up +there is ever chill; walls of loose stone divide field from field, and +few houses are to be seen. But down in the valley all is fertile and +full of life. It is here that the old-fashioned villagers dwell. How +well I remember the first time I came upon it! One fine September +evening, having left all traces of railways and the ancient Roman town +of Cirencester some seven long miles behind me, with wearied limbs I +sought this quiet, sequestered spot. Suddenly, as I was wondering how +amid these never ending hills there could be such a place as I had been +told existed, I beheld it at my feet, surpassing beautiful! Below me was +a small village, nestling amid a wealth of stately trees. The hand of +man seemed in some bygone time to have done all that was necessary to +render the place habitable, but no more. There were cottages, bridges, +and farm buildings, but all were ivy clad and time worn. The very trees +themselves appeared to be laden with a mantle of ivy that was more than +they could bear. Many a tall fir, from base to topmost twig, was +completely robed with the smooth, five-pointed leaves of this rapacious +evergreen. Through the thick foliage, of elm and ash and beech, I could +just see an old manor house, and round about it, as if for protection, +were clustered some thirty cottages. A murmuring of waters filled my +ears, and on descending the hill I came upon a silvery trout stream, +which winds its way down the valley, broad and shallow, now gently +gliding over smooth gravel, now dashing over moss-grown stones and rock. +The cottages, like the manor house and farm buildings, are all built of +the native stone, and all are gabled and picturesque. Indeed, save a few +new cottages, most of the dwellings appeared to be two or three hundred +years old. One farmhouse I noted carefully, and I longed to tear away +the ivy from the old and crumbling porch, to see if I could not discern +some half-effaced inscription telling me the date of this relic of the +days of "Merrie England." + +This quaint old place appeared older than the rest of the buildings. On +enquiry, I learnt that long, long ago, before the present manor house +existed, this was the abode of the old squires of the place; but for the +last hundred years it had been the home of the principal tenant and his +ancestors--yeomen farmers of the old-fashioned school, with some six +hundred acres of land. The present occupants appeared to be an old man +of some seventy years of age and his three sons. Keen sportsmen these, +who dearly love to walk for hours in pursuit of game in the autumn, on +the chance of bagging an occasional brace of partridges or a wild +pheasant (for everything here is wild), or, in winter, when lake and fen +are frostbound, by the river and its withybeds after snipe and +wildfowl--for the Cotswold stream has never been known to freeze! + +In this small hamlet I noticed that there were no less than three huge +barns. At first I thought they were churches, so magnificent were their +proportions and so delicate and interesting their architecture. One of +these barns is four hundred years old. + +Fifty years ago, what with the wool from his sheep and the grain that +was stored in these barns year by year, the Cotswold farmer was a rich +man. Alas! _Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis!_ One can picture +the harvest home, annually held in the barn, in old days so cheery, but +now often nothing more than a form. Here, however, in this village, I +learnt that, in spite of bad times, some of the old customs have not +been allowed to pass away, and right merry is the harvest home. And +Christmastide is kept in real old English fashion; nor do the mummers +forget to go their nightly rounds, with their strange tale of "St. +George and the dragon." + +As I walk down the road I come suddenly upon the manor house--the "big +house" of the village. Long and somewhat low, it stands close to the +road, and is of some size. Over the doorway of the porch is the +following inscription, engraven on stone in a recess:-- + + "PLEAD THOU MY CAVSE; OH LORD." + "BY JHON COXWEL ANO DOMENY 1590." + +Underneath this inscription, and immediately over the entrance, are five +heads, elaborately carved in stone. In the centre is Queen Elizabeth; to +the right are portrayed what I take to be the features of Henry VIII.; +whilst on the left is Mary. The other two are uncertain, but they are +probably Philip of Spain and James I. + +I was enchanted with the place. The quaint old Elizabethan gables and +sombre bell-tower, the old-fashioned entrance gates, the luxuriant +growth of ivy, combined together to give that air of peace, that charm +which belongs so exclusively to the buildings of the middle ages. +Knowing that the house was for the time being unoccupied, I walked +boldly into the outer porch, meaning to go no further. But another +inscription over the solid oak door encouraged me to enter: + + "PORTA PATENS ESTO, NULLI CLAUDARIS HONESTO." + +I therefore opened the inner door with some difficulty, for it was +heavy and cumbersome, and found myself in the hall. Although nothing +remarkable met my eye, I was delighted to find everything in keeping +with the place. The old-fashioned furniture, the old oak, the grim +portraits and quaint heraldry, all were there. I was much interested in +some carved beams of black oak, which I afterwards learnt originally +formed part of the magnificent roof of the village church. When the roof +was under repair a few years back, these beams were thrown aside as +rotten and useless, and thus found their way into the manor house. Every +atom of genuine old work of this kind is deeply interesting, +representing as it does the rude chiselling which hands that have long +been dust in the village churchyard wrought with infinite pains. That +oak roof, carved in rich tracery, resting for ages on arcades of +dog-tooth Norman and graceful Early English work, had echoed back the +songs of praise and prayer that rose Sunday after Sunday from the lips +of successive generations of simple country folk at matins and at +evensong, before the strains of the Angelus had been hushed for ever by +the Reformation. And who can tell how long before the Conquest, and by +what manner of men, were planted the trees destined to provide these +massive beams of oak? + +In the centre of the hall was a round table, with very ancient-looking, +high-backed chairs scattered about, of all shapes and sizes. Portraits +of various degrees of indifferent oil painting adorned the walls of the +hall and staircase. Somebody appeared to have been shooting with a +catapult at some of the pictures. One old gentleman had a shot through +his nose; and an old fellow with a hat on, over the window, had received +a pellet in the right eye![1] + +[Footnote 1: The writer, in a fit of infantile insanity, being then aged +about nine, was discovered in the very act of committing this assault on +his ancestors some twenty years ago, in Hertfordshire.] + +A copy of the Magna Charta, a suit of mediaeval armour, several rusty +helmets (Cromwellian and otherwise), antlers of several kinds of deer, +and a variety of old swords, pistols, and guns were the objects that +chiefly attracted my attention. The walls were likewise adorned with a +large number of heraldic shields. + +I like to see coats-of-arms and escutcheons hanging up in churches and +in the halls of old country houses, for the following simple reasons. +There is meaning in them--deep, mystic meaning, such as no ordinary +picture can boast. Every quartering on that ancient shield emblazoned in +red, black, and gold has a legend attached to it Hundreds of years ago, +in those splendid mediaeval times--nay, farther back than that, in the +dim, mysterious, dark ages--each of those quarterings was a device worn +by some brave knight or squire on his heavy shield. It was his +cognizance in the field of battle and at the tournament. It was borne at +Agincourt perhaps; at Creçy, or Poitiers, or in the lists for some +"faire ladye"; and it is a token of ancient chivalry, an emblem of the +days that have been and never more will be. It was doubtless the sight +of those eighteen great hatchments which still hang in the little +church at Stoke Poges that inspired Gray to attune his harp to such +lofty strains. + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike the inevitable hour + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + +Among other old masters was a portrait of the "John Coxwel" who built +the house, by Cornelius Jansen, dated 1613. The house did not appear +remarkable either for size or grandeur; yet there is always something +particularly pleasing to me to alight unexpectedly on buildings of this +kind, and to find that although they are obscure and unknown, they are +on a small scale as interesting to the antiquarian as Knole, Hatfield, +and other more famous mediaeval houses. Some lattice windows, evidently +at some time out of doors, but now on the inner walls, showed that in +more recent times the house had been enlarged, and the old courtyard +walled in and made part of the hall. Over one of these windows is the +inscription, "_Post tenebras lux_." The part I liked best, however, was +the old-fashioned passage, with its lattice windows and musty dungeon +savour, leading to the ancient kitchen and to a little oak-panelled +sitting-room: but, knocking my head severely against the oak beam in the +doorway, I nearly brought the whole ceiling down, a catastrophe which +they tell me has happened before now in this rather rickety old manor +house. Opening a door on the other side of the house, I passed out into +the garden. How characteristic of the place!--a broad terrace running +along the whole length of the house, and beyond that a few flower beds +with the old sundial in their midst Beyond these a lawn, and then grass +sweeping down to the edge of the river, some hundred yards away. Beyond +the river again more grass, but of a wilder description, where the +rabbits are scudding about or listening with pricked ears; and in the +background a magnificent hanging wood, crowning the side of the valley, +with a large rookery in it. I was much struck with the different tints +of the foliage; for although autumn had not yet begun to turn the +leaves, the different shades of green were most striking. A gigantic ash +tree on the far side of the river stood out in bold relief, its lighter +leaves being in striking contrast to the dark firs in the background. +Then walnut and hazel, beech and chestnut all offered infinite variety +of shape and foliage. The river here had been broadened to a width of +some ninety feet, and an island had been made. The place seemed to be a +veritable sportsman's paradise! Dearly would Isaac Walton have loved to +dwell here! From the windows of the old house he would have loved to +listen to the splash of the trout, the cawing of the rooks, and the +quack of the waterfowl, while all the air is filled with the cooing of +doves and the songs of birds. At night he could have heard the murmuring +waterfall amid a stillness only broken at intervals by the scream of the +owl, the clatter of the goatsucker, or the weird barking of the foxes: +for not two hundred yards from the house and practically in the garden, +is a fox earth that has never been without a litter of, cubs for +forty years! + +In an ivy-covered house in the stable-yard I saw a very large number of +foxes' noses nailed to boards of wood--as Sir Roger de Coverley used to +nail them. They appeared to have been slain by one Dick Turpin, huntsman +to the Vale of White Horse hounds, some thirty or forty years ago, when +a quondam master of those hounds lived in this old place. + +What a charm there is in an old-fashioned English garden! The great tall +hollyhocks and phlox, the bright orange marigolds and large purple +poppies. The beds and borders crammed with cloves and many-coloured +asters, the sweet blue of the cornflower, and the little lobelias. +Zinneas, too, of all colours; dahlias, tall stalks of anenome japonica, +and such tangled masses of stocks! As I walked down by the old garden +wall, whereon lots of roses hung their dainty heads, I thought I had +never seen grass so green and fresh looking, except in certain parts +of Ireland. + +But the wild flowers by the silent river pleased me best of all. Such a +medley of graceful, fragrant meadow-sweet, and tall, rough-leaved +willow-herbs with their lovely pink flowers. Light blue scorpion-grasses +and forget-me-nots were there too, not only among the sword-flags and +the tall fescue-grasses by the bank, but little islands of them dotted +about a over the brook. Thyme-scented water-mint, with lilac-tinted +spikes and downy stalks, was almost lost amongst the taller wild flowers +and the "segs" that fringed the brook-side. + +There are no flowers like the wild ones; they last right through the +summer and autumn--yet we can never have enough of them, never cease +wondering at their marvellous delicacy and beauty. + +Darting straight up stream on the wings of the soft south wind comes a +kingfisher clothed in priceless jewelry, sparkling in the sun: sapphire +and amethyst on his bright blue back, rubies on his ruddy breast, and +diamonds round his princely neck. Monarch he is of silvery stream, and +petty tyrant of the silvery fish. + +I was told by a labourer that the trout ran from a quarter of a pound to +three pounds, and that they average one pound in weight; that in the +"may-fly" season a score of fish are often taken in the day by one rod, +and that the method of taking them is by the artificial fly, well dried +and deftly floated over feeding fish. These Cotswold streams are fed at +intervals of about half a mile by the most beautiful springs, and from +the rock comes pouring forth an everlasting supply of the purest and +clearest of water. I was shown such a spring in a withybed hard by the +old manor house. I saw nothing at first but a still, transparent pool, +nine feet deep (they told me); it looked but three! But as I gaze at the +beautiful fernlike weeds at the bottom, they are seen to be gently +fanned by the water that rises--never failing even in the hottest and +driest of summers--from the invisible rock below. The whole scene--the +silent pool at my feet, the rich, well-timbered valley, with its marked +contrast to the cold hills that overlook it--reminded me forcibly of +Whyte-Melville's lines at the conclusion of the most impressive poem he +ever wrote: "The Fairies' Spring": + + "And sweet to the thirsting lips of men + Is the spring of tears in the fairies' glen." + +Out of this fairy spring was taken quite recently, but not with the +"dry" fly--for no fish could be deceived in water of such stainless +transparency--a trout that weighed three pounds and a half. He was far +and away the most beautiful trout we ever saw; as silvery as a salmon +that has just left the sea, he was a worthy denizen of the secluded +depths of that crystal spring, still welling up from the pure limestone +rock in the heart of the Cotswold Hills, as it has for a thousand years. + +I was told that the place was still owned by the descendants of the +pious John Coxwell who built the manor house and commemorated it by the +quaint inscription over the porch in 1590. Doubtless the architecture of +all our Elizabethan manor houses in the shape of a letter E owes its +origin to the first letter in the name of that great queen. + +That year was a fitting time for the building of "those haunts of +ancient peace" that have ever since beautified the villages of rural +England. Not two years before men's minds had been stirred to a pitch of +deep religious enthusiasm by what was then regarded throughout all +England as a divine miracle--the destruction of the Spanish Armada. +Scarce three years had passed since the war with Scotland had terminated +in the execution of the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots. It is difficult +for us, at the close of this nineteenth century, to realise the feelings +of our ancestors in those times of daily terror and anxiety. And when +men were daily executed, and human life was held as cheap as we now +value a sheep or an ox, no wonder John Coxwell was pious, and no wonder +he engraved that pious inscription over those crumbling walls. + +In the year 1590 there was a lull in those tempestuous times, and men +were able to turn for a while from the strife of battle and the daily +fear of death and cultivate the arts of peace. + +Thus this stately little manor house was reared, and many like it +throughout the kingdom; and there it still stands, and will stand long +after the modern building has fallen to the ground. For not without much +hard toil and sweat of brow did our forefathers erect these monuments of +"a day that is dead"; and they remain to testify to the solid masonry +and laborious workmanship of ancient times. + +The descendants of this John Coxwell live on another property of theirs +some twelve miles away; it is nearly seventy years since they have +inhabited this old house. I was pleased to find, however, that the +present occupiers look after the labouring classes; that what rabbits +are killed on the manor are not sold, but distributed in the village. +There is an old ivy-clad building in the grounds, only a few paces from +the manor house. This is the village club. Here squire, farmer, and +labourer are accustomed to meet on equal terms. I was somewhat surprised +to see on the club table the _Times_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, and other +papers. These wonderful specimens of nineteenth-century literature +contrast strangely with a place that in many respects has remained +unchanged for centuries. + +There are few labourers in England, even in these days, who have the +opportunity--if they will take it--of reading the _Times'_ report of +every speech made in parliament. Perhaps, some day, will come forth from +this hamlet + + "Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast + The little tyrant of his fields withstood"; + +one who from earliest youth has kept himself in touch with the politics +of the day, and has fitted himself to sit in the House of Commons as the +representative of his class. There are still a few "little tyrants" in +the fields in all parts of England, but they are very much scarcer than +was the case fifty years ago. + +I was much pleased with a conversation I had with an old-fashioned +labouring man who, though not past middle age, appeared to be +incapacitated from work owing to a "game leg," and whom I found sitting +under a walnut tree in the manor grounds hard by the brook. He informed +me that there was bagatelle at the club for those who liked it, and all +sorts of games, and smoking concerts: that it was a question who was the +best bagatelle player in the club; but that it probably lay between the +squire and his head gardener, though Tom, the carter, was likely to run +them close! I was glad to find so much good feeling existing among all +classes of this little community, and was not surprised to learn that +this was a contented and happy village. + +In this description of "a Cotswold village" we have been looking on the +bright side of things, and there is, thank Heaven! many a place, +_mutato nomine_, that would answer to it. Alas! that there should be +another side to the picture, which we would fain leave untouched. + +Gloucestershire, nay England, is full of old manor houses and fair, +smiling villages; but in many parts of the country we see buildings +falling out of repair and deserted mansions. Would that we knew the +remedy for agricultural depression! But let us not despair. + + "The future hides in it + Gladness and sorrow; + We press still thorow, + Nought that abides in it + Daunting us,--onward!" + +It is a sad thing when the "big house" of the village is empty. The +labourers who never see their squire begin to look upon him as a sort of +ogre, who exists merely to screw rents out of the land they till. Those +who are dependent on land alone are often the men who do their duty best +on their estates, and, poor though they may be, they are much beloved. +But it is to be feared that in some parts of England men who are not +suffering from the depression--rich tenants of country houses and the +like--are apt to take a somewhat limited view of their duty towards +their poorer neighbours. To be sure, the good ladies at the "great +house" are invariably "ministering angels" to the poor in time of +sickness, but even in these democratic days there is too great a gulf +fixed between all classes. Let all those who are fortunate enough to +live in such a place as we have attempted to describe remember that a +kind word, a shake of the hand, the occasional distribution of game +throughout the village, and a hundred other small kindnesses do more to +win the heart of the labouring man than much talk at election times of +Small Holdings, Parish Councils, or Free Education. + +A tea given two or three times a year by the squire to the whole +village, when the grounds are thrown open to them, does much to lighten +the dulness of their existence and to cheer the monotonous round of +daily toil. It is often thoughtlessness rather than poverty that +prevents those who live in the large house of the village from being +really loved by those around them. There are many instances of unpopular +squires whose faces the cottagers never behold, and yet these men may be +spending hundreds of pounds each year for the benefit of those whose +affection they fail to gain. + +Alas! that there should exist in so many country places that class +feeling that is called Radicalism. It is perhaps fortunate that under +the guise of politics what is really nothing else but bitterness and +discontent is hidden and prevented from being recognised by its +true name. + +There are many country houses that are shut up for the greater part of +the year for other reasons than agricultural depression, often because +the owner, while preferring to reside elsewhere, is too proud to let the +place to a stranger. This should not be. Let these rich men who own +large houses and great estates live _in_ those houses and _on_ those +estates, or endeavour to find a tenant. We repeat that the landowners +who really feel the stress of bad times for the most part do their duty +nobly. They have learnt it in the severe school of adversity. It is the +richer class that we should like to see taking a greater interest in +their humble neighbours; and their power is great. The possessor of +wealth is too often the tacit upholder of the doctrine of _laissez +faire_. The times we live in will no longer allow it. Let us be up and +doing. In many small ways we may do much to promote good fellowship, and +bitterness and discontent shall be no longer known in the rural villages +of England. + + + +II. + +In the dead of winter these old grey houses of the Cotswolds are a +little melancholy, save when the sun shines. But to every variety of +scenery winter is the least becoming season of the year, though the hoar +frost or a touch of snow will transform a whole village into fairyland +at a moment's notice. Then the trout stream, which at other seasons of +the year is a never failing attraction, running as it does for the most +part through the woods, in mid winter seldom reflects the light of the +sun, and looks cold and uninviting. One may learn much, it is true, of +the wonders of nature in the dead time of the year by watching the great +trout on the spawn beds as they pile up the gravel day by day, and store +up beautiful, transparent ova, of which but a ten-thousandth part will +live to replenish the stock for future years. But the delight of a clear +stream is found in the spring and summer; then those cool, shaded deeps +and sparkling eddies please us by their contrast to the hot, burning +sun; and we love, even if we are not fishermen, to linger by the bank +'neath the shade of ash and beech and alder, and watch the wonderful +life around us in the water and in the air. + +As you sit sometimes on a bench hard by the Coln, watching the crystal +water as it pours down the artificial fall from the miniature lake in +the wild garden above, you may make a minute calculation of the day and +hour that that very water which is flowing past you now will reach +London Bridge, two hundred miles below. Allowing one mile an hour as the +average pace of the current, ten days is, roughly speaking, the time it +will take on its journey. And when one reflects that every drop that +passes has its work to do, in carrying down to the sea lime and I know +not how many other ingredients, and in depositing that lime and all that +it picked up on its way at the bottom of the ocean, to help perhaps in +forming the great rolling downs of a new continent--after this island of +ours has ceased to be--one cannot but realise that in all seasons of the +year a trout stream is a wonderfully interesting and instructive thing. + +TO THE COLN. + +Flow on, clear, fresh trout stream, emblem of purity and perfect truth; +thou hast accomplished a mighty work, thou hast a mighty work to do. Who +can count the millions of tons of lime that thou hast borne down to the +sea in far-off Kent? Thou hast indeed "strength to remove mountains," +for day by day the soil that thou hast taken from these limestone hills +is being piled up at the mouth of the great historic river, and some day +perchance it shall become rolling downs again. Fed by clear springs, +thou shalt gradually steal thy way along the Cotswold valleys, draining +foul marshes, irrigating the sweet meadows. Thou shalt turn the wheels +and grind many a hundred sacks of corn ere to-morrow's sun is set. And +then thou shalt change thy name. No longer silvery Coln, but mighty +Thames, shalt thou be called; and many a fair scene shall gladden thy +sight as thou slowly passest along towards thy goal. + +Smiling meadows and Gloucestershire vales will soon give place to fair +Berkshire villages, and, further on, to those glorious spires and courts +of Oxford; and here shalt thou make many friends--friends who will +evermore think kindly of thee, ever associate thy placid waters with all +that they loved best and held dearest during their brief sojourning in +those old walls which tower above thy banks. A few short miles, and thou +shalt pass a quiet and sacred spot--sacred to me, and dear above all +other spots; for close to that little village church of Clifton Hampden, +and close to thee, we laid some years ago the mortal body of a noble +man. And when thou stealest gently by, and night mists rise from off thy +glassy face, be sure and drop a tear in silvery dew upon the moss-grown +stone I know so well. And then pass on to Eton, fairest spot on earth. +Mark well the playing-fields, the glorious trees, and Windsor towering +high. Here shalt thou be loved by many a generous heart, and youth and +hope and smiling faces greet thee, as they long since greeted me. Ah +well! those friendships never could have been made so firm and lasting +mid any other scenes save under thy wide-spreading elms, beloved Eton. + +But onwards, onwards thou must glide, from scenes of tranquil beauty +such as these. The flag which sails o'er Windsor's stately towers must +soon be lost to sight. Thy course once more through silent fields is +laid; but not for long; for, Hampton Court's fair palace passed, already +canst thou hear the wondrous roar of unceasing footsteps in the busy +haunts of men. + +Courage! thy goal is nearly reached: already thou art great, and greater +still shalt thou become. Thy once transparent waters shall be merged +with salt. Thus shalt thou be given strength to bear great ships upon +thy bosom, and thine eyes shall behold the greatest city of the whole +wide world. Nay, more; thou shalt become the most indispensable part of +that city--its very life-blood, of a value not to be measured by gold. +Thou makest England what it is. + +Flow on, historic waters, symbolic of all that is good, all that is +great--flow on, and do thy glorious work until this world shall cease; +bearing thy mighty burden down towards the sea, showing mankind what can +be wrought from small beginnings by slow and patient labour day by day. + + * * * * * + +Even in winter I do not know any scene more pleasing to the eye than the +sight of a Cotswold hamlet nestling amid the stately trees in the +valley, if you happen to see it on a fine day. And if there has been a +period of rainy, sunless weather for a month past, you are probably all +the more ready to appreciate the changed appearance which everything +wears. If that peaceful, bright aspect had been habitual, you would +never have noticed anything remarkable to-day. It is this very changeful +nature of our English climate which gives it more than half its charm. + +But the great attraction of this country lies in its being one of the +few spots now remaining on earth which have not only been made beautiful +by God, but in which the hand of man has erected scarcely a building +which is not in strict conformity and good taste. One cannot walk +through these Cotswold hamlets without noticing that the architecture of +the country in past ages, as well as in the present day to a certain +degree, shows obedience to some of those divine laws which Ruskin has +told us ought to govern all the works of man's hand. + +"The spirit of sacrifice," "the lamp of truth" are manifest in the +ancient churches and manor houses, as well as in the humble farmhouses, +cottages, and even the tithe barns of this district. Two thirds of the +buildings are old, and, as Ruskin has beautifully expressed it: "The +greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its +glory is in its age, and in that deep sense of voicefulness, of stern +watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, +which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves +of humanity. It is in their lasting witness against men, in their quiet +contrast with the transitional character of all things, in the strength +which, through the lapse of seasons and times, and the decline and birth +of dynasties, and the changing of the face of the earth, and of the +limits of the sea, maintains its sculptured shapeliness for a time +insuperable, connects forgotten and following ages with each other, and +half constitutes the identity, as it concentrates the sympathy, of +nations;--it is in that golden stain of time that we are to look for the +real light and colour and preciousness of architecture; and it is not +until a building has assumed this character, till it has been entrusted +with the fame and hallowed by the deeds of men, till its walls have been +witnesses of suffering and its pillars rise out of the shadow of death, +that its existence, more lasting as it is than that of the natural +objects of the world around it, can be gifted with even so much as these +possess of language and of life." + +If we would seek a lesson in sacrifice from the men who lived and +laboured here in the remote past, we can learn many a one from those +deep walls of native stone, and that laborious workmanship which was the +chief characteristic of the toil of our simple ancestors. "All old work, +nearly, has been hard work; it may be the hard work of children, of +barbarians, of rustics, but it is always their utmost." They may have +been ignorant of the sanitary laws which govern health, and ill advised +in some of the sites they chose, but they grudged neither hand labour +nor sweat of brow; they spent the best years of their lives in the +erection of the temples where we still worship and the manor houses we +still inhabit. + +It is not claimed that there is much _ornamental_ architecture to be +found in these Cotswold buildings; it is something in these days if we +can boast that there is nothing to offend the eye in a district which is +less than a hundred miles from London. There is no other district of +equal extent within the same radius of which as much could be said. + + "Jam pauca aratro jugera regiae + Moles relinquent." + +But here all the houses are picturesque, great and small alike. And +there are here and there pieces of work which testify to the piety and +faith of very early days: fragments of inscriptions chiselled out more +than fifteen hundred years ago--such as the four stones at Chedworth, +discovered some thirty years ago, together with many other interesting +relics of the Roman occupation, by a gamekeeper in search of a ferret. +On these stones were found the Greek letters [GREEK: Ch] and [GREEK: r], +forming the sacred monogram "C.H.R." Fifteen hundred years had not +obliterated this simple evidence of ancient faith, nor had the +devastation of the ages impaired the beauty of design, nor marred the +harmony of colouring of those delicate pavements and tesserae with which +these wonderful people loved to adorn their habitations. Since this +strange discovery the diligent research of one man has rescued from +oblivion, and the liberality of another now protects from further +injury, one of the best specimens of a Roman country house to be found +in England. Far away from the haunts of men, in the depths of the +Chedworth woods, where no sound save the ripple of the Coln and the song +of birds is heard, rude buildings and a museum have been erected; here +these ancient relics are sheltered from wind and storm for the sake of +those who lived and laboured in the remote past, and for the benefit and +instruction of him, be he casual passer-by or pilgrim from afar, who +cares to inspect them. + +The ancient Roman town of Cirencester, too, affords many historical +remains of the same era. But it is to the part which English hands and +hearts have played towards beautifying the Cotswold district that I +would fain direct attention; to the stately Abbey Church of Cirencester +and its glorious south porch, with its rich fan-tracery groining within +and its pierced battlements and pinnacles without; to the arched gateway +of twelfth century work, the sole remnant of that once famous +monastery--the mitred Abbey of St. Mary--founded by the piety of the +first Henry, and overthrown by the barbarity of the last king of that +name, who ordained "that all the edifices within the site and precincts +of the monastery should be pulled down and carried away";--it is to the +glorious windows of Fairford Church--the most beautiful specimens +remaining to us of glass of the early part of the sixteenth century--and +to many an ancient church and mediaeval manor house still standing +throughout this wide district, "to point a moral of adorn a tale," that +we must look for traces of the exquisite workmanship of English hands in +bygone days, "the only witnesses, perhaps, that remain to us of the +faith and fear of nations. All else for which the builders sacrificed +has passed away--all their living interests and aims and achievements. +We know not for what they laboured, and we see no evidence of their +reward. Victory, wealth, authority, happiness--all have departed, though +bought by many a bitter sacrifice. But of them, and their life, and +their toil upon earth, one reward, one evidence is left to us in those +grey heaps of deep-wrought stone. They have taken with them to the grave +their powers, their honours, and their errors; but they have left us +their adoration." [2] + +[Footnote 2: Ruskin, "Seven Lamps of Architecture."] + +Too many of our modern buildings are a sham from beginning to end--sham +marble, sham stonework, sham wallpapers, sham wainscoting, sham carpets +on the ground, and sham people walking about on them: even the very +bookcases are sham. In these old Cotswold houses we have the reverse. +The stonework is real, and the material is the best of its kind--good, +honest, native stone. The oak wainscoting is real, though patched with +deal and painted white in recent times. The same pains in the carving +are apparent in those parts of the house which are never seen except by +the servants, as in the important rooms. And so it is with all the work +of three, four, and five hundred years ago. The builders may have had +their faults, their prejudices, and their ignorances,--their very +simplicity may have been the means of saving them from error,--but they +were at all events truthful and genuine. + +In many villages throughout the Cotswolds are to be seen ancient +wayside crosses of exquisite workmanship and design. These were for the +most part erected in the fourteenth century. One of the best specimens +of the kind stands in the market-place of old Malmesbury, hard by the +ancient monastery there. The date of this cross is A.D. 1480. Leland +remarks upon it as follows: "There is a right faire and costely peace of +worke for poor market folks to stand dry when rayne cummeth; the men of +the towne made this peace of worke in _hominum memoriâ_." Malmesbury, by +the bye, is just outside the Cotswold district. + +At Calmsden--a tiny isolated hamlet near North Cerney--is a grey and +weather-beaten wayside cross of beautiful Gothic workmanship, erected +(men say) by the Knights Templar of Quenington; and there are ancient +crosses or remnants of them at Cirencester, Eastleach, Harnhill, +Rendcombe, Stow-on-the-Wold, and many other places in the district. But +few of these old village crosses still stand intact in their pristine +beauty. May they never suffer the terrible fate of a very beautiful one +which was erected in the fourteenth century at Bristol! Pope, writing a +century and a half ago, describes it as "a very fine old cross of Gothic +curious work, but spoiled with the folly of _new gilding it_, that takes +away all the venerable antiquity." + +Happily there is no likelihood of the ancient crosses in the Cotswolds +being decorated by a coating of gold. The precious metal is all too +scarce there, even if the good taste of the country folk did not +prohibit it. + +I have spoken before of the ancient barns. Every hamlet has one or more +of these grand old edifices, and there are often as many as three or +four in a small village. In some of these large barns the tithe was +gathered together in kind, until rather more than sixty years ago it was +converted into a rent charge. + +_Tithe_ was made on all kinds of farm produce. The vicar's man went into +the cornfields and placed a bough in every tenth "stook"; then the +titheman came with the parson's horses and took the stuff away to the +barn. The tithe for every cock in the farmyard was three eggs; for every +hen, two eggs. Besides poultry, geese, pigs, and sheep, the parson had a +right to his share of the milk, and even of the cheeses that were made +in his parish. + +In an ancient manuscript which the vicar of Bibury lately acquired, and +which contains the history of his parish since the Conquest, are set +down some interesting and amusing details concerning tithe and the cash +compensations that had been paid time out of mind. The entries form part +of a diary kept by a former incumbent, and were made nearly two hundred +years ago. + +"For every new Milch Cow three pence. + +"For every thorough Milch Cow one penny. + +"N.B. Nothing is paid for a dry cow, and therefore tithe in kind must be +paid for all fatting cattle. + +"For every calf weaned a half penny. + +"For every calf sold four pence or _the left shoulder_. + +"For every calf killed in the family four pence or _the left shoulder_. + +"I have heard that one or two left shoulders of veal were paid to the +widow Hignall at Arlington when she rented the tithes of Dr. Vannam, but +_I have received none_." + +Then follows an annual account of the value of the tithes of the parish +(about five thousand acres), from 1763 to 1802, by which it appears that +the year 1800 was the best during these four decades. Here is +the entry:-- + +"1800 The crops of this year were very deficient, but corn of all sort +sold at an extraordinary high price. I made of my tithes and living this +year clear £1,200; from the dearness of labourers the outgoing expenses +amounted to £900 in addition." + +The worst year seems to have been 1766, when the parson only got £360 +clear of all expenses; but even this was not bad for those days. + +The architecture of the Cotswold barns is often very beautiful. The +pointed windows, massive buttresses, and elaborate pinnacles are +sufficient indications of their great age and the care bestowed on the +building. Some of the interiors of these Gothic structures have fine old +oak roofs. + +The cottages, too, though in a few instances sadly deficient in sanitary +improvements and internal comfort, are not only picturesque, but strong +and lasting. Many of them bear dates varying from 1600 to 1700. + +It is evident that in everything they did our ancestors who lived in the +Elizabethan age fully realised that they were working under the eye of +"a great taskmaster." This spirit was the making of the great men of +that day, and in great part laid the foundation of our national +greatness. The glorious churches of Cirencester, Northleach, Burford, +and Bibury, and the ancient manor houses scattered throughout the +Cotswolds are fitting monuments to the men who laboured to erect them. +Would that space allowed a detailed account of all these old manor +houses! Enough has been said, at all events, to show that there are +places little known and little cared for in England where you may still +dwell without, every time you go out of doors, being forcibly reminded +of the utilitarian spirit of the age. + +[Illustration: Cotswold Cottages. 057.png] + + + +CHAPTER III. + +VILLAGE CHARACTERS. + + "If there's a hole in a' your coats, + I rede ye tent it; + A chiel's amang ye takin' notes, + And, faith, he'll prent it." + + R. BURNS. + +Every village seems to possess its share of quaint, curious people; but +I cannot help thinking that our little hamlet has a more varied +assortment of oddities than is usually to be met with in so small +a place. + +First of all there is the man whom nobody ever sees. Although he has +lived in robust health for the past twenty years in the very centre of +the hamlet, his face is unknown to half the inhabitants. Twice only has +the writer set eyes on him. When a political contest is proceeding, he +becomes comparatively bold; at such times he has even been met with in +the bar of the village "public," where he has been known to sit +discussing the chances of the candidates like any ordinary being. But an +election is absolutely necessary if this strange individual is to be +drawn out of his hiding-place. The only other occasion on which we have +set eyes on him was on a lovely summer's evening, just after sunset: we +observed him peeping at us over a hedge, for all the world like the +"Spectator" when he was staying with Sir Roger de Coverley. He is +supposed to come out at sunset, like the foxes and the bats, and has +been seen in the distance on bright moonlight nights striding over the +Cotswold uplands. If any one approach him, he hurries away in the +opposite direction; yet he is not queer in the head, but strong and in +the prime of life. + +Then there is that very common character "the village impostor." After +having been turned away by half a dozen different farmers, because he +never did a stroke of work, he manages to get on the sick-list at the +"great house." Long after his ailment has been cured he will be seen +daily going up to the manor house for his allowance of meat; somehow or +other he "can't get a job nohow." The fact is, he has got the name of +being an idle scoundrel, and no farmer will take him on. It is some time +before you are able to find him out; for as he goes decidedly lame as he +passes you in the village street, he generally manages to persuade you +that he is very ill. Like a fool, you take compassion on him, and give +him an ounce of "baccy" and half a crown. For some months he hangs about +where he thinks you will be passing, craving a pipe of tobacco; until +one day, when you are having a talk with some other honest toiler, he +will give you a hint that you are being imposed on. + +When a loafer of this sort finds that he can get nothing more out of +you, he moves his family and goods to some other part of the country; he +then begins the old game with somebody else, borrowing a sovereign off +you for the expense of moving. As for gratitude, he never thinks of it. +The other day a man with a "game leg," who was, in spite of his +lameness, a good example of "the village impostor," in taking his +departure from our hamlet, gave out "that there was no thanks due to the +big 'ouse for the benefits he had received, for it was writ in the +_manor parchments_ as how he was to have meat three times a week and +blankets at Christmas as long as he was out of work." + +It is so difficult to discriminate between the good and the bad amongst +the poor, and it is impossible not to feel pity for a man who has +nothing but the workhouse to look forward to, even if he has come down +in the world through his own folly. To those who are living in luxury +the conditions under which the poorer classes earn their daily bread, +and the wretched prospect which old age or ill health presents to them, +must ever offer scope for deep reflection and compassion. + +At the same time it must be remembered that in spite of "hard times" +and "low prices," as affecting the farmers, the agricultural labourer is +better off to-day than he has ever been in past times. Food is very much +cheaper and wages are higher. The farmers seem to be more liberal in bad +times than in good. It is the same in all kinds of business. Except +injustice there is no more hardening influence in the affairs of life +than success. It seems often to dry up the milk of human kindness in the +breast, and make us selfish and grasping. + +In the good times of farming there was doubtless much cause for +discontent amongst the Cotswold labourers. The profits derived from +farming were then quite large. The tendency of the age, however, was to +treat the labouring man as a mere machine, instead of his being allowed +to share in the general prosperity. ("Hinc illae lacrymae.") Now things +are changed. Long-suffering farmers are in many cases paying wages out +of their fast diminishing capital. Many of them would rather lose money +than cut down the wages. + +Then again agricultural labourers who are unable to find work go off to +the coal mines and big towns; some go into the army; others emigrate. So +that the distress is not so apparent in this district as the badness of +the times would lead one to expect. + +The Cotswold women obtain employment in the fields at certain seasons of +the year; though poorly paid, they are usually more conscientious and +hard-working than the men. + +Most of the cottages are kept scrupulously clean; they have an air of +homely comfort which calls forth the admiration of all strangers. The +children, too, when they go to church on Sundays, are dressed with a +neatness and good taste that are simply astonishing when one recalls the +income of a labourer on the Cotswolds--seldom, alas! averaging more than +fourteen shillings a week. A boy of twelve years of age is able to keep +himself, earning about five shillings per week. Cheerful and manly +little chaps they are. To watch a boy of fourteen years managing a +couple of great strong cart-horses, either at the plough or with the +waggons, is a sight to gladden the heart of man. + +It is unfortunate that there are not more orchards attached to the +gardens on the Cotswolds. The reader will doubtless remember Dr. +Johnson's advice to his friends, always to have a good orchard attached +to their houses. "For," said he, "I once knew a clergyman of small +income who brought up a family very reputably, which he chiefly fed on +_apple dumplings_." + +Talking of clergymen, I am reminded of some stories a neighbour of +ours--an excellent fellow--lately told me about his parishioners on the +Cotswolds. One old man being asked why he liked the vicar, made answer +as follows: "Why, 'cos he be so _scratchy after souls_." The same man +lately said to the parson, "Sir, you be an hinstrument"; and being asked +what he meant, he added, "An hinstrument of good in this place." + +This old-fashioned Cotswold man was very fond of reciting long passages +out of the Psalms: indeed, he knew half the Prayer-book by heart; and +one day the hearer, being rather wearied, exclaimed, "I must go now, for +it's my dinner-time." To whom replied the old man, "Oh! be off with +thee, then; thee thinks more of thee belly than thee God." + +An old bedridden woman was visited by the parson, and the following +dialogue took place:-- + +"Well, Annie, how are you to-day?" + +"O sir, I be so bad! My inside be that comical I don't know what to do +with he; he be all on the ebb and flow." + +The same clergyman knew an old Cotswold labourer who wished to get rid +of the evil influence of the devil. So Hodge wrote a polite, though +firm, epistle, telling his Satanic Majesty he would have no more to do +with him. On being asked where he posted his letter, he replied: "A' dug +a hole i' the ground, and popped un in there. He got it right enough, +for he's left me alone from that day to this." + +The Cotswold people are, like their country, healthy, bright, clean, and +old-fashioned; and the more educated and refined a man may happen to be, +the more in touch he will be with them--not because the peasants are +educated and refined, so much as because they are not _half_-educated +and _half_-refined, but simple, honest, god-fearing folk, who mind their +own business and have not sought out many inventions. I am referring now +to the labourers, because the farmers are a totally different class of +men. The latter are on the whole an excellent type of what John Bull +ought to be. The labouring class, however, still maintain the old +characteristics. A primitive people, as often as not they are "nature's +gentlemen." + +In the simple matter of dress there is a striking resemblance between +the garb of these country people and that of the highly educated and +refined. It is an acknowledged principle, or rather, I should say, an +unwritten law, in these days--at all events as far as men are +concerned--that to be well dressed all that is required of us is _not to +be badly dressed_. Simplicity is a _sine quâ non_; and we are further +required to abstain from showing bad taste in the choice of shades and +colours, and to wear nothing that does not serve a purpose. To simple +country folk all these things come by nature. They never trouble their +heads about what clothes they shall wear. The result is, the eye is +seldom offended in old-fashioned country places by the latest inventions +of tailors and hatters and the ridiculous changes of fashion in which +the greater part of the civilised world is wont to delight. Here are to +be seen no hideous "checks," but plain, honest clothes of corduroy or +rough cloth in natural colours; no absurd little curly "billycocks," but +good, strong broad-brimmed hats of black beaver in winter to keep off +the rain, and of white straw in summer to keep off the heat. No white +satin ties, which always look dirty, such as one sees in London and +other great towns, but broad, old-fashioned scarves of many colours or +of blue "birdseye" mellowed by age. The fact is that simplicity--the +very essence of good taste--is apparent only in the garments of the +_best_-dressed and the _poorest_-dressed people in England. This is one +more proof of the truth of the old saying, "Simplicity is nature's first +step, and the last of art." + +The greatest character we ever possessed in the village was undoubtedly +Tom Peregrine, the keeper. + + "A man, take him for all in all, + I shall not look upon his like again." + +The eldest son of the principal tenant on the manor, and belonging to a +family of yeoman farmers who had been settled in the place for a hundred +years, he suddenly found that "he could not a-bear farming," and took up +his residence as "an independent gentleman" in a comfortable cottage at +the gate of the manor house. Then he started a "sack" business--a trade +which is often adopted in these parts by those who are in want of a +better. The business consists in buying up odds and ends of sacks, and +letting them out on hire at a handsome profit. He was always intensely +fond of shooting and fishing; indeed, the following description which +Sir Roger de Coverley gave the "Spectator" of a "plain country fellow +who rid before them," when they were on their way to the assizes, suits +him exactly. "He is a yeoman of about an hundred pounds a year; and +knocks down a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week. He would be a +good neighbour if he did not destroy so many partridges: in short, he is +a very sensible man, shoots flying, and has been several times foreman +of the petty jury." + +Perhaps with regard to the "shoots flying" the reservation should be +added, that should he have seen a covey of partridges "bathering" in a +ploughed field within convenient distance of a stone wall or thick +fence, he might not have been averse to knocking over a brace for supper +on the ground. And we had almost forgotten to explain that it was for +the manor-house table that he used to knock down a dinner with his gun +twice or thrice a week, and not his own--for, some years ago, he +persuaded the squire to take him into his service as gamekeeper. When we +came to take up our abode at the manor, we found that he was a sort of +standing dish on the place. Such a keen sportsman, it was explained, was +better in our service than kicking his heels about the village and on +his father's farm as an independent gentleman. And so this is how Tom +Peregrine came into our service. For my part I liked the man; he was so +delightfully mysterious. And the place would never have been the same +without him; for he became part and parcel with the trees and the fields +and every living thing. Nor would the woods and the path by the brook +and the breezy wolds ever have been quite the same if his quaint figure +had no longer appeared suddenly there. Many a time was I startled by the +sudden apparition of Tom Peregrine when out shooting on the hill; he +seemed to spring up from the ground like "Herne the Hunter"-- + + "Shaggy and lean and shrewd. With pointed ears + And tail cropped short, half lurcher and half cur, + His dog attends him." + +The above lines of Cowper's exactly, describe the keeper's Irish +terrier; the dog was almost as deep and mysterious as the man himself. +When in the woods, Tom's attitude and gait would at times resemble the +movements of a cock pheasant: now stealing along for a few yards, +listening for the slightest sound of any animal stirring in the +underwood; now standing on tiptoe for a time, with bated breath. Did a +blackbird--that dusky sentinel of the woods--utter her characteristic +note of warning, he would whisper, "Hark!" Then, after due deliberation, +he would add, "'Tis a fox!" or, "There's a fox in the grove," and then +he would steal gently up to try to get a glimpse of reynard. He never +looked more natural than when carrying seven or eight brace of +partridges, four or five hares, and a lease of pheasants; it was a +labour of love to him to carry such a load back to the village after a +day's shooting. In his pockets alone he could stow away more game than +most men can conveniently carry on their backs. + +He was the best hand at catching trout the country could produce. With a +rod and line he could pull them out on days when nobody else could get a +"rise." He could not understand dry-fly fishing, always using the +old-fashioned sunk fly. "Muddling work," he used to call the floating +method of fly fishing. + +But Tom Peregrine was cleverer with the landing-net than with the rod. +Any trout he could reach with the net was promptly pulled out, if we +particularly wanted a fish. Then he would talk all day about any subject +under the sun: politics, art, Roman antiquities, literature, and every +form of sport were discussed with equal facility. + +One day, when I was engaged in a slight controversy with his own +father, the keeper said to me: "I shouldn't take any notice whatever of +him"; then he added, with a sigh, "These Gloucestershire folk are +comical people." + +"Ah! 'tis a wise son that knows his own father in Gloucestershire, isn't +it, Peregrine?" said I, putting the Shakespearian cart before the horse. + +"Yes, it be, to be sure, to be sure," was the reply. "I can't make 'em +out nohow; they're funny folk in Gloucestershire." + +He gave me the following account of the "chopping" of one of our foxes: +"I knew there was a fox in the grove; and there, sure enough, he was. +But when he went toward the 'bruk,' the hounds come along and _give him +the meeting_; and then they bowled him over. It were a very comical job; +I never see such a job in all my life. I knew it would be a case," he +added, with a chuckle. + +The fact is, with that deadly aversion to all the vulpine race common to +all keepers, he dearly loved to see a fox killed, no matter how or +where; but to see one "chopped," without any of that "muddling round and +messing about," as he delighted to call a hunting run, seemed to him the +very acme of satisfaction and despatch. + +And here it may be said that Tom Peregrine's name did not bely him. Not +only were the keen brown eye and the handsome aquiline beak marked +characteristics of his classic features, but in temperament and habit he +bore a singular resemblance to the king of all the falcons. Who more +delighted in striking down the partridge or the wild duck? What more +assiduous destroyer of ground game and vermin ever existed than Tom +Peregrine? There never was a man so happily named and so eminently +fitted to fulfil the destinies of a gamekeeper. + + Who loves to trap the wily stoat? + Who loves the plover's piping note? + Who loves to wring the weasel's throat? + Tom Peregrine. + + What time the wintry woods we walk, + No need have we of lure or hawk; + Have we not Tom to _tower_ and talk? + Tom Peregrine? + + When to the withybed we spy, + A hungry hern or mallard fly, + "Bedad! we'll bag un by and by," + Tom Peregrine. + + "Creep _up wind_, sir, without a sound, + And bide thy time neath yonder 'mound,' + Then knock un over on the ground," + Tom Peregrine. + +And so one might go on _ad infinitum_. + +A more amusing companion or keener fisherman never stepped. He had all +sorts of quaint Gloucestershire expressions, which rolled out one after +the other during a day's fishing or shooting. Then he was very fond of +reading amusing pieces at village entertainments, often copying the +broad Gloucestershire dialect; apparently he was not aware that his own +brogue smacked somewhat of Gloucestershire too. At home in his own house +he was most friendly and hospitable. If he could get you to "step in," +he would offer you gooseberry, ginger, cowslip, and currant wine, sloe +gin, as well as the juice of the elder, the blackberry, the grape, and +countless other home-brewed vintages, which the good dames of +Gloucestershire pride themselves on preparing with such skill. Very +excellent some of these home-made drinks are. + +The British farmer is remarkably fond of a lord. If you wanted to put +him into a good temper for a month, the best plan would be to ask a lord +to shoot over his land, and tell him privately to make a great point of +shaking the honest yeoman by the hand, and all that kind of thing. By +the bye, I was once told by a coachman that he was sure the Bicester +hounds were a first-rate pack, for he had seen in the papers that no +less than four lords hunted with them. There is little harm in this +extraordinarily widespread admiration for titles; it is common to all +nations. We can all love a lord, provided that he be a gentleman. The +gentlemen of England, whether titled or untitled, are in thought and +feeling a very high type of the human race. But the man I like best to +meet is he who either by natural insight or by the trained habit of his +mind is able to look upon all mortals with eyes unprejudiced by outward +show and circumstance, judging them by character alone. Such a man may +not be understood or be awarded the credit due to him as "lord of the +lion heart" and despiser of sycophants and cringers. The habit of mind, +nevertheless, is worth cultivating; it will be so very useful some day, +when mortal garments have been put off and the vast inequalities of +destiny adjusted, and we all stand unclothed before the Judge. + +Tom Peregrine was not a "great frequenter of the church"; indeed, both +father and son often remarked to me that "'Twas a pity there was not a +chapel of ease put up in the hamlet, the village church being a full +mile away." However, when Tom was ailing from any cause or other he +immediately sent for the parson, and told him that he intended in future +to go to church regularly every Sunday. Shakespeare would have enquired +if he was troubled "about some act that had no relish of salvation +in't." "Thomas, he's a terrible coward [I here quote Mrs. Peregrine]. He +can't a-bear to have anything a-wrong with him; yet he don't mind +killing any animal." He made a tremendous fuss about a sore finger he +had at one time; and when the doctor exclaimed, like Romeo, "Courage, +man; the hurt cannot be much," Tom Peregrine replied, with much the same +humour as poor Mercutio: "No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as +a church door; but 'tis enough." I do not mean to infer that he quoted +Shakespeare, but he used words to the same effect. If asked whether he +had read Shakespeare, he might possibly have given the same reply as the +young woman in _High Life Below Stairs_: + +"KITTY: Shikspur? Shikspur? Who wrote it? No, I never read Shikspur. + +"LADY B.: _Then you have an immense pleasure to come_." + +Let it be said, however, that in many respects Tom was an exceedingly +well-informed and clever man. The family of Peregrines were noted, like +Sir Roger de Coverley, for their great friendliness to foxes; and to +their credit let it be said that they have preserved them religiously +for very many years. I scarcely ever heard a word of complaint from +them. All honour to those who neither hunt nor care for hunting, yet who +put up with a large amount of damage to crops and fences, as well as +loss of poultry and ground game, and yet preserve the foxes for a sport +in which they do not themselves take part. + +When conversing with me on the subject of preserving foxes, old Mr. +Peregrine would wax quite enthusiastic "You should put a barley rick in +the Conygers, and thatch it, and there would always be a fox." he would +remark. All this I hold to be distinctly creditable. For what is there +to prevent a farmer from pursuing a selfish policy and warning the whole +hunt off his land? + +The village parson is quite a character. You do not often see the like +nowadays. An excellent man in every way, and having his duty at heart, +he is one of the few Tories of the old school that are left to us. +Ruling his parish with a rod of iron, he is loved and respected by most +of his flock. In the Parish Council, at the Board of Guardians, his word +is law. He seldom goes away from the village save for his annual +holiday, yet he knows all that is going on in the great metropolis, and +will tell you the latest bit of gossip from Belgravia. He has a good +property of his own in Somersetshire, but to his credit let it be said +that his affections are entirely centred in the little Cotswold village, +which he has ruled for a quarter of a century. + + "Full loth were him to curse for his tithes, + But rather would be given out of doubt + Unto his poore parishens about + Of his off'ring, and eke of his substance. + He could in little thing have suffisance. + Wide was his parish and houses far asunder, + But he ne left not for no rain nor thunder + In sickness and in mischief to visit + The farthest in his parish much and lit, + Upon his feet, and in his hand a staff, + This noble ensample to his sheep he gaf, + That first he wrought and afterwards he taught." + + CHAUCER. + +Sermons are not so lengthy in our church as they were three hundred +years ago. Rudder mentions that a parson of the name of Winnington used +to preach here for two hours at a time, regularly turning the +hour-glass; for in those days hour-glasses were placed near the pulpit, +and the clergy used to vie with each other as to who could preach the +longest. I do not know if Mr. Barrow was ever surpassed in this respect. +History relates that he succeeded in emptying his church of the whole +congregation, including the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London--one man +only (an apprentice) remaining to the bitter end. Misguided laymen used +to amuse themselves in the same way. Fozbrooke mentions that one Will +Hulcote, a zealous lay preacher after the Reformation, used to mount the +pulpit in a velvet bonnet, a damask gown, and a gold chain. What an ass +he must have looked! This reminds me that at the age of twenty-four I +accepted the office of churchwarden of a certain country parish. I do +not recommend any of my readers to become churchwardens. You become a +sort of acting aide-de-camp to the parson, liable to be called out on +duty at a moment's notice. No; a young man might with some advantage to +others and credit to himself take upon himself the office of Parish +Councillor, Poor Law Guardian, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, High +Sheriff, or even Public Hangman; but save, oh, save us from being +churchwardens! To be obliged to attend those terrible institutions +called "vestry meetings," and to receive each year an examination paper +from the archdeacon of the diocese propounding such questions as, "Do +you attend church regularly? If not, why not?" etc., etc., is the +natural destiny of the churchwarden, and is more than human nature can +stand: in short, my advice to those thinking of becoming churchwardens +is, "Don't," with a very big _D_. + +According to the "Diary of Master William Silence," in the olden times a +pedlar would occasionally arrive at the church door during the sermon, +and proceed to advertise his wares at the top of his voice. Whereupon +the parson, speedily deserted by the female portion of his congregation +and by not a few of the other sex, was obliged to bring his discourse to +a somewhat inglorious conclusion. + +We learn from the same work that the churchwardens were in the habit of +disbursing large sums for the destruction of foxes. When a fox was +marked to ground the church bell was rung as a signal, summoning every +man who owned a pickaxe, a gun, or a terrier dog, to lend a hand in +destroying him. We are talking of two or three hundred years ago, when +the stag was the animal usually hunted by hounds on the Cotswolds and in +other parts of England. + +Our village is a favourite meet of the V.W.H. foxhounds. An amusing +story is told of a former tenant of the court house--a London gentleman, +who rented the place for a time. He is reported to have made a special +request to the master of the hounds, that when the meet was held at "the +Court," "his lordship" would make the fox pass in front of the +drawing-room windows, "For," said he, "I have several friends coming +from London to see the hunt." + +In a hunting district such as this the owners and occupiers of the +various country houses are usually enthusiastic devotees of the chase. +The present holder of the "liberty" adjoining us is a fox-hunter of the +old school. An excellent sportsman and a wonderful judge of a horse, he +dines in pink the best part of the year, drives his four-in-hand with +some skill, and wears the old-fashioned low-crowned beaver hat. + +We have many other interesting characters in our village; human nature +varies so delightfully that just as with faces so each individual +character has something to distinguish it from the rest of the world. +The old-fashioned autocratic farmer of the old school is there of +course, and a rare good specimen he is of a race that has almost +disappeared. Then we have the village lunatic, whose mania is "religious +enthusiasm." If you go to call on him, he will ask you "if you are +saved," and explain to you how his own salvation was brought about. +Unfortunately one of his hobbies is to keep fowls and pigs in his house +so that fleas are more or less numerous there, and your visits are +consequently few and far between. + +The village "quack," who professes to cure every complaint under the +sun, either in mankind, horses, dogs, or anything else by means of +herbs, buttonholes you sometimes in the village street. If once he +starts talking, you know that you are "booked" for the day. He is rather +a "bore," and is uncommonly fond of quoting the Scriptures in support of +his theories. But there is something about the man one cannot help +liking. His wonderful infallibility in curing disease is set down by +himself to divine inspiration. Many a vision has he seen. Unfortunately +his doctrines, though excellent in theory, are seldom successful in +practice. An excellent prescription which I am informed completely cured +a man of indigestion is one of his mixtures "last thing at night" and +the first chapter of St. John carefully perused and digested on top. + +I called on the old gentleman the other day, and persuaded him to give +me a short lecture. The following is the gist of what he said: "First of +all you must know that the elder is good for anything in the world, but +especially for swellings. If you put some of the leaves on your face, +they will cure toothache in five minutes. Then for the nerves there's +nothing like the berries of ivy. Yarrow makes a splendid ointment; and +be sure and remember Solomon's seal for bruises, and comfrey for 'hurts' +and broken bones. Camomile cures indigestion, and ash-tree buds make a +stout man thin. Soak some ash leaves in hot water, and you will have a +drink that is better than any tea, and destroys the 'gravel.' +Walnut-tree bark is a splendid emetic; and mountain flax, which grows +everywhere on the Cotswolds, is uncommon good for the 'innards.' 'Ettles +[nettles] is good for stings. Damp them and rub them on to a 'wapse' +sting, and they will take away the pain directly." On my suggesting that +stinging nettles were rather a desperate remedy, he assured me that +"they acted as a blister, and counteracted the 'wapse.' Now, I'll tell +you an uncommon good thing to preserve the teeth," he went on, "and that +is to _brush_ them once or twice a week. You buys a brush at the +chymists, you know; they makes them specially for it. Oh, 'tis a capital +good thing to cleanse the teeth occasionally!" + +He wound up by telling me a story of a celebrated doctor who left a +sealed book not to be opened till after his death, when it was to be +sold at auction. It fetched six hundred pounds. The man who paid this +sum was horrified on opening it to find it only contained the following +excellent piece of advice: "Always remember to keep the feet warm and +the head cool." + +As I said good-bye, and thanked him for his lecture, he said: "Those +doctors' chemicals destroy the 'innards.' And be sure and put down rue +for the heart; and burdock, 'tis splendid for the liver." + +Nor must mention be omitted of old Isaac Sly, a half-witted labouring +fellow with a squint in one eye and blind of the other, who at first +sight might appear a bad man to meet on a dark night, but is harmless +enough when you know him; he haunts the lanes at certain seasons of the +year, carrying an enormous flag, and invariably greets you with the +intelligence that he will bring the flag up next Christmas the same as +usual, according to time-honoured custom. He is the last vestige of the +old wandering minstrels of bygone days, playing his inharmonious +concertina in the hall of the manor house regularly at Christmas and at +other festivals. + +Nor must we forget dear, honest Mr. White, the kindest and most pompous +of men, who, after fulfilling his destiny as head butler in a great +establishment, and earning golden opinions from all sorts and conditions +of men, finally settled down to a quiet country life in a pretty cottage +in our village, where he is the life and soul of every convivial +gathering and beanfeast, carving a York ham or a sirloin with great +nicety and judgment. He has seen much of men and manners in his day, and +has a fund of information on all kinds of subjects. Having plenty of +leisure, he is a capital hand at finding the whereabouts of outlying +foxes; and once earned the eternal gratitude of the whole neighbourhood +by starting a fine greyhound fox, known as the "old customer," out of a +decayed and hollow tree that lay in an unfrequented spot by the river. +He poked him out with a long pole, and gave the "view holloa" just as +the hounds had drawn all the coverts "blank," and the people's faces +were as blank as the coverts; whereupon such a run was enjoyed as had +not been indulged in for many a long day. + +But what of our miller--our good, honest gentleman farmer and +miller--now, alas! retired from active business? What can I say of him? +I show you a man worthy to sit amongst kings. A little garrulous and +inquisitive at times, yet a conqueror for all that in the battle +of-life, and one of whom it may in truth be said, + + "And thus he bore without abuse + The grand old name of gentleman." + +As to the morals of the Gloucestershire peasants in general, and of our +village in particular, it may be said that they are on the whole +excellent; in one respect only they are rather casual, not to say +prehistoric. + +The following story gives one a very good idea of the casual nature of +hamlet morals:-- + +A parson--I do not know of which village, but it was somewhere in this +neighbourhood--paid a visit to a newly married man, to speak seriously +about the exceptionally premature arrival of an heir. "This is a +terrible affair," said the parson on entering the cottage. "Yaas; 'twere +a bad job to be sure," replied the man. "And what will yer take +to drink?" + +Let it in justice be said that such episodes are the exception and not +the rule. + +Among the characters to be met with in our Cotswold hamlet is the +village politician. Many a pleasant chat have we enjoyed in his snug +cottage, whilst the honest proprietor was having his cup of tea and +bread and butter after his work. Common sense he has to a remarkable +degree, and a good deal more knowledge than most people give him credit +for. He is a Radical of course; nine out of ten labourers are _at +heart_. And a very good case he makes out for his way of thinking, if +one can only put oneself in his place for a time. We have endeavoured to +convert him to our way of thinking, but the strong, reflective mind, + + "Illi robur, et aes triplex + Circa pectus erat," + +is not to be persuaded. He will be true to "the colour"; this is his +final answer, even if your arguments overcome for the time being. And +you cannot help liking the man for his straightforward, self-reliant +nature; he is acting up to the standard he has set himself all +through life. + + "This above all, to thine own self be true, + And it must follow, as the night the day, + Thou canst not then be false to any man." + +And how many there are in the byways of England acting up to this motto, +and leading the lives of heroes, though their reward is not to be +found here! + +There is no nobler sight on this earth than to behold men of all ages +doing their duty to the best of their ability, in spite of manifold +hardships and many a bitter disappointment; cheerfully and manfully +confronting difficulties of all kinds, and training up children in the +fear and knowledge of God. If this is not nobleness, there is no such +thing on earth. And it is owing to the vast amount of real, genuine +Christianity that exists among these honest folk that life is rendered +on the whole so cheerful in these Cotswold villages. Many small faults +the peasants doubtless possess; such are inseparable from human nature. +The petty jealousies always to be found where men do congregate exist +here, and as long as the earth revolves they will continue to exist; but +underneath the rough, unpolished exterior there is a reef of gold, far +richer than the mines of South Africa will ever produce, and as immortal +as the souls in which it lies so deeply rooted and embedded. + +For the best type of humanity we need not search in vain among the +humble cottages of the hamlets of England. There shall we find the +courageous, brave souls who "scorn delights and live laborious +days,"--men who estimate their fellows at their worth, and not according +to their social position. Blunt and difficult to lead, not out of +hardness of heart or obstinate pigheadedness, but as Burns has put it: + + "For the glorious priviledge + Of being independant." + +A few such are to be found in all our rural villages if one looks for +them; and if they are the exceptions to the general rule, it must also +be remembered that men with "character" are equally rare amongst the +upper and middle classes. + +Talking of village politics, I shall never forget a meeting held at +Northleach a few years ago. It was at a time when the balance of parties +was so even that our Unionist member was returned by the bare majority +of three votes, only to be unseated a few weeks afterwards on a recount. +Northleach is a very Radical town, about six miles from my home; and +when I agreed to take the chair, I little knew what an unpleasant job I +had taken in hand. Our member for some reason or other was unable to +attend. I therefore found myself at 7.30 one evening facing two hundred +"red-hot" Radicals, with only one other speaker besides myself to keep +the ball a-rolling. My companion was one of those professional +politicians of the baser sort, who call themselves Unionists because it +pays better for the working-class politician--in just the same way as +ambitious young men among the upper classes sometimes become Radicals on +the strength of there being more opening for them on the "Liberal" side. + +Well, this fellow bellowed away in the usual ranting style for about +three-quarters of an hour; his eloquence was great, but truth was "more +honoured in the breach than in the observance." So that when he sat +down, and my turn came, the audience, instead of being convinced, was +fairly rabid. I was very young at that time, and fearfully nervous; +added to which I was never much of a speaker, and, if interrupted at +all, usually lost the thread of my argument. + +After a bit they began shouting, "Speak up." The more they shouted the +more mixed I got. When once the spirit of insubordination is roused in +these fellows, it spreads like wild-fire. The din became so great I +could not hear myself speak. In about five minutes there would have been +a row. Suddenly a bright idea occurred to me. "Listen to me," I shouted; +"as you won't hear me speak, perhaps you will allow me to sing you a +song." I had a fairly strong voice, and could go up a good height; so I +gave them "Tom Bowling." Directly I started you could have heard a pin +drop. They gave, me a fair hearing all through; and when, as a final +climax, I finished up with a prolonged B flat--a very loud and long +note, which sounded to me something between a "view holloa" and the +whistle of a penny steamboat, but which came in nicely as a sort of +_pièce de résistance_, fairly astonishing "Hodge"--their enthusiasm knew +no bounds. They cheered and cheered again. Hand shaking went on all +round, whilst the biggest Radical of the lot stood up and shouted, "You +be a little Liberal, I know, and the other blokes 'ave 'ired [hired] +you." Whether we won any votes that evening I am doubtful, but certain I +am that this meeting, which started so inauspiciously, was more +successful than many others in which I have taken part in a Radical +place, in spite of the fact that we left it amid a shower of stones from +the boys outside. + +I do not think there is anything I dislike more than standing up to +address a village audience on the politics of the day. Unless you happen +to be a very taking speaker--which his greatest friends could not accuse +the present writer of being--agricultural labourers are a most +unsympathetic audience. They will sit solemnly through a long speech +without even winking an eye, and your best "hits" are passed by in +solemn silence. To the nervous speaker a little applause occasionally is +doubtless encouraging; but if you want to get it, you must put somebody +down among the audience, and pay them half a crown to make a noise. + +I suppose no better fellow or more suitable candidate for a Cotswold +constituency ever walked than Colonel Chester Master, of the Abbey; yet +his efforts to win the seat under the new ballot act were always +unavailing, saving the occasion on which he got in by three votes, and +then was turned out again within a month. An unknown candidate from +London--I will not say a carpet-bagger--was able to beat the local +squire, entirely owing to the very fact that he was a stranger. + +There is a good deal of chopping and changing about among the +agricultural voters, in spite of a general determination to be true to +the "yaller" colour or the "blue," as the case may be. As I passed down +the village street on the day on which our last election took place, I +enthusiastically exclaimed to a passer-by in whom I thought I recognised +one of our erstwhile firmest supporters, "We shall have our man in for a +certainty this time." "What--in the brook!" replied the turncoat, with a +glance at the stream, and not without humour, his face purple with +emotion. This was somewhat damping; but the hold of the paid social +agitator is very great in these country places, and it is scarcely +credible what extraordinary stories are circulated on the eve of an +election to influence the voters. At such times even loyalty is at a +discount At a Tory meeting a lecturer was showing a picture of +Gibraltar, and expatiating on the English victory in 1704, when Sir +George Rooke won this important stronghold from the Spaniards. "How +would you like any one to come and take your land away?" exclaimed a +Radical, with a great show of righteous indignation. And his sentiments +received the applause of all his friends. + +In these matters, and in the spirit of independence generally, country +folk have much altered. No longer can it be said; as Addison quaintly +puts it in the _Spectator_, that "they are so used to be dazzled with +riches that they pay as much deference to the understanding of a man of +estate as of a man of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard +any truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached to them, +when they know there are several men of five hundred a year who do not +believe it." + +In such-like matters the labourers now show a vast deal of common sense, +and the only wonder is that whilst paying but little deference either to +men of estate or men of learning, they yet allow themselves to be +"bamboozled" by the promises and claptrap of the paid agitator. + +Narrow and ignorant as is the Toryism commonly displayed in country +districts, it is yet preferable, from the point of view of those whose +motto is _aequam memento_, etc., to the impossible Utopia which the +advanced Radicals invariably promise us and never effect. + +A word now about the farmers of Gloucestershire. + +It is often asked, How do the Cotswold farmers live in these bad times? +I suppose the only reply one can give is the old saw turned upside down: +They live as the fishes do in the sea; the great ones eat up the little +ones. The tendency, doubtless, in all kinds of trade is for the small +capitalists to go to the wall. + +Some of the farmers in this district are yeoman princes, not only +possessing their own freeholds, but farming a thousand or fifteen +hundred acres in addition. Mr. Garne, of Aldsworth, is a fine specimen +of this class. He makes a speciality of the original pure-bred Cotswold +sheep, and his rams being famous, he is able to do very well, in spite +of the fact that there is little demand for the old breed of sheep, the +mutton being of poor quality and the wool coarse and rough. Mr. Garne +carries off all the prizes at "the Royal" and other shows with his +magnificent sheep. A cross between the Hampshire downs and the Cotswold +sheep has been found to give excellent mutton, as well as fine and silky +wool. The cross breed is gradually superseding the native sheep. Mr. +Hobbs, of Maiseyhampton, is famous for his Oxford downs. These sheep are +likewise superior to the Cotswold breed. + +Barley does uncommonly well on the light limestone soil of these hills. +The brewers are glad to get Cotswold barley for malting purposes. Fine +sainfoin crops are grown, and black oats likewise do well. The shallow, +porous soil requires rain at least once a week throughout the spring and +summer. The better class of farmer on these hills does not have at all a +bad time even in these days. Very often they lead the lives of squires, +more especially in those hamlets where there is no landowner resident. +Hunting, shooting, coursing, and sometimes fishing are enjoyed by most +of these squireens, and they are a fine, independent class of +Englishman, who get more fun out of life than many richer men, They will +tell you with regard to the labourers that the following adage is still +to be depended upon:-- + + "Tis the same with common natures: + Use 'em kindly they rebel; + But be rough as nutmeg-graters, + And the rogues obey you well." + +[Illustration: An Old Cottage. 087.png] + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LANGUAGE OF THE COTSWOLDS, WITH SOME ANCIENT SONGS AND LEGENDS. + +A very marked characteristic of the village peasant is his extraordinary +honesty. Not one in ten would knock a pheasant on the head with his +stick if he found one on his allotment among the cabbages. Rabbit +poachers there are, but even these are rare; and as for housebreaking +and robbery, it simply does not exist. The manor house has a tremendous +nail-studded oak door, which is barred at night by ponderous clamps of +iron and many other contrivances; but the old-fashioned windows could be +opened by any moderately skilful burglar in half a minute. There is +absolutely nothing to prevent access to the house at night, whilst in +the daytime the doors are open from "morn till dewy eve." Most of the +windows are innocent of shutters. When in Ireland recently, I noticed +that the gates in every field were immensely strong, generally of iron, +with massive pillars of stone on either side; but in spite of these +precautions there was usually a gap in the hedge close by, through which +one might safely have driven a waggon. This reminded one of the Cotswold +manor house and its strongly barricaded oak door, surrounded by windows, +which any burglar could open "as easy as a glove," as Tom Peregrine +would say. + +A strange-looking traveller, with slouching gait and mouldy wideawake +hat, passes through the hamlet occasionally, leading a donkey in a cart. +This is one of the old-fashioned hawkers. These men are usually poachers +or receivers of poached goods. They are not averse to paying a small sum +for a basket of trout or a few partridges, pheasants, hares or rabbits +in the game season; whilst in spring they deal in a small way in the +eggs of game birds. As often as not this class of man is accompanied by +a couple of dogs, marvellously trained in the art of hunting the coverts +and "retrieving" a pheasant or a rabbit which may be crouching in the +underwood. Hares, too, are taken by dogs in the open fields. One never +finds out much about these gentry from the natives. Even the keeper is +reticent on the subject. "A sart of a harf-witted fellow" is Tom +Peregrine's description of this very suspicious-looking traveller. + +The better sort of carrier, who calls daily at the great house with all +kinds of goods and parcels from the big town seven miles off, is +occasionally not averse to a little poaching in the roadside fields +among the hares. The carriers are a great feature of these rural +villages; they are generally good fellows, though some of them are a bit +too fond of the bottle on Saturday nights. + +The dogs employed by poachers are taught to keep out of sight and avoid +keepers and such-like folk. They know as well as the poacher himself the +nature of their trade, and that the utmost secrecy must be observed. To +see them trotting demurely down the road you would never think them +capable of doing anything wrong. A wave of the hand and they are into +the covert in a second, ready to pounce like a cat on a sitting +pheasant. One short whistle and they are at their master's heels again. +If in carrying game in their mouths they spied or winded a keeper, they +would in all probability contrive to hide themselves or make tracks for +the high road as quickly as possible, leaving their spoil in the thick +underwood, "to be left till called for." + +But to return once more to the honest Cotswold labourer. Occasionally a +notice is put up in the village as follows:-- + +"There will be a dinner in the manor grounds on July--. Please bring +knives and forks." + +These are great occasions in a Cotswold village. Knives and forks mean +meat; and a joint of mutton is not seen by the peasants more than "once +in a month of Sundays." Needless to say, there is not much opportunity +of studying the language of the country as long as the feast is +progressing. "Silence is golden" is the motto here whilst the viands are +being discussed; but afterwards, when the Homeric desire of eating and +drinking has been expelled, an adjournment to the club may lead to a +smoking concert, and, once started, there are very few Cotswold men who +cannot sing a song of at least eighteen verses. For three hours an +uninterrupted stream of music flows forth, not only solos, but +occasionally duets, harmoniously chanted in parts, and rendered with the +utmost pathos. It cannot be said that Gloucestershire folk are endowed +with a large amount of musical talent; neither their "ears" nor their +vocal chords are ever anything great, but what they lack in quality they +make up in quantity, and I have listened to as many as forty songs +during one evening--some of them most entertaining, others extremely +dull. The songs the labourer most delights in are those which are +typical of the employment in which he happens to be engaged. Some of the +old ballads, handed down from father to son by oral tradition, are very +excellent. The following is a very good instance of this kind of song; +when sung by the carter to a good rollicking tune, it goes with a rare +ring, in spite of the fact that it lasts about a quarter of an hour. +There would be about a dozen verses, and the chorus is always sung twice +at the end of each verse, first by the carter and then by the +whole company. + +"Now then, gentlemen, don't delay harmony," Farmer Peregrine keeps +repeating in his old-fashioned, convivial way, and thus the ball is kept +a-rolling half the night. + + JIM, THE CARTER LAD. + + "My name is Jim, the carter lad-- + A jolly cock am I; + I always am contented, + Be the weather wet or dry. + I snap my finger at the snow, + And whistle at the rain; + I've braved the storm for many a day, + And can do so again." + + (_Chorus_.) + + "Crack, crack, goes my whip, + I whistle and I sing, + I sits upon my waggon, + I'm as happy as a king. + My horse is always willing; + As for me, I'm never sad: + There's none can lead a jollier life + Than Jim, the carter lad." + + "My father was a carrier + Many years ere I was born, + And used to rise at daybreak + And go his rounds each morn. + He often took me with him, + Especially in the spring. + I loved to sit upon the cart + And hear my father sing. + Crack, crack, etc." + + "I never think of politics + Or anything so great; + I care not for their high-bred talk + About the Church and State. + I act aright to man and man, + And that's what makes me glad; + You'll find there beats an honest heart + In Jim, the carter lad. + Crack, crack, etc." + + "The girls, they all smile on me + As I go driving past. + My horse is such a beauty, + And he jogs along so fast. + We've travelled many a weary mile, + And happy days have had; + For none can lead a jollier life + Than Jim, the carter lad. + Crack, crack, etc." + + "So now I'll wish you all good night + It's time I was away; + For I know my horse will weary + If I much longer stay. + To see your smiling faces, + It makes my heart quite glad. + I hope you'll drink your kind applause + To Jim, the carter lad. + Crack, crack, etc." + +The village choirs do very well as long as their organist or vicar is +not too ambitious in his choice of music. There is a fatal tendency in +many places to do away with the old hymns, which every one has known +from a boy, and substitute the very inferior modern ones now to be found +in our books. This is the greatest mistake, if I may say so. A man is +far more likely to sing, and feel deeply when he is singing, those +simple words and notes he learnt long ago in the nursery at home. And +there is nothing finer in the world than some of our old English hymns. + +I appeal to any readers who have known what it is to feel deeply; and +few there are to whom this does not apply, if some of those moments of +their lives, when the thoughts have soared into the higher regions of +emotion, have not been those which followed the opening strain of the +organ as it quietly ushered in the old evening hymn, "Abide with me, +fast falls the eventide," or any other hymn of the same kind. It is the +same in the vast cathedral as in the little Norman village church. There +are fifty hymns in our book which would be sufficient to provide the +best possible music for our country churches. The best organists realise +this. Joseph Barnby always chose the old hymns; and you will hear them +at Westminster and St. Paul's. The country organist, however, imagines +that it is his duty to be always teaching his choir some new and +difficult tune; the result in nine cases out of ten being "murder" and a +rapid falling off in the congregation. + +The Cotswold folk on the whole are fond of music, though they have not a +large amount of talent for it. The Chedworth band still goes the round +of the villages once or twice a year. These men are the descendants of +the "old village musicians," who, to quote from the _Strand Musical +Magazine_ for September 1897, "led the Psalmody in the village church +sixty years ago with stringed and wind instruments. Mr. Charles Smith, +of Chedworth, remembers playing the clarionet in Handel's _Zadok the +Priest_, performed there in 1838 in honour of the Queen's accession." He +talks of a band of twelve, made up of strings and _wood-wind_. + +I am bound to say that the music produced by the Chedworth band at the +present day, though decidedly creditable in such an old-world village, +is rather like the Roman remains for which the district is so famous; it +savours somewhat of the prehistoric. But when the band comes round and +plays in the hall of our old house on Christmas Eve, I have many a +pleasant chat with the Chedworth musicians; they are so delightfully +enthusiastic, and so grateful for being allowed to play. When I gave +them a cup of tea they kept repeating, "A thousand thanks for all your +kindness, sir." + +It is inevitable that men engaged day by day and year by year in such +monotonous employ as agricultural labour should be somewhat lacking in +acuteness and sensibility; in no class is the hereditary influence so +marked. Were it otherwise, matters would be in a sorry pass in country +places, for discontent would reign supreme; and once let "ambition mock +their useful toil," once their sober wishes learn to stray, how would +the necessary drudgery of agricultural work be accomplished at all? In +spite, however, of this marked characteristic of inertness--hereditary +in the first place, and fostered by the humdrum round of daily toil on +the farm--there is sometimes to be found a sense of humour and a love of +merriment that is quite astonishing. A good deal of what is called +knowledge of the world, which one would have thought was only to be +acquired in towns, nowadays penetrates into remote districts, so that +country folk often have a good idea of "what's what" I once overheard +the following conversation: + +"Who's your new master, Dick? He's a bart., ain't he?" + +"Oh no," was the reply; "he's only a _jumped-up jubilee knight_!" + +Sense of humour of a kind the Cotswold labourer certainly has, even +though he is quite unable to see a large number of apparently simple +jokes. The diverting history of John Gilpin, for instance, read at a +smoking concert, was received with scarce a smile. + +Old Mr. Peregrine lately told me an instance of the extraordinary +secretiveness of the labourer. Two of his men worked together in his +barn day after day for several weeks. During that time they never spoke +to each other, save that one of them would always say the last thing at +night, "Be sure to shut the door." + +Oddly enough they thoroughly appreciate the humour of the wonderful +things that went on fifty and a hundred years ago. The old farmer I have +just mentioned told me that he remembers when he used to go to church +fifty years ago, how, after they had all been waiting half an hour, the +clerk would pin a notice in the porch, "No church to-day; Parson C---- +got the gout." + +As with history so also with geography, the Cotswold labourer sometimes +gets "a bit mixed." + +"'Ow be they a-gettin' on in Durbysher?" lately enquired a man at +Coln-St-Aldwyns. + +To him replied a righteously indignant native of the same village, "I've +'eard as 'ow the English army 'ave killed ten thousand Durvishers +(Dervishes)." + +"Bedad!" answered his friend, "there won't be many left in Durbysher if +they goes on a-killin' un much longer." + +Another story lately told me in the same village was as follows:-- + +An old lady went to the stores to buy candles, and was astonished to +find that owing to the Spanish-American war "candles was riz." + +"Get along!" she indignantly exclaimed. "_Don't tell me they fights by +candlelight_" + +One of the cheeriest fellows that ever worked for us was a carter called +Trinder. He was the father of _twenty-one children_--by the same wife. +He never seemed to be worried in the slightest degree by domestic +affairs, and was always happy and healthy and gay. This man's wages +would be about twelve shillings a week: not a very large sum for a man +with a score of children. Then it must be remembered that the boys would +go off to work in the fields at a very early age, and by the time they +were ten years old they would be keeping themselves. A large family like +this would not have the crushing effect on the labouring man that it has +on the poor curate or city clerk. Nevertheless, one cannot help looking +upon the man as a kind of hero, when one considers the enormous number +of grandchildren and descendants he will have. On being asked the other +day how he had contrived to maintain such a quiverful, he answered, +"I've always managed to get along all right so far; I never wanted for +vittals, sir, anyhow." This was all the information he would give. + +Talking of "vittals," the only meat the labouring man usually indulges +in is bacon. His breakfast consists of bread and butter, and either tea +or cocoa. For his dinner he relies on bread and bacon, occasionally +only bread and cheese. In the winter he is home by five, and once more +has tea, or cocoa, or beer. Coffee is very seldom seen in the cottages. +During the short days there is nothing to do but go to bed in the +evening, unless a walk of over a mile to the village inn is considered +worth the trouble. But being tired and leg weary, a long walk does not +usually appeal to the men after their evening meal; so to bed is the +order of the day,--and, thank Heaven! "the sleep of a labouring man is +sweet." In the longer days of spring and summer there is plenty to do in +the allotments; and on the whole the allotments acts have been a great +blessing to the labourers. + +It is during the three winter months that penny readings and smoking +concerts are so much appreciated in the country. Too much cannot be done +in this way to brighten the life of the village during the cold, dark +days of December and January, for the labouring man hates reading above +all things. + +Perhaps the fact that these simple folk do not read the newspapers, or +only read those parts in which they have a direct interest--such as +paragraphs indulging in socialistic castles in the air--has its +advantages, inasmuch as it allows their common sense full play in all +other matters, unhampered as it is (except in this one weak point of +socialism) by the prejudices of the day. So that if one wanted to get an +unprejudiced opinion on some great question of right or wrong, in the +consideration of which common sense alone was required--such a question, +for instance, as is occasionally cropping up in these times in our +foreign policy--one would have to go to the very best men in the +country, namely, those amongst the educated classes who think for +themselves, or to men of the so-called lowest strata of society, such as +these honest Cotswold labourers; because there is scarcely one man in +ten among the reading public who is not biassed and confused by the +manifold contradictions and political claptrap of the daily papers, and +led away by side issues from a clear understanding of the rights of +every case. Our free press is doubtless a grand institution. As with +individuals, however, so ought it to be with nations. Let us, in our +criticisms of the policy of those who watch over the destinies of other +countries, whilst firmly upholding our rights, strictly adhere to the +principle of _noblesse oblige_. The press is every day becoming more and +more powerful for good or evil; its influence on men's minds has become +so marked that it may with truth be said that the press rules public +opinion rather than that public opinion rules the press. But the writers +of the day will only fulfil their destiny aright by approaching every +question in a broad and tolerant spirit, and by a firm reliance, in +spite of the prejudices of the moment, on the ancient faith of _noblesse +oblige_. However, the unanimity recently shown by the press in upholding +our rights at Fashoda was absolutely splendid. + +The origin of the names of the fields in this district is difficult to +trace. Many a farm has its "barrow ground," called after some old burial +mound situated there; and many names like Ladbarrow, Cocklebarrow, etc., +have the same derivation. "Buryclose," too, is a name often to be found +in the villages; and skeletons are sometimes dug up in meadows so +called. A copse, called Deadman's Acre, is supposed to have received its +name from the fact that a man died there, having sworn that he would +reap an acre of corn with a sickle in a day or perish in the attempt. It +is more likely, however, to be connected with the barrows, which are +plentiful thereabouts. + +Oliver Cromwell's memory is still very much respected among the +labouring folk. Every possible work is attributed to his hand, and even +the names of places are set down to his inventive genius. Thus they tell +you that when he passed through Aldsworth he did not think very much of +the village (it is certainly a very dull little place), so he snapped +his fingers and exclaimed, "That's all 'e's worth!" On arriving at Ready +Token, where was an ancient inn, he found it full of guests; he +therefore exclaimed, "It's already taken!" Was ever such nonsense heard? +Yet these good folk believe every tradition of this kind, and delight in +telling you such stories. Ready Token is a bleak spot, standing very +high, and having a clump of trees on it; it is therefore conspicuous for +miles; so that when this country was an open moor, Ready Token was very +useful as a landmark to travellers. Mr. Sawyer thinks the name is a +corruption from the Celtic word "rhydd" and the Saxon "tacen," meaning +"the way to the ford," the place being on the road to Fairford, where +the Coln is crossed. + +One of the chief traditions of this locality, and one that doubtless has +more truth in it than most of the stories the natives tell you, relates +that two hundred years ago people were frequently murdered at Ready +Token inn when returning with their pockets full of money from the big +fairs at Gloucester or Oxford. A labouring friend of mine was telling me +the other day of the wonderful disappearance of a packman and a +"jewelrer," as he called him. For very many years nothing was heard of +them, but about twenty years ago some "skellingtons" were dug up on the +exact spot where the inn stood, so their disappearance was +accounted for. + +This same man told me the following story about the origin of Hangman's +Stone, near Northleach:-- + +"A man stole a 'ship' [sheep], and carried it tied to his neck and +shoulders by a rope. Feeling rather tired, he put the 'ship' down on top +of the 'stwun' [stone] to rest a bit; but suddenly it rolled off the +other side, and hung him--broke his neck." + +Hangman's Stone may be seen to this day. The real origin of the name may +be found in Fozbrooke's History of Gloucestershire. It was the place of +execution in Roman times. + +"As illuminations in cases of joy, dismissal from the house in quarrels, +wishing joy on New Year's Day, king and queen on twelfth day (from the +Saturnalia), holding up the hand in sign of assent, shaking hands, etc., +are Roman customs, so were executions just out of the town, where also +the executioner resided. In Anglo-Saxon times this officer was a man of +high dignity." + +A very common name in Gloucestershire for a field or wood is "conyger" +or "conygre." It means the abode of conies or rabbits. + +Some farms have their "camp ground"; and there, sure enough, if one +examines it carefully, will be found traces of some ancient British +camp, with its old rampart running round it. But what can be the +derivation of such names as Horsecollar Bush Furlong, Smoke Acre +Furlong, West Chester Hull, Cracklands, Crane Furlong, Sunday's Hill, +Latheram, Stoopstone Furlong, Pig Bush Furlong, and Barelegged Bush? + +Names like Pitchwells, where there is a spring; Breakfast Bush Ground, +where no doubt Hodge has had his breakfast for centuries under shelter +of a certain bush; Rickbushes, and Longlands are all more or less easy +to trace. Furzey Leaze, Furzey Ground, Moor Hill, Ridged Lands, and the +Pikes are all names connected with the nature of the fields or +their locality. + +Leaze is the provincial name for a pasture, and Furzey Leaze would be a +rough "ground," where gorse was sprinkled about. The Pikes would be a +field abutting on an old turnpike gate. The word "turnpike" is never +used in Gloucestershire; it is always "the pike." A field is a "ground," +and a fence or stone wall is a "mound." The Cotswold folk do not talk +about houses; they stick to the old Saxon termination, and call their +dwellings "housen"; they also use the Anglo-Saxon "hire" for hear. The +word "bowssen," too, is very frequently heard in these parts; it is a +provincialism for a stall or shed where oxen are kept. "Boose" is the +word from which it originally sprang. A very expressive phrase in common +use is to "quad" or "quat"; it is equivalent to the word "squat." Other +words in this dialect are "sprack," an adjective meaning quick or +lively; and "frem" or "frum," a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon +"fram," meaning fresh or flourishing. The latter word is also used in +Leicestershire. Drayton, who knew the Cotswolds, and wrote poetry about +the district, uses the expression "frim pastures." "Plym" is the +swelling of wood when it is immersed in water; and "thilk," another +Anglo-Saxon word, means thus or the same. + +A mole in the Gloucestershire dialect is an "oont" or "woont." A barrow +or mound of any kind is a "tump." Anything slippery is described as +"slick"; and a slice is a "sliver." "Breeds" denotes the brim of a hat, +and a deaf man is said to be "dunch" or "dunny." To "glowr" is to +stare--possibly connected with the word "glare." + +Two red-coated sportsmen, while hunting close to our village the other +day, got into a small but deep pond. They were said to have fallen into +the "stank," and got "zogged" through: for a small pond is a "stank," +and to be "zogged" is equivalent to being soaked. + +"Hark at that dog 'yoppeting' in the covert! I'll give him a nation good +'larroping' when I catch him!" This is the sort of sentence a +Gloucestershire keeper makes use of. To "larrop" is to beat. Oatmeal or +porridge is always called "grouts"; and the Cotswold native does not +talk of hoisting a ladder, but "highsting" is the term he uses. The +steps of the ladder are the "rongs." Luncheon is "nuncheon." Other words +in the dialect are "caddie" = to humbug; "cham" = to chew; "barken" = a +homestead; and "bittle" = a mallet. + +Fozbrooke says that the term "hopping mad" is applied to people who are +very angry; but we do not happen to have heard it in Gloucestershire. +Two proverbs that are in constant use amongst all classes are, "As sure +as God's in Gloucestershire," and, "'Tis as long in coming as Cotswold +'berle'" (barley). The former has reference to the number of churches +and religious houses the county used to possess, the latter to the +backward state of the crops on the exposed Cotswold Hills. To meet a man +and say, "Good-morning, nice day," is to "pass the time of day with +him." Anything queer or mysterious is described as "unkard" or "unket"; +perhaps this word is a provincialism for "uncouth." A narrow lane or +path between two walls is a "tuer" in Gloucestershire vernacular. +Another local word I have not heard elsewhere is "eckle," meaning a +green woodpecker or yaffel. The original spelling of the word was +"hic-wall." In these days of education the real old-fashioned dialect is +seldom heard; among the older peasants a few are to be found who speak +it, but in twenty years' time it will be a thing of the past. + +The incessant use of "do" and "did," and the changing of _o_'s into +_a_'s are two great characteristics of the Gloucestershire talk. Being +anxious to be initiated into the mysteries of the dialect, I buttonholed +a labouring friend of mine the other day, and asked him to try to teach +it to me. He is a great exponent of the language of the country, and, +like a good many others of his type, he is as well satisfied with his +pronunciation as he is with his other accomplishments. The fact is that + + "His favourite sin + Is pride that apes humility." + +It is _your_ grammar, not his, which is at fault. In the following +verses will be found the gist of what he told me:-- + + "If thee true 'Glarcestershire' would know, + I'll tell thee how us always zays un; + Put 'I' for 'me,' and 'a' for 'o'. + On every possible occasion. + + When in doubt squeeze in a 'w'-- + 'Stwuns,' not 'stones.' And don't forget, zur, + That 'thee' must stand for 'thou' and 'you'; + 'Her' for 'she,' and _vice versâ_. + + Put 'v' for 'f'; for 's' put 'z'; + 'Th' and 't' we change to 'd,'-- + So dry an' kip this in thine yead, + An' thou wills't talk as plain as we." + +The student in the language of the Cotswolds should study a very ancient +song entitled "George Ridler's Oven." Strange to say, there is little or +nothing in it about the oven, but a good deal of the old Gloucestershire +talk may be gleaned from it. It begins like this: + + GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN. + + A RIGHT FAMOUS OLD GLOUCESTERSHIRE BALLAD. + + + "The stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, + The stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, _the stwuns_." + +This is sung like the prelude to a grand orchestral performance. +Beginning somewhat softly, Hodge fires away with a gravity and emotion +which do him infinite credit, each succeeding repetition of the word +"stwuns" being rendered with ever-increasing pathos and emphasis, until, +like the final burst of an orchestral prelude, with drums, trumpets, +fiddles, etc, all going at the same time, are at length ushered in the +opening lines of the ballad. + + "The stwuns that built Gaarge Ridler's oven, + And thauy qeum from the Bleakeney's Quaar; + And Gaarge he wur a jolly ould mon, + And his yead it graw'd above his yare. + + "One thing of Gaarge Ridler's I must commend. + And that wur vor a notable theng; + He mead his braags avoore he died, + Wi' any dree brothers his zons zshou'd zeng. + + "There's Dick the treble and John the mean + (Let every mon zing in his auwn pleace); + And Gaarge he wur the elder brother, + And therevoore he would zing the beass. + + "Mine hostess's moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell) + A pretty wench, and I lov'd her well; + I lov'd her well--good reauzon why, + Because zshe lov'd my dog and I. + + "My dog has gotten zitch a trick + To visit moids when thauy be zick; + When thauy be zick and like to die, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I. + + "My dog is good to catch a hen,-- + A duck and goose is vood vor men; + And where good company I spy, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I. + + "Droo aal the world, owld Gaarge would bwoast, + Commend me to merry owld England mwoast; + While vools gwoes scramblin' vur and nigh, + We bides at whoam, my dog and I. + + "Ov their furrin tongues let travellers brag, + Wi' their vifteen neames vor a puddin' bag; + Two tongues I knows ne'er towld a lie, + And their wearers be my dog and I. + + "My mwother told I when I wur young, + If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot, + That drenk would pruv my auverdrow, + And meauk me wear a thzreadbare cwoat. + + "When I hev dree zixpences under my thumb, + Oh, then I be welcome wherever I qeum; + But when I hev none, oh, then I pass by,-- + 'Tis poverty pearts good company. + + "When I gwoes dead, as it may hap, + My greauve shall be under the good yeal tap + In vouled earms there wool us lie, + Cheek by jowl, my dog and I." + +GLOSSARY. + +_stwuns_ = stones. +_quaar_ = quarry. +_yare_ = hair. +_avoor_ = before. +_auwn_ = own. +_furrin_ = foreign. +_greauve_ = grave. +_thauy_ = they. +_yead_ = head. +_mead_ = made. +_dree_ = three. +_pleace_ = place. +_pwoot_ = pewter. +_yeal_ = ale. +_qeum_ = come. +_graw'd_ = grew. +_braags_ = brag. +_zshou'd_ = should. +_beass_ = bass. +_auverdrow_ = overthrow. +_vouled earms_ = folded arms. +_zitch_ = such. + +The song itself is as old as the hills, but I have taken the liberty of +appending a glossary, in order that my readers may be spared the +trouble of making out the meaning of some of the words. It was a long +time before it dawned upon me that "vouled earms" meant "folded arms "; +"auverdrow" likewise was very perplexing. Like many of the old ballads, +it sounds like a rigmarole from beginning to end; but there is really a +great deal more in it than meets the eye. George Ridler is no less a +personage than King Charles I., and the oven represents the cavalier +party. (See Appendix.) + +Such songs as these are deeply interesting from the fact that they are +handed down by oral tradition from father to son, and written copies are +never seen in the villages. The same applies to the play the mummers act +at Christmas-time; all has to be learnt from the preceding generation of +country folk. But the great feature of our smoking concerts and village +entertainments has always been the reading of Tom Peregrine. This noted +sportsman, who writes one of the best hands I ever saw, has kindly +copied out a recitation he lately gave us. It relates to the adventures +of one Roger Plowman, a Cotswold man who went to London, and is taken +from a book, compiled some years ago by some Ciceter men, entitled +"Roger Plowman's Excursion to London." It was read at a harvest home +given by old Mr. Peregrine in his huge barn, an entertainment which +lasted from six o'clock till twelve. I trust none of my readers will be +any the worse for reading it. Tom Peregrine declares that when he first +gave it at a penny reading some years ago, one or two of the audience +had to be carried out in hysterics--they laughed so much; and another +man fell backwards off his chair, owing to the extreme comicality of it. +The truth is, our versatile keeper is a wonderful reader, and speaking +as he does the true Gloucestershire accent, in the same way as some of +the squires spoke it a century or more ago, it is extremely amusing to +hear him copying the still broader dialect of the labouring class. He +has a tremendous sense of humour, and his epithet for anything amusing +is "Foolish." "'Tis a splendid tale; 'tis so desperate foolish," he +would often say. + + + +ROGER PLOWMAN'S JOURNEY TO LONDON. + +Monday marnin' I wur to start early. Aal the village know'd I wur +a-gwain, an' sum sed as how I shood be murthur'd avoor I cum back. On +Sunday I called at the manur 'ouse an' asked cook if she hed any message +vor Sairy Jane. She sed: + +"Tell Sairy Jane to look well arter 'e, Roger, vor you'll get lost, tuck +in, an' done vor." + +"Rest easy in yer mind, cook," I zed; "Roger is toughish, an' he'll see +thet the honour o' the old county is well show'd out and kep' up." + +Cook wished me a pleasant holiday. + +I started early on Monday marnin', 'tarmined to see as much as possible. +I wur to walk into Cizzeter, an' vram thur goo by train to Lunnon. + +I wur delighted wi' Cizzeter. The shops an' buildin's round the +market-pleace wur vine; an' the church wur grand; didn't look as how he +wur built by the same sort of peeple as put the shops up. + +When the Roomans an' anshunt Britons went to church arm-in-arm it wur +always Whitsuntide, an' arter church vetched their banners out wi' brass +eagles on, an' hed a morris dance in the market-pleace. The anshunt +Britons never hed any tailory done, but thay wur all artists wi' the +paint pot. The Consarvatives painted thurselves bloo, and the Radicals +yaller, an' thay as danced the longest, the Roomans sent to Parlyment to +rool the roost. + +I wur show'd the pleace wur the peeple started vor Lunnon. I walked in, +an' thur wur a hole in the purtition, an' I seed the peeple a-payin' +thur money vor bits o' pasteboord. I axed the mon if he could take I +to Lunnon. + +He sed, "Fust, second, or thurd?" + +I sed, "Fust o' course, not arter; vor Sairy Jane ull be waitin'." + +He sed 'twer moor ner a pound to pay. + +I sed the paason sed 'twer about eight shillin'. + +"That's thurd class," he sed; an' that thay ud aal be in Lunnon at the +same time. + +So I paid thurd class, an' he shuved out sum pasteboord, an' I put it in +my pocket, an' walked out; an' thur wur a row o' carridges waitin' vor +Lunnon; an' off we went as fast as a racehoss. + +I heerd sum say thay wur off to Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, +North Wales; an' I sed to meself, "I be on the rong road. Dang the +buttons o' that little pasteboord seller! he warn't a 'safe mon' to hev +to do wi'." + +I enquired if the peeple hed much washin' to do for the railway about +here, an' thay wanted to know what I required to know vor. + +I sed because thur war such a long clothesline put up aal the way +along. An' thay aal bust out a-larfin,' an' sed 'twur the tallergraph; +an' one sed as how if the Girt Western thought as how 'twould pay +better, thay ud soon shet up shop, an' take in washin'. + +Never in aal me life did I go at such a rate under and awver bridges an +droo holes in the 'ills. We wur soon at Swindon, wur a lot wur at work +as black as tinkers. We aal hed to get out, an' a chap in green clothes +sed we shood hev to wait ten minits. + +Thur wur a lot gwain into a room, an' I seed they wur eatin' and +drinkin'; so I ses to meself, "I be rayther peckish, I'll go in an' see +if I can get summut." So in I goes; an' 'twer a vine pleace, wi' sum +nation good-looking gurls a-waitin'. + +"I'll hev a half-quartern loaf," I sed. + +"We doan't kip a baker's shop," she sed. "Thur's cakes, an' biskits, an' +sponge cakes." + +"Hev 'e got sum good bacon, raythur vattish?" I sed. + +"No, sur; but thur's sum good poork sausingers at sixpence." + +"Hand awver the pleat, young 'ooman," I sed, "an' I'll trubble you vor +the mustard, an' salt, an' that pleat o' bread an' butter, an' I'll set +down an' hev a bit of a snack." + +The sausingers wur very good, an' teasted moorish aal the time; but the +bread an' butter wur so nation thin that I had to clap dree or vour +pieces together to get a mouthful. I didn't seem to want a knife or +vork, but the young 'ooman put a white-handled knife an' silver +vork avoor me. + +The pleat o' bread an' butter didn't hold out vor the sausingers, so I +hed another pleat o' bread an' butter, an' wur getting on vine. I seem'd +to want summut to wet me whistle, an' wur gwain to order a quart o' ale, +when I heers a whistle an' a grunt vram a steamer, an' out I goos; an', +begum! he wur off. + +I beckuned to the chap to stop the train, wi' me vork as I hed jest +stuck into the last sausinger. I hed clapt a good mouthful in, or I +could hev hollur'd loud enough vor him to heer. The train didn't stop, +an' the vellers in green laughed to see I wur left in the lurch, as I +tell'd them that Sairy Jane would be sure to meet the Lunnon train. Thay +sed I could go in an' vinish the sausingers now, an' that wur what I +intended to do. + +I asked the young 'ooman for a bottle o' ale, when she put a tallish +bottle down wi' a beg head; an' as I wur dry I knocked the neck off, an' +the ale kum a-fizzing out like ginger pop,--an' 'twer no use to try to +stop the fizzle. I had aal I could get in a glass, an' it zeemed +goodish. She soon run back wi' another bottle in her hand, an' I tell'd +her 'twer pop she hed put down. + +"What hev you bin an' dun, sur?" she sed; "that wur a bottle o' Moses's +shampane, at seven shillin's an' sixpence a bottle." + +I tell'd her I know'd 'twer nothin' but pop, as it fizzled so. Thur wur +two or dree gentlemen in, an' thay larfed at the fizzle an' I. It seemed +to meak me veel merryish, an' I zed, "What's to pay, young 'ooman?" + +She sed, "Thirteen shillin's, sur." + +"Thirteen scaramouches!" I sed. "What vor?" + +"Seven sausingers, dree and sixpence; twenty-vour slices o' bread an' +butter, two shillin's; an' a bottle of shampane, seven and +sixpence;--kums to thirteen shillin's," she sed. + +"Yer tell'd me as how the sausingers wur sixpence," I sed; "an' the +slices o' bread ud cut off a tuppeny loaf." + +She sed the sausingers wur sixpence each, an' twenty-vour slices o' +bread an' butter wur a penny each--two shillin's. + +I sed, "Do 'e call that reysonable, young 'ooman? 'cause I bain't +a-gwain to pay thirteen shillin's vor't, an' lose me train, an' +disappoint Sairy Jane. Thirteen shillin's vor two or dree sausingers, a +few slices o' bread an' butter, an' a bottle o' pop--not vor Roger, if +he knows it" + +Up kums a chap an' ses, "Be you gwain to pay vor wat you hev hed?" + +"To be sure I be. Thur's sixpence vor the sausingers, tuppence vor bread +an' butter, an' dreppence the pop,--that meaks 'levenpence"; an' I drows +down a shillin', and ses, "Thur's the odd penny vor the young 'ooman as +waited upon me." + +"You hed thirteen shillin's worth o' grub an' shampane, an' you'll hev +to pay twelve shillin's moor or I shall take 'e away an' lock 'e up vor +the night," he sed. + +"Do 'e thenk as how you could do aal that, young man?" I sed. "No +disrespect to 'e though, vor that don't argify; but I could ketch hold +on 'e by the scroff o' yer neck an' the seat o' yer breeches, an' pitch +'e slick into the roadway among the iron." + +"Look heer, Meyster Turmot, you'll hev to pay twelve shillin' moor avoor +you gwoes out o' heer, or Lunnon won't hold 'e to-night." + +I know'd Sairy Jane ud be a-waitin', an' as he sed the train were moast +ready, I drows down a suverin', an' hed the change, an' as I wur a-gwain +out I hollurs out as how I shood remember Swindleum stashun. I heer'd +the lot a-larfin, an' hed moast a mind to go in an' twirl me ground ash +among um vor thur edification. + +I wur soon on the road agen, a-gwain like a house a-vire, an' thur wur +more clotheslines aal the way along on pwosts. + +W'en we got nearish to Lunnon I seed sum girt beg round barrels painted +black.[3] I axed a chap what thay wur, an' he sed that thay wur beg +barrels o' stingo, an' thur wur pipes laid on to the peeple's housen vor +thay to draw vram. + +[Footnote 3: Gasometers.] + +I sed that wur very good accommodashun to hev XXX laid on vor use. + +We soon druv into the beggest pleace I wur ever in since I wur born'd. +Thay sed 'twer Paddington, an' that I wur to get out, vor they wurn't +a-gwain to drive no furder. I hed paid to go to Lunnon, an' thay shood +drive all the way when thay wur paid avoor'and. + +I wur tell'd Paddington wur the Lunnon stashun by a porter, an' I look'd +round vor Sairy Jane, as she sed as how her ud be heer at one o'clock; +and porter sed 'twer then dree o'clock, an' likely Sairy Jane had gone +away. Drat thay sausingers as mead I too late vor the train! + +I set down to wait for Sairy Jane, as I didn't know her directions, an' +hed left the letter she sent at whoam. Arter waitin' for a long while I +started out, an' 'oped to see her in sum part o' Lunnon. + + * * * * * + +Another story Tom Peregrine is fond of reading to us relates how a +labouring man was recommended to get some oxtail soup to strengthen him. +He goes into the town and sees "Oxikali Soap" written up on a shop +window. He buys a cake of it, makes his wife boil it up in the pot, and +then proceeds to drink it for his health. When he has taken a spoonful +or two and found it very unpleasant, his wife makes him finish it up, +saying it is sure to do him good; and she consoles him with the +assurance that all medicine is nasty. + +At the harvest home in the big barn, after the applause which followed +Tom Peregrine's recitation had died away, a sturdy carter stood up and +sang a very old Gloucestershire song, which runs as follows:-- + + THE TURMUT HOWER. + + "I be a turmut hower, + Vram Gloucestershire I came; + My parents be hard-working folk, + Giles Wapshaw be my name. + The vly, the vly, + The vly be on the turmut, + An' it be aal me eye, and no use to try + To keep um off the turmut. + + "Zum be vond o' haymakin', + An' zum be vond o' mowin', + But of aal the trades thet I likes best + Gie I the turmut howin'. + The vly, etc. + + "'Twas on a summer mornin', + Aal at the brake o' day, + When I tuck up my turmut hower, + An' trudged it far away. + The vly, etc. + + "The vust pleace I got work at, + It wus by the job, + But if I hed my chance agen, + I'd rayther go to quod. + The vly, etc. + + "The next pleace I got work at, + 'Twer by the day, + Vor one old Varmer Vlower, + Who sed I wur a rippin' turmut hower. + The vly, etc. + + "Sumtimes I be a-mowin', + Sumtimes I be a-plowin', + Gettin' the vurrows aal bright an' clear + Aal ready vor turmut sowin'. + The vly, etc. + + "An' now my song be ended + I 'ope you won't call encore; + But if you'll kum here another night, + I'll seng it ye once more. + The vly, etc." + +[Illustration: On the Wolds. 116.png] + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ON THE WOLDS. + +Time passes quickly for the sportsman who has the good fortune to dwell +in the merry Cotswolds. Spring gives place to summer and autumn to +winter with a rapidity which astonishes us as the years roll on. + +So diversified are the amusements that each season brings round that no +time of year lacks its own characteristic sport. In the spring, ere red +coats and "leathers" are laid aside by the fox-hunting squire, there is +the best of trout-fishing to be enjoyed in the Coln and +Windrush--streams dear to the heart of the accomplished expert with the +"dry" fly. In spring, too, are the local hunt races at Oaksey and +Sherston, at Moreton-in-the-Marsh and Andoversford. Pleasant little +country gatherings are these race meetings, albeit the _bonâ-fide_ +hunter has little chance of distinguishing himself between the flags in +any part of England nowadays. The Lechlade Horse Show, too, is a great +institution in the V.W.H. country at the close of the hunting season. + +Annually at Whitsuntide for very many centuries "sports" have been held +in all parts of the country. It is said that they are the _floralia_ of +the Romans. Included in these sports are many of those amusements of the +middle ages of which Ben Jonson sang: + + "The Cotswold with the Olympic vies + In manly games and goodly exercise." + +Horse-racing is a great feature in the programme of these Whitsuntide +festivities. + +The "may-fly" carnival among the trout, together with lots of cricket +matches, make the time pass all too quickly for those who spend the +glorious summer months in the Cotswolds. By the time the Cirencester +Horse Show is over, the cubs are getting strong and mischievous. +Directly the corn is cut the hounds are out again in the lovely +September mornings. By this time partridges are plentiful, and must be +shot ere they get too wild. So year by year the ball is kept rolling in +the quiet Cotswold Hills; the days go by, yet content reigns amongst +all classes. + + "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife + Their sober wishes never learned to stray; + Along the cool, sequestered vale of life + They kept the noiseless tenor of their way." + +Then there is so much to do indirectly connected with sport of all +kinds, if you live in a Cotswold village. Woods and fox coverts must be +kept in good order, so that there may always be cover to shelter game +and foxes. Cricket grounds afford unlimited scope for labour and +experiment. + +If you either own or rent a trout stream there is no end to the +improvements that can be made with a little time and labour. Deep holes +or even lakes may be dug, great stones and fir poles may be utilised, to +form eddies and waterfalls and homes for the trout. By means of a little +stocking with fresh blood a stream may often be turned from a worthless +piece of water into a splendid fishery. There is no limit to the +articles of food which can be imported. Gammari, or fresh-water shrimps, +caddis and larvae, and various species of weeds which nourish insects +and snails--notably the _chara flexilis_ from Loch Leven--may all be +procured and transplanted to your water. The beautiful springs which +feed the Coln at various intervals, where the watercress grows freely, +would be of great service in forming lakes; there is so much poor marshy +land even in the fertile valleys that might be utilised, with advantage +and profit for the purpose of trout preserving. + +Talking of watercress, this is a branch of farming which appears to be +somewhat neglected on the banks of the Coln. The villagers tell you that +watercress, like the oyster, is good in every month with an "r" in it: +so that all through the year, save in May, June, July, and August, +watercress may be picked and sent to market. But the proprietor of +watercress beds attaches little importance to the fact that he possesses +large beds of this wholesome and reproductive plant, and you will not +see it on his table once in a month of Sundays. In London one eats +watercress all the year round, more especially in the months without an +"r," but it does not come from the Cotswolds. + +There is not much covert shooting on these hills. The country is so open +and the coverts so small and deficient in underwood that pheasant +preserving on a large scale is not practicable; for this reason the +preservation of foxes is the first consideration. At Stowell, Sherborne, +Rendcombe, Barnsley, and Cirencester, as well as on a few other large +estates, a large head of game is reared; while foxes are plentiful too. +But the owners and occupiers of most of the manors are content to rely +on nature to supply them with game in due season. + +However, for those gunners who, like the writer, are both unskilful and +unambitious, the shooting obtained on the Cotswold Hills is very +enjoyable. In September from ten to twenty brace of partridges are to be +picked up, together with what hares a man cares to shoot, and a few +rabbits. Then landrails or corncrakes, and last, but not least, an +occasional quail, are usually included in the bag. Quails are rather +partial to this district; during the first fortnight of September a few +are generally shot on the manor we frequent. On August 17th this year we +found a nest containing five young quails about half-grown. + +But the real pleasure connected with this kind of sport lies in the +sense of wildness. The air is almost as good a tonic as that of the +Scotch moors, whilst there is the additional satisfaction of being at +home in September instead of flying away to the North, and having to put +up with all the discomfort of a long railway journey each way. + +There is no time of year one would sooner spend at home on Cotswold than +the month of September. Nature is then at her best: the cold, bleak +hills are clothed with the warmth of golden stubble; the autumnal haze +now softens the landscape with those lights and shades which add so much +of loveliness and sense of mystery to a hill country; the rich aftermath +is full of animal life; birds of all descriptions are less wild and more +easily observed than is the case later on, when the pastures and downs +have been thinned by frost and there is no shelter left. Now you may see +the kestrels hovering in mid air, and the great sluggish heron wending +his ethereal way to the upper waters of the trout stream. You watch him +till he drops suddenly from the heavens, to alight in the little valley +which lies a short mile away, invisible amid the far-stretching +tablelands. Occasionally, too, a marsh-harrier may be met with, but this +is a _rara avis_ even in these outlandish parts. Peregrine falcons are +uncommon too, though one may yet see a pair of them now and then if one +keeps a sharp look-out at all times and seasons. There are wimbrels and +curlews that have been shot here during recent years stuffed and hung up +in glass cases in old Mr. Peregrine's house. + +Of other birds which are becoming scarcer year by year in England, the +kingfishers are not uncommon in these parts; you will often see the +brilliant little fellow dart past you as you walk by the stream in +summer. Water-ousels or dippers are scarce; we have seen but one +specimen in the last three years. + +In September, as you walk over the fields, the Cotswolds are seen at +their best. Somehow or other a country never looks so well from the +roads as it appears when you are in the fields. The man who prefers the +high road had better not live in the Cotswolds; for these roads, mended +as they are with limestone in the more remote parts of the district, +become terribly sticky in winter, while the grass fields and stubbles +are generally as dry as a bone. There is but a small percentage of clay +in the soil, but a good deal of lime, and five inches down is the hard +rock; therefore this light, stony soil never holds the rain, but allows +it to percolate rapidly through, even as a sieve. When the sun is hot +after a frost the ploughs "carry" certainly, but this is because they +dry so quickly; they seldom remain thoroughly wet for any length of +time. Consequently, in hunting, the feet of hounds, horses, and even of +foxes pick up the sticky, arable soil, instead of splashing through it, +and scent is spoiled thereby. Doubtless the lime in the soil adds to its +stickiness. It is amusing to watch a fox "break" covert and make his way +over a plough which "carries": he travels very badly; we have seen him +fail to jump a sheep hurdle at the first attempt. Fortunately for the +fox, the hounds are also handicapped by these conditions, and scent is +wretched. This might appear at first sight to show that the scent of +foxes is chiefly given off from their feet. We can recall few occasions +on which a plough that "carried" held a "burning scent." But little +though we know of the mysteries of "scent," it is generally agreed that +the "steaming trail" emanates chiefly from the body and breath of a fox, +even though on certain days there is no evidence of any scent, save on +the ground. It is probable, however, that on light ploughlands +evaporation is so great when the sun is shining (unless the wind is +sufficiently cold to counteract the heat of the sun and prevent rapid +evaporation) that all scent from the body and breath of the fox, save +that which happens to cling to the ground, is borne upwards and lost in +the upper air. _The hounds therefore have to fall back on whatever scent +may remain clinging to the soil_, those occasions of course excepted +when the great density or gravity of the air prevents scent from rising +and dispersing, and causes it to hang _breast high_. + +After some years of careful experiment with the hygrometer and +barometer, and after an intricate investigation of scent (that +mysterious matter which is given off from the skin and breath of foxes), +I have come to the conclusion that if we could get an Isaac Newton to +"whip in" to a Tom Firr for about a twelvemonth, we might very likely +come to know all about it. In standing on ground whereon "angels fear to +tread," I am fully aware that I speak as a fool. But let me state that +it is on the barometer that I now place my somewhat limited reliance on +a hunting morning, and not on the hygrometer, on the weight of the +column of air on a given point of the surface of the earth, rather than +on the state of the evaporations, the relative humidity, and the dew +point. And I have noticed that the best scenting days have been those +when the thermometer has given readings from 38º up to 46º Fahrenheit in +the shade. A high and steady glass, an almost imperceptible east or +north-east wind, with the ground soaked with moisture and no frost +during the previous night, is the only combination of conditions under +which scent on the grass is a moral certainty. On the other hand, a low +and unsteady glass, a warm, gusty south or west wind, with a hot sun, +following a frost, or a day with cold showers, with bright, sunny +intervals, or during the afternoon (but not always the morning) before a +storm of wind or rain,--such are the conditions which make so many of +our attempts to hunt the fox by scent a miserable farce; yet even on +these days hounds may run during some part of the day. When the +barometer is thoroughly unsettled there may be light local currents, +perfectly imperceptible to man, yet felt by cows and sheep--currents +created like winds by a variation of temperature in different parts of +any given field, and which will scatter the scent and spoil the sport. +These currents, rapid evaporation combined with a lack of steady +atmospheric pressure, and that sticky state of soil which on ploughed +land invariably follows a frost, and in a lesser degree affects grass, +causing a fox to take his pad scent on with him (all the particles that +do not cling to the ground having been diffused and lost in the +air),--these are the curses of modern hunting fields and the chief +causes of bad scenting days. + +After September is past the shooting man will not get very much sport on +the Cotswolds, as far as the partridges are concerned, for they are not +numerous enough to be worth driving; they soon become as wild as they +can possibly be. On Hatherop and some other estates good partridge +driving is enjoyed. The farmers are very fond of shooting them under a +"kite,"--this, as it is hardly necessary to explain, is an artificial +representation of the hawk. It is flown high up in the air at some +distance ahead of the guns. The birds, seeing what they take to be a +very large and savage-looking hawk hovering above them, ready to pounce +down at a moment's notice, become frightened, and lie crouching in the +hedges and turnips, until they almost have to be kicked up by the +sportsmen. But when once they do get up they fly straight away, nor do +they come back for a long time. This mode of shooting is all very well +once in a way, but if indulged in habitually it scares the birds, +driving them on to other manors. Not having seen it successfully carried +out, we are not fond of the method, but there are good sportsmen in +these parts who advocate it. Some maintain that this cannot be called a +really sportsmanlike way of shooting partridges, though there is +doubtless room for two opinions on the question. + +Later on in the autumn, when November frosts begin to attract snipes to +the withybeds and water meadows by the Coln, the unambitious gunner may +often enjoy the charm of a small and select mixed bag. + +Two of us went out for an hour last winter before breakfast, having been +informed that a woodcock was lying in an ash copse by the river. We got +the woodcock--a somewhat _rara avis_ in small, isolated coverts on the +hills; in addition, the bag contained one snipe, one wild duck, two +pheasants, six rabbits, a pigeon, a heron, and some moorhens. Now this +was very good sport, because it was totally unexpected. The majority of +shooting people might not think much of so small a bag, but it must be +remembered that the charm of this kind of shooting is its wildness. It +seems rather hard to kill herons, but anybody who has tried to preserve +trout will agree that herons are the greatest enemies with which the +trout-fisher has to contend. One heron will clear a shallow stream in a +very short time. When the floods are out, trout fall a ready prey to +these rapacious birds. The kingfishers likewise have a very good time. +The fish will gorge themselves with worms picked up on the inundated +meadows, until they are so full that the worms actually begin falling +out of their mouths. I picked several up last autumn which had been +stabbed, I suppose, by a heron. They were unharmed, save for a small +round hole, as if made by a bullet; there was no other mark on them. But +when taken up, the worms came out of their mouths by the score! +Kingfishers are carefully preserved, in spite of their destructiveness, +but one must draw the line at herons. + +Waiting for wild duck coming into the "spring" on a frosty night is +cold work, but very good fun. They breed here in fair numbers, and fly +away in August. But when the ground becomes "scrumpety," as the natives +say, with the first severe frost, back they come from the frozen meres +to their old home; and if one can keep out of sight (and this is no easy +matter in December) many a shot can be obtained in the withybeds by the +river. Teal and widgeon may be shot occasionally in the same manner. + +Sometimes, when you are upon the hills with Tom Peregrine, the keeper, +trying to pick up a brace or two of partridges for the house, he will +suddenly say, "_Quad down!_" then, throwing himself on to his hands and +knees in breathless anxiety, he will begin whistling for "all he knows." +You imitate him to the best of your ability, and soon, if you are lucky, +an enormous flock of golden plover flash over you. Four barrels are +fired almost instantaneously, and the deadly "twelve-bore" of your +companion is seldom fired in vain. + +Green plover, or lapwings, are numerous enough on the Cotswolds. They +are wonderfully difficult to circumvent, nevertheless. You crouch down +under a wall, while your men go ever so far round to drive them to you; +but it is the rarest thing in the world to bag one. Their eggs are very +difficult to find in the breeding season. It is the male bird that, like +a terrified and anxious mother, flies round and round you with piteous +cries; the female bird, when disturbed, flies straight away. + +Pigeon-shooting with decoys is a very favourite amusement among the +Cotswold farmers. They manage to bag an enormous quantity in a hard +winter, sometimes getting over a hundred in a day. Wood-pigeons come in +thousands to the stubble fields when the beech nuts have come to an end. +Large flocks of them annually migrate to England from Northern Europe. +Crouching in a hedge or under a wall, you may enjoy as pretty a day's +sport as ever fell to the lot of mortal man. A few dead birds are placed +on the stubble to attract the flocks, and a grand variety of flying +shots may be obtained as the wood-pigeons fly over. The year 1897 was +remarkable for this shooting. Between November 20th and 30th two of our +farmers killed close on a thousand of these birds. Some of them +doubtless were potted on the ground. Tom Peregrine remarked that "he +never saw such a sight of dead pigeons. The cheese-room up at the farm +was full of them." The vast flocks that blacken the skies for a few +short weeks in November disappear as suddenly as they come. After +November they are no more seen. + +There would be many more partridges were it not for the rooks and +magpies. Hedges wherein the birds can hide their nests are few and far +between in the wall country, so the keen-eyed rook spies out many a nest +in the spring of the year. For this reason and because they eat the +corn, the farmers hate them. We cannot share their feelings. We should +be sorry to see the old rookery in the garden diminished in the +slightest degree. Jays and magpies are terribly numerous; they are rare +egg-stealers. We have seen as many as twelve of the latter lately +flying all together. Magpies are difficult to get at; they will sit +perched upon the topmost twigs of the trees, but will invariably fly +away before you get within shot. + +It is interesting to rear a few pheasants annually. There is no bird +which gives more delight, even if fairly tame; their beautiful colouring +and cheerful crowing are always pleasant in the garden and woods around +your house. If you feed them every day, they will come regularly up to +the very door; and with them come the swans, waddling up from the water, +looking very much out of their element. Sometimes, too, a moorhen will +join the party; whilst two little wild ducks, the sole survivors of a +brood of sixteen, which were attacked and killed by a stoat, will take +food right out of the mouths of the good-natured old swans. Peacocks I +would not care to have round the house; but there is nothing more in +touch with English country life than the glorious red, green, and brown +colouring of a "fine" cock pheasant strutting proudly across the lawn on +his way to his roosting-place in the firs, contrasting as he does with +the majestic form and snowy plumage of the stately swans, which glide +about the silent Coln at the bottom of the garden--the incarnation of +grace and symmetry. Truly some of the most common of animals are also +the most beautiful. + +Besides the rooks, there is another bird which the farmers love to wage +incessant war upon. The other day I received the following message +printed on the back of a postcard:-- + +"A meeting will be held at the Swan Hotel, Bibury, on Friday, November +13th, at 6.30 p.m., to arrange about starting a _Sparrow Club_ for the +district." + + * * * * * + +"_What is a Sparrow Club?_" I anxiously enquired the other day of a +labouring man, a particular friend of mine, whom I happened to fall in +with on his way to chapel. He answered that it was a club for killing +sparrows when they get too numerous--paying boys a farthing a head for +every bird they catch, and giving prizes for the greatest number killed. +Boys may often be seen out at night, with long poles and nets attached +to them, catching sparrows in the trees. But my friend tells me that the +way he likes to catch them is to go into a barn at night with a lantern. +"You must hold the lantern under your coat so as to half screen the +light, and the birds will fly at the light and settle on your +shoulders." He tells me you can pick them off your clothes by the dozen. +I have never tried it, certainly, as, personally, I have no quarrel with +the sparrows. I was disappointed that the "Sparrow Club," for which a +great public meeting had to be convened, was not of a more exciting +nature. One was led to believe by the importance of the printed postcard +that some good old English custom was about to be revived. + +A farmer has just brought me in a peregrine falcon that he shot this +morning. He is of course very proud of the achievement. It is useless to +argue with him on the question of preserving birds that are becoming +scarce in England. He considers that a _rara avis_ such as this, which +is "here to-day and gone to-morrow," is a prize which does not often +fall to the lot of the gunner; it must be bagged at all hazards. Nor is +it easy to answer the argument which he seldom fails to put forth, that +if he doesn't shoot it, somebody else will. + +Talking of rare birds, I shall never forget seeing a wild swan come +sailing up the Coln during a very hard frost two years ago. Two of us +were out after wild duck, and it was a grand sight to watch this +magnificent bird winging his way rapidly up stream at a height of about +fifty yards. It is rare indeed to see them in these parts, though the +vicar of Bibury tells me that seven wild swans were once seen on the +Coln near that village; but this was some years ago. On the same +authority I learn that a Solan goose, or gannet, has been known to visit +this stream. Tom Peregrine shot one a few years back; also a puffin, a +bird with a parrot-like beak and of the auk tribe. Wild geese frequently +pass over us, following the course of the stream. + +On a bright, warm day in October, such a day as we usually have a score +or more of in the course of our much-abused English autumn, it is +pleasant to take one's gun and, leaving behind the quiet, peaceful +valley and the old-world houses of the Cotswold hamlet, to ascend the +hill and seek the great, rolling downs, a couple of miles away from any +sign of human habitation. You may get a shot at a partridge or a +wood-pigeon as you go. Hares you might shoot, if you cared to, in every +field. But on the other hand you will be equally well pleased if your +gun is not fired off, for it is peace and quiet that you are really in +search of,--the noise of a shot and the jar of a gun do not suit your +present mood. + +After walking for half an hour you come to a bit of high ground, where +you have often stood before, and, resting your gun against a wall, you +gaze at the view beyond. + + "Quocunque adspicias, nihil est nisi gramen et aer." + +Nothing particularly striking, perhaps, is visible to the eye, yet to my +mind there is a charm about it which the pen is quite unable to +describe. Below is a wide expanse of undulating downland, divided into +fifty-acre fields by means of loose, uncemented walls of grey stone. The +grass is green for the time of year, and scattered about are horses, +cattle, and sheep, contentedly nibbling the short fine turf. In the +midst of mile upon mile of rolling downs stands forth prominently one +field of plough, of the richest brown hue; whilst six miles away a long +belt of tall trees, half hidden by haze, marks the outline of Stowell +Park. Save for one ivy-covered homestead, miles away on the right, +nothing else is in sight. + +It is past five o'clock, and the sun, which has been shining brightly +all day, with that genial warmth which one only fully appreciates as the +winter approaches, is beginning to descend. It is the lights and shades +which play over this wide stretch of open country which makes the +landscape look so beautiful. And when the wreaths of white, woolly +clouds begin to glow round their furthermost edges like coals of fire on +a frosty night, with all the promise of a brilliant sunset, this stretch +of hill and plain wears an aspect which, once seen, you will never +forget. It takes your thoughts away into the great unknown--the +infinite,--that mysterious world which is ever around us, and which +seems nearer when we are looking at a beautiful sunset or a beautiful +view than at any other time in this life, save, for ought we know, +during the last few moments of our earthly existence. And although no +human habitation is anywhere to be seen, the air is full of the spirits +of bygone generations and of bygone _races_ of men. There are traces of +humanity in all directions, wherever your eye may gaze, but they are the +traces of a forgotten people. + +Yonder semicircular ridge was once the rampart of an ancient British +town; though, save in the tangled copse hard by, where the plough has +never been at work, it is fast disappearing. Many a stone lying about +the camp bears unmistakable marks of fire. + +A glance of the eye westwards, and your thoughts are carried back to the +Roman invasion; for scarce five miles off lies the ancient Roman villa +of Chedworth. Then, again, tradition has it that a mile away from this +spot, and close to the old manor house, skirmishes were fought in later +days, at the time the Civil Wars were raging, when many a chivalrous +cavalier and many a stern, unbending Puritan lay dead on yonder field, +or, maybe, was carried into the old house to linger and to die in the +very room in which you slept last night. Everywhere in England are +battlefields; but they are, in the words of De Quincey, "battlefields +that nature has long ago reconciled to herself with the sweet oblivion +of flowers." + +This very mound on which you are standing, is it not the burying-place +of a race which dwelt on the Cotswolds full three thousand years ago? +And were not human remains found here a few years back, when this, in +common with many other barrows hard by, was opened, and an underground +chamber discovered therein--the earthly resting-place of the bones of +the unknown dead? + +"The silence of deep eternities, of worlds from beyond the morning +stars--does it not speak to thee? The unborn ages,--the old graves, with +their long-mouldering dust,--the very tears that wetted it, now all +dry,--do not these speak to thee what ear hath not heard?" + + "Solemn before us + Veiled the dark Portal-- + Goal of all mortal. + Stars silent rest o'er us, + Graves under us silent." + +Well has Carlyle translated the great German poet. And the old barrows +that lie scattered over these wide-stretching downs are not dumb; they +are continually speaking to us of those things "which ear hath not +heard"; and at no time have they more to tell than at the close of a +mild, peaceful day in October, when all else, save for the faint +tinkling of the distant sheep-bells, is silent as death, and the sun, +ere once more disappearing, is shedding a solemn glow over the deserted, +mysterious uplands of the Cotswold Hills. + +But the partridges are "calling" all around, and a covey actually +passes over your head. Your sporting instincts begin to revive, and you +take up your gun and proceed to stalk that covey, stealing round under a +wall. Then you suddenly remember that the V.W.H. hounds meet in your +village to-morrow, and you begin wondering whether they will once again +find the great dog fox that several times last season led you over the +wide, open country that now lies mapped out before you. _Your_ fox, too, +one of a litter you came upon two springs ago, in a little spinney not +half a mile from where you are standing now, stub-bred and of the +greyhound stamp, fleet of foot and lithe of limb. Each time the hounds +had come to draw he was at home in the covert on the brow of the hill +which shelters the old manor house you inhabit from the cold blast of +winter. Here he loved to dwell, and hunt moorhens and dabchicks and +water-rats all night long by the banks of silvery Coln. But on three +occasions within six weeks, no sooner did the hounds enter the wood than +a shrill scream proclaimed him away on the far side. You were mounted on +a good horse, and were away as soon as the pack. And then for thirty +minutes the "old customer" cantered away over those broad pastures, +hounds and horses tearing after him on a breast-high scent, but never +gaining an inch of ground. Two leagues were quickly traversed ere yonder +distant belt of trees was reached, where the dry leaves lay rotting on +the ground, and there was not an atom of scent. So he saved his life, +and the tired, mud-bespattered sportsmen vow that there never was such +a run seen before, so thrilling is the ecstasy of "pace" and so +enchanting the stride of a well-bred horse. + +'Tis a wild, deserted tract of country that stretches from Cirencester +right away to the north of Warwickshire. For fifty miles you might +gallop on across those undulating fields, and meet no human being on +your way. We have ridden forty miles on end along the Fosseway, and, +save in the curious half-forsaken old towns of Moreton-in-the-Marsh and +Stow-on-the-Wold, we scarcely met a soul on the journey. What a +marvellous work was that old Roman Fosseway! Raised high above the level +of the adjoining fields, it runs literally "as straight as an arrow" +through the heart of the grassy Midlands. And what a rare hunting +country it passes through! We saw but one short piece of barbed wire in +our journey of over forty miles. Now that farming is no longer +remunerative, the whole country seems to be given up to hunting. Depend +upon it, it is this sport alone that circulates money through this +deserted land. + +Time was when the uplands of Gloucestershire were almost entirely under +the plough, when good scenting days seldom gladdened the heart of the +hunting man, and when, in a ride over the Cotswold tableland, the +excitement of a fast gallop on grass was an impossibility. Those were +the days when land at thirty shillings an acre was eagerly sought after +and the wheat crop amply repaid those who cultivated it. Now, alas! +farms are to be had for the asking, rent free; but nobody will take +them, and the country is rapidly going back to its original +uncultivated state. The farmer, nevertheless, does not lose heart. + +To lay down such light land into permanent pasture does not pay; it is +therefore left to its own devices, with the result that in a short time +weeds and moss and rough grasses spring up--less unprofitable than +ploughed fields, and almost as favourable for hunting the fox as the +fair pastures of the Vale of Aylesbury. However, + + "Nihil est ab omni + Parte beatum." + +There are other things to be done in this life besides riding across +country in the wake of the flying pack, glorious and exhilarating though +the pastime be; and the sooner these great wastes of unprolific land are +once more transformed into wheat-growing plough, the better will it be +for all of us. + +So you stroll dreamily homewards, musing on these things, and wondering +whether you will have another glorious gallop to-morrow. You will just +go round by that spinney to see if the earth you gave orders to be +stopped up is properly closed. But stop! What is that lying curled up +under the wall not ten yards off? See, he stirs! he rises lazily and +looks round! 'Tis the very fox! Long and lean and wiry is he, fine drawn +and sleek as a trained racehorse, with a brush nearly two feet long! +Brown as the ploughed field you were looking at just now, save for the +tip of his brush, which is white as snow. He trots off along the wall, +offering the easiest of broadside shots if you were villain enough to +take advantage of it. He does not hurry; he stops and looks round after +a bit, as much as to say, "I trust you." But when you steal cautiously +towards him he once more lollops along. You follow, to see where he goes +to when he has jumped over the high wall into the next field. But he +does not jump over, but _on to_ the wall, and there he sits looking at +you until you are once more nearly up to him; then he disappears the +other side, and you run up and peep over. He is nowhere to be seen! You +look along the wall for a hole into which he could have popped, but in +vain. You stoop down and try to track him by scent and the mark of his +pad, but all to no purpose; and from that day to this you have never +discovered what became of him. + +[Illustration: "THE OLD CUSTOMER." 138.png] + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A GALLOP OVER THE WALLS. + + "Waken, lords and ladies gay, + To the greenwood haste away; + We can show you where he lies, + Fleet of foot and tall of size." + + SIR WALTER SCOTT. + +The next morning you are up betimes, for the hounds meet at the house at +nine o'clock. You are not sorry on looking out of your window to see +that a thick mist at present envelopes the country. With the ground in +the dry state it is in, this mist, accompanied as it is by a heavy dew, +is your only chance of a scent. How else could they hunt the jackal in +India if it was not for this dew? Thus reflecting, you recall pleasant +recollections of gallops over hard ground with the Bombay hounds, and +comfort yourself with the thought that the ground here to-day cannot be +as hard as that Indian soil. You are soon into your breeches and boots +and down to breakfast. In the dining-room a large party is already +assembled, for there are five men and two ladies turning out from the +house, whilst one or two keen sportsmen have already put in an +appearance from afar. + +The hounds turn up punctual to the appointed time. How beautiful and +majestic they look as they suddenly come into sight amid beech and ash +and walnut, whilst the bright pageant advances leisurely and in order +over the ancient ivy-covered bridge which spans the silent river, where +the morning mist still hangs, and the grass shines white with silvery +dew. In good condition they look, too--a credit to their huntsman, who +evidently has not neglected giving them plenty of exercise on the roads +during the summer. You greet the genial master; then in answer to his +enquiry as to where you would like him to draw, you point to the hanging +wood on the brow of the hill, and tell him that as you heard them +barking there this very morning it is a certain find. No sooner are the +words out of your mouth than a holloa breaks the silence of the early +morn: the gardener has "viewed" a cub within a hundred yards of the +house. Desperately bold are the cubs at this time of year, before they +have been hunted. Their first experience of being "stopped out" for the +night does not seem to have frightened them at all. They have been +kicking up a rare shindy most of the night in the covert close to +the house. + + "Alas I regardless of their doom, + The little victims play." + +By to-night they will have become sadder and wiser beings. Several +people will be glad of this, the keeper included: for the fowls have +suffered lately; there have also been one or two well-planned and +carefully thought out sallies on the young pheasants--without much +damage, however. Not long ago a bold young cub spent some time in +breaking open the lid of one of the coops, in which were some late +pheasants. He actually forced the wire netting from the roof of the +coop, although it was firmly nailed to the woodwork. But he could not +quite get his head in, for when the keeper arrived on the scene at five +o'clock a.m., there he was, clawing and scratching at the birds. His +efforts met with no success, however, for not a single bird was badly +injured, though some damage might have been done if Master Reynard had +not been interrupted at this critical moment. Young cubs are like +puppies, very mischievous. There are plenty of rabbits about, and they +are the food foxes like best; poultry and pheasants are pursued and +killed out of pure love of mischief. + +We must return to the hounds. Our huntsman wisely determines not to go +to the holloa, for he prefers to let the young entry draw for their +game. Besides which, if this cub has gone away, he is one of the right +sort, and does not require schooling. For as we all know, one of the +objects of cub-hunting is to teach the young foxes that if they don't +leave the covert when the hounds are thrown in, they will get a rare +dusting. So, the hounds having been taken to the "up-wind" end of the +wood, the huntsman begins drawing steadily "down wind." Let them have +every chance now; it will be quite early enough to begin drawing up wind +when the leaf is off and Reynard has got a bit shy. Blood is an +excellent thing for young hounds, nay, for all hounds, early in the +season; but we don't want to chop any cubs before they know where they +are or what it all means. + +And soon the whole valley re-echoes with hound music, as the pack come +crashing towards us through the thick underwood. We get a splendid view +of the proceedings--for the covert is a long, narrow strip of about ten +acres, running in the shape of a bow round the hill immediately above +the place where we are stationed. There is another small wood of about +the same size on the other side of the little valley. For this our fox +makes, the hounds dashing close after him through the brook. Round and +round they go, and it is evident that this cub (unlike several of his +brethren who have taken their departure, viewed by the whole field, but +_not_ holloaed at) does not intend to face the open country. Scent is +good in covert, perhaps because there are at present few of those dry +leaves on the ground that spoil scent after the "fall of the leaf"; the +result is, we kill a cub. This will be a lesson to the rest of the +family when they return to-night and discover the fearful end that +befalls foxes that "hang in covert." Another cub having gone to ground +in a rabbit-hole, the keeper is given injunctions to have this hole, +together with any other large ones he can find, stopped up, after +allowing a day or two to pass, especially making sure, by the use of +terriers and also by the tracks, that he does not stop any cubs in. + +We now leave the home coverts and start away for a withybed about a mile +up the river, where we are told there is a litter. Here, however, we do +not find, though it is the likeliest place in the world for a fox. As +the hounds dash into the withybed a whole string of wild ducks get up, +circle round us, and then fly straight away up stream in the shape of +the letter V--a sight unsurpassed if you happen to be a lover of nature. + +Our next draw is an isolated artificial gorse of about six acres. If we +find here, we must have a gallop, for there is no covert of any size +within a four-mile radius; a fine open country lies all around; walls to +jump and large fields of fifty acres apiece to gallop over. There is +some light plough, but each year the plough gets scarcer, for the +Cotswolds are rapidly being allowed to tumble back into grass or, +rather, into _weeds_. + +A great proportion of the stone-wall country hereabouts consists of +downs divided into large enclosures; when the walls are low there is no +reason why the pace should not be almost as good as it is in an +unenclosed country. Happily to-day we seem to be in for a quick thing, +for before the whip has had time to get to the end of the covert, hounds +are away, without a sound, and we start off fully two hundred yards +behind them. + +The old fox, for a fiver! But there is no stopping them; so, knowing the +country and the earth he is making for, you make tracks, as hard as +your horse can pelt, in the direction in which the hounds are going, and +very soon they turn to you, and you find yourself almost alongside of +them. They are running "mute," with their noses several inches off the +ground; it almost looks as if they had "got a view" of him. But this is +not the case. Scent is "breast high." Two old hounds that you know +well--Crusty and Governor--are leading, though you are glad that one or +two you do not know (evidently some of this year's entry) are not +far behind. + +The country, which has so far been rather hilly, now opens out into a +flat tableland. You fly on, thankful that you are on a thoroughbred, and +that he is in good condition. It pays well to keep a horse "up" all the +summer in this country, for some of the quickest things of the season +take place in October. Scent is often good at this time of the year, +because the fields are full of keep: there is plenty of rough grass +about. Later on they will be pared down by sheep, and the frost will +make them as bare as a turnpike road. Then again that abomination, a +"carrying" plough, is not so likely to be met with in October; the white +frosts are not severe enough. Later on they are a constant source of +annoyance to a huntsman, and invariably cause a check. + +But your horse, well bred and fit though he be, is doing all he can to +live with the hounds. Fortunately, you know that he is too good to +chance a wall, even when blown. At the pace hounds are going you have +not much time to trot slowly at the walls in the orthodox fashion; you +must take them as they come, high and low alike, at a fair pace, taking +a pull a few strides before your mount takes off. Oh, how exhilarating +is a gallop in this fine Cotswold air in the cool autumnal morning! and +what a splendid view you get of hounds! Here are no tall fences to hide +them from your sight and to tempt a fox to run the hedgerows, no boggy +woodlands where your horse flounders up to his girths in yellow clay, no +ridge and furrow, and no deep ploughed fields. + +What is the charm which belongs so exclusively to a fast and _straight_ +"run" over this wild, uncultivated region? It does not lie in the +successful negotiation of Leicestershire "oxers," Aylesbury "doubles," +or Warwickshire "stake-and-bound" fences, for there need be no obstacle +greater than an occasional four-foot stone wall. Perhaps it lies partly +in the fact that in a run over a level stone-wall country, where the +enclosures are large and the turf sound, given a good fox and a "burning +scent," hounds and horses travel at as great a pace as they attain in +any country in England. Here, moreover, if anywhere, is to be found the +"greatest happiness for the greatest number," the maximum of sport with +the minimum of danger; the fine, free air of the high-lying Cotswold +plains; the good fellowship engendered when all can ride abreast; the +very muteness of the flying pack; the onslaught of a light brigade, or +of "a flying squadron under the Admiral of the Red" sailing away over a +sea of grass towards a region almost untrodden by man; the long sweeping +stride of a well-bred horse; the unceasing twang of the horn to +encourage flagging hounds beaten off by the pace and those which got +left behind at the start; lastly, the _glorious uncertainty_! Can it +last? Where will it all end? Shall we run "bang into him" in the open, +or will he beat us in yonder cold scenting woodland standing boldly +forth on the skyline miles ahead? All these things add a peculiar +fascination to a fast run over this wild country. + +Sooner or later there is a sudden check, a couple of sharp turns, and +the spell is gone. Hounds may run back ever so well, to the very covert +whence an hour ago they forced him. The pleasure of watching them work +out a scent, growing rapidly colder, may indeed be left to us; but the +glorious possibilities, which lasted as long as a gallant though +invisible "quarry" was leading us _straight away_ from home into +unfamiliar regions, have passed away; the record run, which we thought +had really commenced at last, far, far into the unknown land, into the +country leading to nowhere, is not yet attained,--probably it never will +be, for it existed in the human imagination alone during that thrilling +thirty-minutes' burst, and was beyond the compass of foxes, horses, +and hounds. + +As a set off to this it must be admitted that fast runs do not take +place every day on these hills. Perhaps there will not be more than half +a dozen "clinkers" in a season with a "two-day-a-week" pack. For this +reason, as regards all-round sport, the wall country cannot compare with +a vale: a stranger might hunt there for three weeks in March, and at the +end of that time take himself off in disappointment and disgust, +declaring these fast-flying runs he had heard so much about to be an +invention and a myth, and the wall country only fit for fools and +funkers. For good scenting days in this hill country are few and far +between, and a bad day in the wall district is the poorest fun +imaginable. For this the field have generally themselves to thank, since +they will not give the hounds a chance. + +But there is a burning scent this morning, as there generally is when +the dew is just going off. For twenty-five minutes hounds do not check +once. The earth our fox has been making for is fortunately closed. This +causes a moment's uncertainty among the hounds, but not a check, for +they drive straight onwards, and it is evident that he is making for +some earths five miles away in a neighbouring hunt's territory, which +instinct tells him will be open. + +There they go, old T.K. and J.A., and several ladies, past masters in +the craft of crossing a country with the maximum of elegance and skill +and the minimum of risk to their horses, themselves, or their friends. +Though the hounds are travelling at their greatest possible pace, they +ride alongside them, looking as cool as cucumbers (too cool, I think, +for their own enjoyment; for the more excitable though less experienced +rider probably enjoys himself more). Note how each wall, varying in +height from three to four and a half feet, is taken at a steady pace by +those well-schooled horses; even a five-foot wall, coped with sharp, +jagged stones pointing straight upwards, does not turn them one hair's +breadth from the line. And please note also that each has two hands on +the reins, and no whip hand flung high in the air, or elbows thrust +outwards, you gentlemen who are fond of painting pictures of hunting +scenes for the press! + +A good rider sitting at his ease on horseback, + + "As if an angel dropped down from the clouds + To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, + And witch the world with noble horsemanship," + +resembles a skilful musician seated at a piano or an organ. There is the +same kind of communication between the man and the instrument, whereby +the stricken chords respond to the lightest touch of the master, who +guides as with a silken thread the keys that set the trembling strings +in motion. For the rider's keys are curb and snaffle, and his hands, by +means of the bridle, control the sensitive bars of his horse's +mouth--the most harmonious, delicate organ yet discovered on earth, but +too often, alas! thumped and banged on to such an awful extent by +unsympathetic, heavy hands, as to become considerably out of tune, +whereby discord occasionally reigns supreme instead of sweet +melodious harmony. + +Goodness gracious! what's up? Our horse, which has never refused before, +has stopped dead at a wall. We stand up in the stirrups and peep over, +and there below us is a narrow but deep quarry, a veritable death trap +for the unwary sportsman. This is indeed a merciful escape; and how can +we be too thankful that a horse--wise, sagacious animal that he is--has +been endowed with an extraordinary instinct whereby he can _smell_ +danger, even though he cannot see it. Writing of this--one of the +numerous escapes a merciful dispensation of Providence has granted us in +the hunting field--we are reminded that no less than five good men and +true have been killed suddenly with the V.W.H. hounds during the last +eighteen years. The list commences with George Whyte Melville, prince of +hunting men, who broke his neck in a ploughed field in 1878. And it is a +very remarkable fact that Mr. Noel Smith was killed in 1896, on +precisely the same day--viz., the first Thursday of December--as that on +which Whyte Melville lost his life eighteen years before. + +But soon after crossing a road, hounds suddenly check. After casting +themselves beautifully forward right-and left-handed until they have +completed a half circle, they throw up their heads and look round for +the huntsman. By a sort of instinct, the result of previous observation, +the foremost riders anticipated that check, and did not follow hounds +over the road, though one or two later arrivals press forward rather too +eagerly. The huntsman, who is not far off, seeing at a glance that there +is no other cause for checking, as the hounds are in the middle of a +large grass field, immediately decides that the fox has turned sharp +down wind (he has been running up wind all the way), and casts his +hounds left-handed and back towards the lane without much delay. + +"And now," to quote from Mr. Madden's "Diary of Master William Silence," +"may be seen the advantage of a good character honestly won." Crusty is +busy "feathering" down the road, and as he is an absolutely reliable +hound, the rest of the pack are not long in coming back to him, and +soon, cheered by their huntsman, they are in full cry again. + +Our fox has run the road for a quarter of a mile. This manoeuvre has +probably saved his life, for it has given him time to get his breath +back. In addition to this, the instant Reynard turned down wind the +scent changed from a very good one to a most indifferent one. How often +this happens in a run! And it is one of the fox-hunter's chief +consolations that there is scarcely a day throughout the season on which +a run is impossible, if only a fox will set his head resolutely _up +wind_, just as in a ringing run there is a certain amount of consolation +in the thought that a fox _must travel up wind part of the way_. + +It is evident that, being beaten, Reynard has given up all idea of going +for the earths three miles away. He is beginning, like all tired foxes, +to twist and turn. There is no scent on the road; the hounds are +therefore laid on in a grass field, and feather across it in an +uncertain sort of way. This gives an opportunity to a sportsman who has +just arrived by the road to proclaim that "as usual they are hunting +hares." However, there is some pretty hunting done by the pack up a +hedgerow and across a ploughed field; but with scent growing less and +less, as is always the case with a tired, twisting fox, we do not get +along very fast. Hares are jumping up in all directions, and a terrible +nuisance they are on this sort of occasion! That hounds will stick to +their fox, twist and turn though he may, in spite of hares, is a fact +that is often proved in this country, when a lucky view has once more +put them on good terms with the hunted fox, at a time when half the +field have been crying "hare." But when a fox's scent has gradually +diminished until it tends to vanishing point, it is useless to attempt +to hunt him. This appears to be the case this morning, for the sun has +scattered the mists, and has been shining the last ten minutes with +tremendous vigour. We are glad when the master decides to give it up, +for we hope to have some more runs with this old fox later on in the +season. Hounds and horses have had enough for the time of year. So we +turn our horses' heads to the cool breeze that is ever present on the +Cotswolds, making the climate there one of the most delightful in the +world in summer and autumn. And as we ride slowly homeward over the +hill, past golden stubble fields, there is much that is picturesque to +be seen on all sides: for some late barley is not yet gathered in; +horses, drawing great yellow waggons, and old-fashioned Cotswold +labourers are busy amongst the sheaves; and there is an air of activity +and animation in the fields that is absent a month or two later. Bleak +and desolate does this country sometimes look in winter, though when the +sun shines it is fair enough. And suddenly, as we ride along, a lovely +valley is seen below: old-world farmhouses and gabled cottages come into +view, nestling amid stately elms and beech trees already touched by +autumn's hand. As we gradually descend the hill, everything looks more +beautiful than ever this morning; for we have had a gallop. For to-day +at least we shall be in a thoroughly good temper. Whatever the morrow +may bring forth, everything will appear to-day in the best possible +light. Such an excellent tonic is a fast gallop over the walls for +banishing dull care away. + +[Illustration: The Old Mill, Ablington. 152.png] + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A COTSWOLD TROUT STREAM. + +"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: Doubtless +God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did; and so, +if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent +recreation than angling.'"--_The Compleat Angler_. + +Very few trout we have caught this season ('98) are pink-fleshed when +cooked. Last year there were a good number. The reason probably is that +they have not been feeding on the fresh-water shrimps or crustaceans, +owing to the abundance of olive duns and other flies that have been on +the water. Last winter, being so mild, was very favourable for the +hatching out of fly in the spring. A hard winter doubtless commits sad +havoc among the caddis and larvae at the bottom of the river; the +trout, not being able to get much fly, are then compelled to fall back +on the crustaceans. The food in these limestone rivers is so plentiful +that the fish are able to pick and choose from a very varied bill of +fare. This is the reason they are so difficult to catch. One is not able +to increase the stock of trout to any great extent, thereby making them +easier to catch, because the fish one introduces into the water are apt +to crowd together in one or two places, with the result that they are +far too plentiful in the shallows, where there is little food, and too +scarce in the deeper water. Of the Loch Leven trout, turned in two years +ago as yearlings, more than two-thirds inhabit the quick-running, +gravelly reaches; in consequence, they have grown very little. The few +that have stayed in the deeper water have done splendidly; they are now +about three-quarters of a pound in weight. No fish, not even sea trout, +fight so well as these bright, silvery "Loch Levens." They have cost us +no end of casts and flies already this season,--not yet a month old. +Experience proves, however, that ordinary _salmo fario_, or common brook +trout, are the best for turning down; for the Loch Leven trout require +deep water to grow to any size. + +When a boy, I made a strange recovery of an eel that I had hooked and +lost three weeks before. I was fishing with worms in a large deep hole +in Surrey. My hook was a salmon fly with the feathers clipped off. I +hooked what I believed to be an eel, but he broke the line through +getting it entangled in a stick on the bottom. Three weeks afterwards, +when fishing in the same fashion and in the same place, the line got +fixed up on the bottom. I pulled hard and a stick came away. On that +stick, strange to say, was entangled my old gut casting-line, and at the +end of the line was an eel of two pounds' weight! On cutting him open, +there, sure enough, was the identical clipped salmon fly; it had been +inside that eel for three weeks without hurting him. This sounds like a +regular angler's yarn, and nobody need believe it unless he likes; +nevertheless, it is perfectly true. I had got "fixed up" in the same +stick that had broken my line on the previous occasion. + +That fish have very little sense of feeling is proved time after time. +There is nothing unusual in catching a jack with several old hooks in +his mouth. With trout, however, the occurrence is more rare. Last season +my brother lost a fly and two yards of gut through a big trout breaking +his tackle, but two minutes afterwards he caught the fish and recovered +his fly and his tackle. We constantly catch fish during the may-fly time +with broken tackle in their mouths. + +Who does not recollect the rapturous excitement caused by the first fish +caught in early youth? My first capture will ever remain firmly +impressed on the tablet of the brain, for it was a red herring--"a +common or garden," prime, thoroughly salted "red herring"! It came about +in this way. At the age of nine I was taken by my father on a yachting +expedition round the lovely islands of the west coast of Scotland. We +were at anchor the first evening of the voyage in one of the beautiful +harbours of the Hebrides, and, noticing the sailors fishing over the +side of the boat, I begged to be allowed to hold the line. Somehow or +other they managed to get a "red herring" on to the hook when my +attention was diverted; so that when I hauled up a fish that in the +darkness looked fairly silvery my excitement knew no bounds. After the +sailors had taken it off the hook, and given it a knock on the head, I +rushed down with it into the cabin, where my father and three others +were dining. Throwing my fish down on to the table, I delightedly +exclaimed, "Look what I have caught, father; isn't it a lovely fish?" I +could not understand the roars of laughter which followed, as one of the +party, with a horrified glance at my capture, shouted, "Take it away, +take it away!" _Non redolet sed olet_. Oddly enough, although after this +I caught any amount of real live fish, I never realised until months +afterwards how miserably I had been taken in by the boat's crew on that +eventful night. + +Not long afterwards, whilst fishing with a worm just below the falls at +Macomber, in the Highlands, I made what was for a small boy a remarkable +catch of sea trout. I forget the exact number, but I know I had to take +them back in sacks. They were "running" at the time, and it was very +pretty to see them continually jumping up the seven-foot ladder out of +the Spean into the Lochy. Underneath this ladder, where the water boiled +and seethed in a thousand eddies, hundreds of trout lay ready to jump up +the fall. Into this foaming torrent I threw my heavily leaded bait. No +sooner was the worm in the water than it was seized by a fine sea trout. +Some of them were nearly two pounds; and although I had a strong +casting-line, they were often most difficult to land, for a series of +small cataracts dashed down amongst huge rocks and slippery boulders, +until, a hundred feet below, the calm, deep Macomber pool was reached. +As the fish, when hooked, would often dash down this foaming torrent +into the pool below, they gave a tremendous amount of play before they +were landed. There was an element of danger about it, too, as a false +step might have led to ugly complications amongst the rocks, over which +the water came pouring down at the rate of ten miles an hour. A boy of +twelve years old, as I was then, would not have stood a chance in that +roaring torrent. A terrible accident happened here a few years +afterwards. A party went from the house, where I always stayed, to fish +at Macomber Falls. There were four ladies and two men. Whilst they were +sitting eating their luncheon at this romantic spot, an argument arose +as to whether a man falling into the seething pool below the fall would +be drowned or not. The water was only about two feet deep; but the place +was a miniature whirlpool, and, once started down the pent-in torrent, a +man would be dashed along the rocky bed and carried far out into the +deep Macomber pool beyond. A gentleman from Lincolnshire argued that in +would be impossible for any one to be drowned in such shallow water. +This was at lunch. Little did he imagine that within half an hour his +theory would be put to the test. But so it was; for whilst he was +standing on the rocks fishing, with a large overcoat on, he slipped and +fell in. His fishing-line became entangled round his legs, and he was +borne away at the mercy of the current. Unfortunately only ladies were +present, his friend having gone down stream. Twice he clutched hold of +the rocky bank opposite them, but it was too slippery, and his hold gave +way. A man jumping across the chasm might possibly have saved him by +risking his own life, for it was only fourteen feet wide; but it would +have been madness for any of the ladies to have attempted it. So the +poor fellow was drowned in two feet of water, before their eyes, and in +spite of their brave endeavours to save him. He must have been stunned +by repeated blows from the rocks, or else I think he would have baffled +successfully with the torrent. The overcoat must have hampered him most +dreadfully. It was a terrible affair, reminding one of the death of +"young Romilly" in the Wharfe, of which Wordsworth tells in that +beautiful poem, the "Force of Prayer." Bolton Abbey, as everybody knows, +was built hard by, on the river bank, by the sorrowful mother, in honour +of her boy. + + "That stately priory was reared; + And Wharf, as he moved along + To matins, join'd a mournful voice, + Nor failed at evensong." + +How many a beautiful spot in the British Isles has been endowed with a +romance that will never entirely die away owing to some catastrophe of +this kind! Macomber Falls are very beautiful indeed, but one cannot pass +the place now without a shudder and a sigh. + +It has been said that "the test of a river is its power to drown a +man." There is doubtless a peculiar grandeur about the roaring torrent; +but to me there is a still greater charm in the gentle flow of a south +country trout stream, such as abound in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and in the +Cotswolds. I do not think the Coln is capable of drowning a man, though +one of the Peregrine family told me the other day that the only two men +who ever bathed in our stream died soon afterwards from the shock of the +intensely cold water! But then, it must be remembered that the old +prejudice against "cold water" still lingers amongst the country folk of +Gloucestershire; so that this story must always be taken _cum +grano salis_. + + * * * * * + +There are few trout streams to our mind more delightful from the +angler's point of view than the Gloucestershire Coln. Rising a few miles +from Cheltenham, it runs into the Thames near Lechlade, and affords some +fifteen miles or more of excellent fishing. The scenery is of that quiet +and homely type that belongs so exclusively to the chalk and limestone +streams of the south of England. + +From its source to the point at which it joins the Isis, the Coln flows +continuously through a series of parks and small well-wooded demesnes, +varied with picturesque Cotswold villages and rich water meadows. It +swells out into fishable proportions just above Lord Eldon's Stowell +property, steals gently past his beautiful woods at Chedworth and the +Roman villa discovered a few years ago, then onward through the quaint +old-world villages of Fossbridge to Winson and Coln-St-Dennis. Though +not a hundred miles from London, this part of Gloucestershire is one of +the most primitive and old-fashioned districts in England. Until the new +railway between Andover and Cheltenham was opened, four years ago, with +a small station at Fosscross, there were many inhabitants of these +old-world villages who had never seen a train or a railway. Only the +other day, on asking a good lady, the wife of a farmer, whether she had +ever been in London, I received the reply, "No, but I've been to +Cheltenham." This in a tone of voice that meant me to understand that +going to Cheltenham, a distance of about sixteen miles, was quite as +important an episode in her life as a visit to London would have been. + +On leaving Winson the Coln widens out considerably, and for the next two +miles becomes the boundary between Mr. Wykeham-Musgrave's property of +Barnsley and the manor of Ablington. It flows through the picturesque +hamlet of Ablington, within a hundred yards of the old Elizabethan manor +house, over an artificial fall in the garden, and passes onward on its +secluded way through lovely woodland scenery, until it reaches the +village of Bibury; here it runs for nearly half a mile parallel with the +main street of the village, and then enters the grounds of Bibury Court. +I know no prettier village in England than Bibury, and no snugger +hostelry than the Swan. The landlady of this inn has a nice little +stretch of water for the use of those who find their way to Bibury; and +a pleasanter place wherein to spend a few quiet days could not be found. +The garden and old court house of Bibury are sweetly pretty, the house, +like Ablington, being three hundred years old; the stream passes within +a few yards of it, over another waterfall of about ten feet, and soon +reaches Williamstrip. Here, again, the scenery is typical of rural +England in its most pleasing form; and the village of Coln-St.-Aldwyns +is scarcely less fascinating than Bibury. + +After leaving the stately pile of Hatherop Castle and Williamstrip Park +on the left, the Coln flows silently onwards through the delightful +demesne of Fairford Park. Here the stream has been broadened out into a +lake of some depth and size, and holds some very large fish. Another +mile and Fairford town is reached, another good specimen of the Cotswold +village--for it is a large village rather than a town--with its lovely +church, famous for its windows, its gabled cottages, and comfortable +Bull Inn. There are several miles of fishing at the Bull, as many an +Oxonian has discovered in times gone by, and we trust will again. + +From what we have said, it will easily be gathered that this stream is +unsurpassed for scenery of that quiet, homely type that Kingsley +eulogises so enthusiastically in his "Chalk Stream Studies," and I am +inclined to agree with him in his preference for it over the grander +surroundings of mountain streams: + +"Let the Londoner have his six weeks every year among crag and heather, +and return with lungs expanded and muscles braced to his nine months' +prison. The countryman, who needs no such change of air and scene, will +prefer more homelike, though more homely, pleasures. Dearer to him than +wild cataracts or Alpine glens are the still hidden streams which Bewick +has immortalised in his vignettes and Creswick in his pictures. The long +grassy shallow, paved with yellow gravel, where he wades up between low +walls of fern-fringed rock, beneath nut and oak and alder, to the low +bar over which the stream comes swirling and dimpling, as the +water-ouzel flits piping before him, and the murmur of the ringdove +comes soft and sleepy through the wood,--there, as he wades, he sees a +hundred sights and hears a hundred tones which are hidden from the +traveller on the dusty highway above." + +But _chacun à son goût_! Let us now see what sort of sport may be had in +the Coln. To begin with, it must be described as a "may-fly" stream. +This means, of course, that there is a tremendous rise of fly early in +June, with the inevitable slack time before and after the may-fly time. + +But there is much pleasant angling to be had at other times. The season +begins at the end of March, when a few small fish are rising, and may be +caught with the March brown or the blue and olive duns. Few big fish are +in condition until May, but much fun can be had with the smaller ones +all through April. The half-pounders fight splendidly, and give one the +idea, on being hooked, of pulling three times their real weight. The +April fishing, at all events after the middle of the month, is very +delightful in this river. One does not actually kill many fish, for a +large number are caught and returned. + +In May, when the larger fish begin to take up their places for the +summer, one may expect good sport. This season, however, has been very +disappointing; and, judging by the way the fish were feeding on the +bottom for the first fortnight of the month, one is led to expect an +early rise of the may-fly. Until the "fly is up," the April flies, +especially the olive dun, are all that are necessary. For a couple of +weeks before the "fly-fisher's carnival" sport is always uncertain. + +If the wind is in a good quarter, sport may be had; but should it be +east, the trout will not leave the caddis, with which the bed of the +river is simply alive at this time. Of late years good sport has been +obtained at the latter end of May with small flies. The may-fly +generally comes up on the higher reaches about the last week in May, or +about June 1st, though at Fairford, lower down, it is a week earlier. A +good season means a steady rise of fly, lasting for nearly three weeks, +but with no great amount of fly on any one day. A bad may-fly season +means, as a rule, a regular "glut" of fly for three or four days, so +that the fish are stuffed full almost to bursting point, and will not +look at the natural fly afterwards, much less at your neatly "cocked" +artificial one. + +Large bags can, of course, be made on certain days in the may-fly +season; but I do not know of any better than one hundred and six fish in +three days, averaging one pound apiece. + +Sport, however, is not estimated by the number of fish taken, and there +is no better day's fun for the real fisherman than killing four or five +brace of good fish when the trout are beginning to get tired of the fly, +but are still to be caught by working hard for them. The "alder" will +often do great execution at this time, and a small blue dun is sometimes +very killing in the morning or evening. + +After the "green-drake" has lived his short life and disappeared, there +is a lull in the fishing, and the sportsman may with advantage take +himself off to London to see the Oxford and Cambridge cricket match. All +through July and August, when the water gets low and clear, the best and +largest fish may be taken from an hour before sunset up to eleven +o'clock at night by the red palmer. Although it savours somewhat of +poaching, I confess to a weakness for evening and night fishing. The +cool water meadows, the setting sun, with its golden glow on the water, +add a peculiar charm to fishing at this time of day in the hot summer +months. And then--the splash of your fish as you hook him! How magnified +is the sound in the dim twilight, when you cannot see, but can only hear +and feel your quarry! And what satisfaction to know that that great +"logger-headed" two-pounder, that was devouring goodness knows how many +yearlings and fry daily, is safe out of the water and in your basket! + +On rainy days in these months good sport may be had with the wet fly; +and in September a yellow dun, or a fly that imitates the wasp, will +kill, if only you can keep out of sight, and place a well-dried fly +right on the fish's nose. + +The dry fly and up stream is of course the orthodox method of fishing in +this as in other south-country chalk or limestone streams. No flogging +the water indiscriminately all the way up, but marking your fish down, +and stalking him, is the real game. For those who fish "wet" sport is +not so good as it used to be, owing to the "schoolmaster being abroad" +amongst trout as well as amongst men; but on certain windy days this +method is the only one possible. There is a good deal of prejudice +against the "chuck-and-chance-it" style among the advocates of the +dry-fly method of fishing. That a man who fishes with a floating fly +should be set down as a better sportsman than one who allows his fly to +sink is, to my thinking, a narrow-minded argument, and one, moreover, +that is not borne out by facts. True, in some clear chalk streams the +fish can only be killed with the dry fly; and in such cases it is +unsportsmanlike to thrash the water--in the first place, because there +is no chance of catching fish, and in the second, in the interest of +other anglers, because it is likely to make the fish shy. And therefore +it is a somewhat selfish method of fishing. + +But let those accomplished exponents of the art of fishing who are too +fond of applying the epithet "poacher" to all those who do not fish in +their own particular style remember that there are but few streams in +England sluggish enough for dry-fly fishing; consequently many +first-rate fishermen have never acquired the art. The dry-fly angler has +no more right to consider himself superior as a sportsman to the +advocate of the old-fashioned method than the county cricketer has to +consider himself superior to the village player. In both cases time and +practice have done their work; but the best fishermen and the most +practised exponents of the game of cricket are very often inferior to +their less distinguished brethren as _sportsmen_. At the same time, were +I asked which of all our English sports requires the greatest amount of +perseverance, the supremest delicacy of hand, the most assiduous +practice, and the most perfect control of temper, in order that +excellence may be attained, I would unhesitatingly answer, "Dry-fly +fishing on a real chalk stream"; and I would sooner have one successful +day under such conditions than catch fifty trout by flogging a +Scotch burn. + +In the Coln the fish run largest at Fairford, where the water has been +deepened and broadened; and there three-pounders are not uncommon. Then +at Hatherop and Williamstrip there are some big fish. Higher up the +trout run up to two and a half pounds; and the average size of fish +killed after May 1st is, roughly speaking, one pound. The higher reaches +are very much easier to fish, for the following reason: at Bibury, and +at intervals of about half a mile all the way down, the river is fed by +copious springs of transparent water; the lower down you go, and the +more springs that fall into the river, the more glassy does it become. +The upper reaches of this river may be described as easy fishing. The +water, when in good trim, is of a whey colour, though after June it +becomes low and very clear. The flies I have mentioned are the only ones +really necessary, and if the fish will not take them they will probably +take nothing. They are, to sum up: + + (1) March Brown. + (2) Olive Dun. + (3) Blue Dun. + (4) May-fly. + (5) Alder. + (6) Palmer. + +"Wykeham's Fancy" and the "Grey Quill Gnat" are the only other flies +that need be mentioned. The former has a great reputation on the river, +but we ourselves have used it but little. + +The food on the Coln is most abundant, and to this must be attributed +the extraordinary size of the fish as compared with the depth and bulk +of water. That one hundred and fifty brace of trout, averaging a pound +in weight, are taken with rod and line each year on a stretch of water +two miles in length, and varying in depth from two to three feet, with a +few deep holes, the width of the water being not more than thirty feet +for the most part, is sufficient proof that there is abundance of food +in the river. + +Where the water is shallow we have found great advantage accrue by +putting in large stones and fir poles, to form ripples and also homes +for the fish. By this means shallow reaches can be made to hold good +fish, and the eddies and ripples make them easy to catch. The stones add +to the picturesqueness of the stream, for they soon become coated with +moss, and give the idea in some places of a rocky Scotch burn. A +pleasant variety of fishing is thus obtained; for at one time you are +throwing a dry fly on to the still and unruffled surface of the broader +reaches, and a hundred yards lower down you may have to use a wet fly in +the narrower and quicker parts, where the stones cause the water to +"boil up" in all directions, and the eddies give a chance to those who +are uninitiated into the mysteries of dry-fly angling. + +The large fish prefer sluggish water, but in these artificial ripples +fish may be caught on days on which the stream would be unfishable under +ordinary circumstances. It would be invidious to make comparisons +between the Coln and the Hampshire rivers--the Itchen and the +Test,--these are larger rivers, with larger fish, and they require a +better fisherman than those stretches of the Coin that we are dealing +with, although the lower reaches of the latter stream are difficult +enough for most people. + +Otters used to be considered scarce on the River Coln, but two have +lately been trapped in the parish of Bibury. With pike and coarse fish +we are not troubled on the upper reaches, though lower down they exist +in certain quantities. Of poachers I trust I may say the same. Rumour +has sometimes whispered of nets kept in Bibury and elsewhere, and of +midnight raids on the neighbouring preserves; but though I have walked +down the bank on many a summer night, I have never once come upon +anything suspicious, not even a night-line. The Gloucestershire native +is an honest man. He may think, perhaps, that he has nothing to learn +and cannot go wrong, but burglaries are practically unknown, and +poaching is not commonly practised. + +To sum up, the River Coln affords excellent sport amid surroundings +seldom to be found in these days. The whole country reminds one of the +days of Merrie England, so quaint and rural are the scenes. The houses +and cottages are all built of the native stone, which can be obtained +for the trouble of digging, so there is no danger of modern villas or +the inroads of civilisation spoiling the face of the country. And +moreover, these country people; being simple in their tastes, have never +endeavoured to improve on the old style of building; the newer cottages, +with their pointed gables, closely resemble the old Elizabethan houses. +The new stone soon tones down, and every house has a pretty garden +attached to it. + +I have just returned from a stroll by the river, with my rod in hand, on +the look-out for a rise. Not a fish was stirring. It is the middle of +May, and this glorious valley is growing more and more glorious every +day. An evening walk by the stream is delightful now, even though you +may begin to wonder if all the fish have disappeared. The air is full of +joyful sounds. The cuckoo, the corncrake, and the cock pheasant seem to +be vieing with each other; but, alas! nightingales there are none. As I +come round a bend, up get a mallard and a duck, and beautiful they look +as they swing round me in the dazzling sunlight. A little further on I +come upon a whole brood of nineteen little wild ducks. The old mothers +are a good deal tamer now than they were in the shooting season. Many a +time have they got up, just out of shot, when I was trying to wile away +the time during the great frost with a little stalking. A kingfisher +shoots past; but I have given up trying to find her nest. There is a +brood of dabchicks, and, a little further on, another family of +wild duck. + +The spring flowers are just now in their flush of pride and glory. +Clothing the banks, and reflected everywhere in the blue waters of the +stream, are great clusters of marsh marigolds painting the meadows with +their flaming gold; out of the decayed "stoles" of trees that fell by +the water's edge years and years ago springs the "glowing violet"; here +and there, as one throws a fly towards the opposite bank, a purple glow +on the surface of the stream draws the attention to a glorious mass of +violets on the mossy bank above; myriads of dainty cuckoo flowers, + + "With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, + And every flower that sad embroidery wears," + +are likewise to be seen. Farther away from the stream's bank, on the +upland lawn and along the hedge towards the downs, the deep purple of +the hyacinth and orchis, and the perfect blue of the little eyebright or +germander speedwell, are visible even at a distance. In a week the lilac +and sweet honeysuckle will fill the air with grateful redolence. + +Ah! a may-fly. But I know this is only a false alarm. There are always a +few stray ones about at this time; the fly will not be "up" for ten days +at least. When it does come, the stream, so smooth and glassy now, will +be "like a pot a-boiling," as the villagers say. You would not think it +possible that a small brook could contain so many big fish as will show +themselves when the fly is up. + +In conclusion, we will quote once more from dear old Charles Kingsley, +for what was true fifty years ago is true now--at all events, in this +part of Gloucestershire; and may it ever remain so! + +"Come, then, you who want pleasant fishing days without the waste of +time and trouble and expense involved in two hundred miles of railway +journey, and perhaps fifty more of highland road; come to pleasant +country inns, where you can always get a good dinner; or, better still, +to pleasant country houses, where you can always get good society--to +rivers which always fish brimful, instead of being, as these mountain +ones are, very like a turnpike road for three weeks, and then like +bottled porter for three days--to streams on which you have strong +south-west breezes for a week together on a clear fishing water, instead +of having, as on these mountain ones, foul rain spate as long as the +wind is south-west, and clearing water when the wind chops up to the +north,--streams, in a word, where you may kill fish four days out of +five from April to October, instead of having, as you will most probably +in the mountain, just one day's sport in the whole of your +month's holiday." + +[Illustration: A bridge over the Coln. 171.png] + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHEN THE MAY-FLY IS UP. + + "Just in the dubious point where with the pool + Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils + Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank + Reverted plays in undulating flow, + There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly." + + THOMSON'S _Seasons_. + +When does the may-fly come, the gorgeous succulent may-fly, that we all +love so well in the quiet valleys where the trout streams wend their +silent ways? + +It comes "of a Sunday," answers the keeper, who would fain see the +prejudice against fishing "on the Sabbath" scattered to the four winds +of heaven. He thinks it very contrary of the fly that it should +invariably come up "strong" on the one day in the week on which the +trout are usually allowed a rest. + +"'Tis a most comical job, but it always comes up thickest of a Sunday," +he frequently exclaims. Then, if you press him for further particulars, +he grows eloquent on the subject, and tells you as follows: "We always +reckons to kill the most fish on 'Durby day.' 'Tis a most singular +thing, but the 'Durby day' is always the best." + +Now, considering that Derby day is a movable feast, saving that it +always comes on a Wednesday, there would appear to be no more logic in +this statement than there is in the one about the fly coming up strong +on a Sunday. However, so deep rooted is the theory that the Derby and +the cream of the may-fly fishing are inseparably associated that we have +come to talk of the biggest rise of the season as "the Derby day," +whatever day of the week it may happen to be. + +Thus Tom Peregrine, the keeper, when he sees the fly gradually coming +up, will say: "I can see how it will be--next Friday will be Durby day. +You must 'meet' the fly that day; 'be sure and give it the meeting,' +sir. We shall want six rods on the water on Friday." He is so +desperately keen to kill fish that he would sooner have six rods and +moderate sport for each fisherman than three rods and good sport all +round. Wonderfully sanguine is this fellow's temperament: + + "A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays + And confident to-morrows." + +It is always "just about a good day for fishing" before you start; and +if you have a bad day, he consoles you with an account of an +extraordinary day last week, or one you are to have next week. Sometimes +it was last season that was so good; "or it will be a splendid season +next year," for some reason or other only known to himself. + +Three good anglers are quite sufficient for two miles of fishing on the +best of days. Experience has taught us that "too many cooks spoil the +broth" even in the may-fly season. + +I shall never forget a most lamentable, though somewhat laughable, +occurrence which took place five years ago. Foolishly responding to the +entreaties of our enthusiastic friend the keeper, we actually did ask +five people to fish one "Durby day." As luck would have it they all +came; but unfortunately a neighbouring squire, who owns part of the +water, but who seldom turns up to fish, also chose that day, and with +him came his son. Seven was bad enough in all conscience, but imagine my +feelings when a waggonette drove up, full of _undergraduates from +Oxford_: my brother, who was one of the undergraduates, had brought them +down on the chance, and without any warning. Of course they all wanted +to fish, though for the most part they were quite innocent of the art of +throwing a fly. Result: ten or a dozen fisherman, all in each other's +way; every rising fish in the brook frightened out of its wits; and very +little sport. The total catch for the day was only thirty trout, or +exactly what three rods ought to have caught. + +These were the sort of remarks one had to put up with: "I say, old +chap, there's a d----d fellow in a mackintosh suit up stream; he's +bagged my water"; or, "Who is that idiot who has been flogging away all +the afternoon in one place? Does he think he's beating carpets, or is he +an escaped lunatic from Hanwell?" + +The whole thing was too absurd; it was like a fishing competition on the +Thames at Twickenham. + +Since this never-to-be-forgotten day I have come to the conclusion that +to have too few anglers is better than too many; also, alas! that it is +quite useless to ask your friends to come unless they are accomplished +fishermen. It takes years of practice to learn the art of catching +south-country trout in these days, when every fish knows as well as we +do the difference between the real fly and the artificial. One might as +well ask a lot of schoolboys to a big "shoot," as issue indiscriminate +invitations to fish. + +It is a prochronism to talk of the _May_-fly; for, as a matter of fact, +the first ten days of _June_ usually constitute the may-fly season. Of +late years the rise has been earlier and more scanty than of yore. There +are always several days, however, during the rise when all the biggest +fish in the brook come out from their homes beneath the willows, take up +a favourable place in mid stream, and quietly suck down fly after fly +until they are absolutely stuffed. To have fished on one of these days +in any well-stocked south-country brook is something to look back upon +for many a long day. In a reach of water not exceeding one hundred yards +in length there will be fish enough to occupy you throughout the day. +You may catch seven or eight brace of trout, none of which are under a +pound in weight, where you did not believe any large ones existed. The +fact is, the larger fish of a trout stream are more like rats in their +habits than anything else; they stow themselves away in holes in the +bank and all sorts of inconceivable places, and are as invisible by day +as the otter itself. + +That man derives the greatest enjoyment from this annual carnival among +the trout who has been tied to London all through May, sweltering in a +stuffy office and longing for the country. Though his sympathies are +bound up heart and soul in country pursuits, he has elected to "live +laborious days" in the busy haunts of men. He does it, though he hates +it; for he has sufficient insight to know that self-denial in some form +or other is the inevitable destiny of mortal man: sooner or later it has +to be undergone by all, whether we like it or not + + "Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit + Ab dis plura feret" + +Horace never wrote anything truer than that, though we are not to +suppose that the second line will necessarily come true in this life. + +We will imagine that our friend is a briefless barrister, but a fine, +all-round sportsman; a crack batsman, perhaps, at Eton and Oxford, or +one of whom it might be said: + + "Give me the man to whom nought comes amiss, + One horse or another, that country or this-- + Who through falls and bad starts undauntedly still + Rides up to the motto, 'Be with them I will.'" + +There may be good sportsmen enough enjoying life throughout the country +villages of Merrie England, but in my humble opinion the _best_ +sportsmen must be sought in stifling offices in London, or serving +"their country and their Queen" under the burning sun of a far country, +or maybe in the reeking atmosphere of the East End, or as missionaries +in that howling wilderness the inhospitable land of "the +heathen Chinee." + +Sitting in his dusty chambers, poring over grimy books and legal +manuscripts, our "briefless" friend receives a telegram which he has +been expecting rather anxiously the last few days. As brief as he is +"briefless," it brings a flush to his cheek which has not been seen +there since that great run with the hounds last Christmas holidays. "The +fly is up; come at once." These are the magic words; and no time is lost +in responding to the invitation, for, as prearranged, he is to start for +Gloucestershire directly the wire arrives. + +There is no need to rush off to Mr. Farlow and buy up his stock of +may-flies; for though he does not tie his own flies, our angling friend +has a goodly stock of them neatly arranged in rows of cork inside a +black tin box; and, depend upon it, they are the _right_ ones. + +Many a fisherman goes through a lifetime without getting the right flies +for the water on which he angles. It is ten to one that those in the +shops are too light, both in the body and the wing; the may-flies +usually sold are likewise much too big. About half life-size is quite +big enough for the artificial fly, and as a general rule they cannot be +too _dark_. + +Some years ago we caught a live fly, and took it up to London for the +shopman to copy. "At last," we said to ourselves, "we have got the right +thing." But not a bit of it. The first cast on to the water showed us +that the fly was utterly wrong. It was far too light. The fact is, the +insect itself appears very much darker on the water than it does in the +air. But the artificial fly shows ten times lighter as it floats on the +stream than it does in the shop window. + +Dark mottled grey for your wings, and a brown hackle, with a dark rather +than a straw-coloured body, is the kind of fly we find most killing on +the upper Coln. Of course it may be different on other streams, but I +suspect there is a tendency to use too light a fly everywhere, save +among those who have learnt by experience how to catch trout. As Sir +Herbert Maxwell has proved by experiment, trout have no perception of +colour except so far as the fly is light or dark. He found dark blue and +red flies just as killing as the ordinary may-fly. + +For the dry-fly fisherman equipment is half the battle. Show me the man +who catches fish; ten to one his rod is well balanced and strong, his +line heavy, though tapered, and his gut well selected and stained. The +fly-book stamps the fisherman even more truly than the topboot stamps +the fox-hunter. Nor does the accomplished expert with the dry fly +disdain with fat of deer to grease his line, nor with paraffin to dress +his fly and make it float. But he keeps the paraffin in a leather case +by itself, so that his coat may not remain redolent for months. From +top to toe he is a fisherman. His boots are thick, even though he does +not require waders; on his knees are leather pads to ward off +rheumatism; whilst on his head is a sober-coloured cap--not a white +straw hat flashing in the sunlight, and scaring the timid trout +to death. + +Thus appears our sportsman of the Inner Temple not twelve hours after we +saw him stewing in his London chambers. What a metamorphosis is this! +Just as the may-fly, after two years of confinement as a wretched grub +in the muddy bed of the stream, throws off its shackles, gives its wings +a shake, and soars into the glorious June atmosphere, happy to be free, +so does the poor caged bird rejoice, after grubbing for an indefinite +period in a cramped cell, to leave darkness and dirt and gloom (though +not, like the may-fly, for ever), and flee away on wings the mighty +steam provides until he finds himself once again in the fresh green +fields he loves so well. And truly he gets his reward. He has come into +a new world--rather, I should say, a paradise; for he comes when meadows +are green and trees are at their prime. Though the glory of the lilac +has passed away, the buttercup still gilds the landscape; barley fields +are bright with yellow charlock, and the soft, subdued glow of sainfoin +gives colour to the breezy uplands as of acres of pink carnations. On +one side a vast sheet of saffron, on the other a lake of rubies, ripples +in the passing breeze, or breaks into rolling waves of light and shade +as the fleecy clouds sweep across azure skies. He comes when roses, pink +and white and red, are just beginning to hang their dainty heads in +modest beauty on every cottage wall or cluster round the ancient porch; +when from every lattice window in the hamlet (I wish I could say every +_open_ window) rows of red geraniums peep from their brown pots of +terra-cotta, brightening the street without, and filling the cosy rooms +with grateful, unaccustomed fragrance; when the scent of the sweet, +short-lived honeysuckle pervades the atmosphere, and the faces of the +handsome peasants are bronzed as those of dusky dwellers under +Italian skies. + + No daintie flowre or herbe that grows on ground; + No arborett with painted blossoms drest, + And smelling sweete, but there it might be found, + To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al around. + + E. SPENSER. + +What a pleasant country is this in which to spend a holiday! How white +are the limestone roads! how fresh and invigorating is the upland air! +The old manor house is deserted, its occupants having gone to London. +But a couple of bachelors can be happy in an empty house, without +servants and modern luxuries, as long as the may-fly lasts. It is +pleasant to feel that you can dine at any hour you please, and wear what +you please. The good lady who cooks for you is merely the wife of one of +the shepherds; but her cooking is fit for a king! What dinner could be +better than a trout fresh from the brook, a leg of lamb from the farm, +and a gooseberry tart from the kitchen garden? For vegetables you may +have asparagus--of such excellence that you scarcely know which end to +begin eating--and new potatoes. + +For my part, I would sooner a thousand times live on homely fare in the +country than be condemned to wade through long courses at London dinner +parties, or, worse still, pay fabulous prices at "Willis's Rooms," the +"Berkeley," or at White's Club. + +What a comfort, too, to be without housemaids to tidy up your papers in +the smoking-room and shut your windows in the evening! How healthful to +sleep in a room in which the windows have been wide open night and day +for months past! + +Sport is usually to be depended upon in the may-fly time, as long as you +are not late for the rise. Of late years the fly has "come up" so early +and in such limited quantities that but few fishermen were on the +water in time. + +We are apt to grumble, declaring that the whole river has gone to the +bad; that the fish are smaller and fewer in numbers than of yore,--but +is this borne out by facts? The year 1896 was no doubt rather a failure +as regards the may-fly; but as I glance over the pages of the game-book +in which I record as far as possible every fish that is killed, I cannot +help thinking that sport has been very wonderful, take it all round, +during six out of seven seasons. + +It is a lovely day during the last week in May. There has been no rain +for more than a fortnight; the wind is north-east, and the sun shines +brightly,--yet we walk down to the River Coln, anticinating a good day's +sport among the trout: for, during the may-fly season, no matter how +unpropitious the weather may appear, sport is more of a certainty on +this stream than at any other time of year. Early in the season drought +does not appear to have any effect on the springs; we might get no rain +from the middle of April until half-way through June, and yet the water +will keep up and remain a good colour all the time. But after June is +"out," down goes the water, lower and lower every week; no amount of +rain will then make any perceptible increase to the volume of the +stream, and not until the nights begin to lengthen out and the autumnal +gales have done their work will the water rise again to its normal +height. If you ask Tom Peregrine why these things are so, he will only +tell you that after a few gales the "springs be _frum_." The word +"frum," the derivation of which is, Anglo-Saxon, "fram," or "from" = +strong, flourishing, is the local expression for the bursting of +the springs. + +Our friend Tom Peregrine is full of these quaint expressions. When he +sees a covey of partridges dusting themselves in the roads, he will tell +you they are "bathering." A dog hunting through a wood is always said to +be "breveting." "I don't like that dog of So-and-so's, he do 'brevet' +so," is a favourite saying. The ground on a frosty morning "scrumps" or +"feels scrumpety," as you walk across the fields; and the partridges +when wild, are "teert." All these phrases are very happy, the sound of +the words illustrating exactly the idea they are intended to convey. +Besides ordinary Gloucestershire expressions, the keeper has a large +variety that he has invented for himself. + +When the river comes down clear, it is invariably described as like +looking into a gin bottle, or "as clear as gin." A trout rising boldly +at a fly is said to "'quap' up," or "boil up," or even "come at it like +a dog." The word "mess" is used to imply disgust of any sort: "I see one +boil up just above that mess of weed"; or, if you get a bit of weed on +the hook, he will exclaim, "Bother! that mess of weed has put him down." +Sometimes he remarks, "Tis these dreadful frostis that spiles +everything. 'Tis enough to sterve anybody." When he sees a bad fisherman +at work, he nods his head woefully and exclaims, "He might as well throw +his 'at in!" Then again, if he is anxious that you should catch a +particular trout, which cannot be persuaded to rise, he always says, +"Terrify him, sir; keep on terrifying of him." This does not mean that +you are to frighten the fish; on the contrary, he is urging you to stick +to him till he gets tired of being harassed, and succumbs to temptation. +All these quaint expressions make this sort of folk very amusing +companions for a day's fishing. + +It is eleven o'clock; let us walk down stream until we come to a bend in +the river where the north-east wind is less unfavourable than it is in +most parts. There is a short stretch of two hundred yards, where, as we +fish up stream, the breeze will be almost at our backs, and there are +fish enough to occupy us for an hour or so; afterwards, we shall have to +"cut the wind" as best we can. + +As we pass down stream the pale olive duns are hatching out in fair +numbers, and a few fish are already on the move. What lovely, delicate +things are these duns! and how "beautifully and wonderfully are they +made"! If you catch one you will see that it is as delicate and +transparent as it can possibly be. Not even the may-fly can compare with +the dun. And what rare food for trout they supply! For more than six +weeks, from April 1st, they hatch out by thousands every sunny day. The +may-fly may be a total failure, but week after week in the early spring +you may go down to the riverside with but one sort of fly, and if there +are fish to be caught at all, the pale-winged olive dun will catch them; +and in spite of the fact that there are a few may-flies on the water, it +is with the little duns that we intend to start our fishing to-day. The +trout have not yet got thoroughly accustomed to the green-drake, and the +"Durby day" will not be here for a week. It is far better to leave them +"to get reconciled" to the new fly (as the keeper would put it); they +will "quap" up all the better in a few days if allowed, in angling +phraseology, "to get well on to the fly." + +On arriving at the spot at which we intend commencing operations, it is +evident that the rise has begun. Happily, everything was in readiness. +Our tapered gut cast has been wetted, and a tiny-eyed fly is at the end. +The gut nearest the hook is as fine as gut can possibly be. Anything +thicker would be detected, for a spring joins the river at this point +and makes the water rather clear. Higher up we need not be so +particular. There is a fish rising fifteen yards above us; so, crouching +low and keeping back from the bank, we begin casting. A leather +kneecap, borrowed from the harness-room, is strapped on to the knee, and +is a good precaution against rheumatism. The first cast is two feet +short of the rise, but with the next we hook a trout. He makes a +tremendous rush, and runs the reel merrily. We manage to keep him out of +the weeds and land him--a silvery "Loch Leven," about three-quarters of +a pound, and in excellent condition. Only two years ago he was put into +the stream with five hundred others as a yearling. The next two rising +fish are too much for us, and we bungle them. One sees the line, owing +to our throwing too far above him, and the other is frightened out of +his life by a bit of weed or grass which gets hitched on to the barb of +the hook, and lands bang on to his nose. These accidents will happen, so +we do not swear, but pass on up stream, and soon a great brown tail +appears for a second just above some rushes on the other side. Kneeling +down again, we manage, after a few casts--luckily short of our fish--to +drop the fly a foot above him. Down it sails, not "cocking" as nicely as +could be wished, but in an exact line for his nose. There is a slight +dimple, and we have got him. For two or three minutes we are at the +mercy of our fish, for we dare not check him--the gut is too fine. But, +lacking condition, he soon tires, and is landed. He is over a pound and +a half, and rather lanky; but kill him we must, for by the size of his +head we can see that he is an old fish, and as bad as a pike for eating +fry. Two half-pounders are now landed in rapid succession, and returned +to the water. Then we hook a veritable monster; but, alas! he makes a +terrific rush down stream, and the gut breaks in the weeds. Of course he +is put down as the biggest fish ever hooked in the water. As a matter of +fact, two pounds would probably "see him." Putting on another olive dun, +we are soon playing a handsome bright fish of a pound, with thick +shoulders and a small head. And a lovely sight he is when we get him out +of the water and knock him on the head. + +We now come to a place where some big stones have been placed to make +ripples and eddies, and the stream is more rapid. Glad of the chance of +a rest from the effort of fishing "dry," which is tiring to the wrist +and back, we get closer to the bank, and flog away for five minutes +without success. Suddenly we hear a voice behind, and, looking round, +see our mysterious keeper, who is always turning up unexpectedly, +without one's being able to tell where he has sprung from. "The fish be +all alive above the washpool. I never see such a sight in all my life!" +he breathlessly exclaims. + +"All right," we reply; "we'll be up there directly. But let's first of +all try for the big one that lies just above that stone." + +"There's one up! ... There's another up! The river's boiling," says our +loquacious companion. + +"That's the big fish," we reply, vigorously flogging the air to dry the +fly; for when there is a big fish about, one always gives him as neatly +a "cocked" fly as is possible. + +"_Must_ have him! Bang over him!" exclaims Tom Peregrine excitedly. + +But there is no response from the fish. + +"Keep _terrifying_ of him, keep _terrifying_ of him," whispers Tom; +"he's bound to make a mistake sooner or later." So we try again, and at +the same moment that the fly floats down over the monster's nose he +moves a foot to the right and takes a live may-fly with a big roll and +a flop. + +"Well, I never! Try him with a may-fly, sir," says Peregrine. + +Thinking this advice sound, we hastily put on the first may-fly of the +season; and no sooner have we made our cast than, as Rudyard Kipling +once said to the writer, there is a boil in the water "like the launch +of a young yacht," a tremendous swirl, and we are fast into a famous +trout. Directly he feels the insulting sting of the hook he rushes down +stream at a terrific rate, so that the line, instead of being taut, +dangles loosely on the water. We gather the line through the rings in +breathless haste--there is no time to reel up--and once more get a tight +strain on him. Fortunately there are no weeds here; the current is too +rapid for them. Twice he jumps clean out of the water, his broad, +silvery sides flashing in the sunlight. At length, after a five minutes' +fight, during which our companion never stops talking, we land the best +fish we have caught for four years. Nearly three pounds, he is as "fat +as butter," as bright as a new shilling, with the pinkest of pink spots +along his sides, and his broad back is mottled green. The head is small, +indicating that he is not a "cannibal," but a real, good-conditioned, +pink-fleshed trout. And it is rare in May to catch a big fish that has +grown into condition. + +We have now four trout in the basket. "A pretty dish of fish," as +Peregrine ejaculates several times as we walk up stream towards the +washpool. For thirty years he has been about this water, and has seen +thousands of fish caught, yet he is as keen to-day as a boy with his +first trout. As we pass through a wood we question him as to a small +stone hut, which appeared to have fallen out of repair. + +"Oh!" he replied, "that was built in the time of the Romans"; and then +he went on to tell us how a _great_ battle was fought in the wood, and +how, about twenty years ago, they had found "a _great_ skeleton of a +man, nearly seven feet long"--a sure proof, he added, that the Romans +had fought here. + +As a matter of fact, there are several Roman villas in the +neighbourhood, and there was also fighting hereabouts in the Civil Wars. +But half the country folk look upon everything that happened more than a +hundred years ago as having taken place in the time of the Romans; and +Oliver Cromwell is to them as mythical a personage and belonging to an +equally remote antiquity as Julius Caesar. The Welsh people are just the +same. The other day we were shown a huge pair of rusty scissors whilst +staying in Breconshire. The man who found them took them to the "big +house" for the squire to keep as a curiosity, for, "no doubt," he said, +"they once belonged to _some great king_"! + +To our disgust, on reaching the upper water we found it as thick as +pea-soup. Sheep-washing had been going on a mile or so above us. Never +having had any sport under these conditions in past times, we had quite +decided to give up fishing for the day; but Tom Peregrine, who is ever +sanguine, swore he saw a fish rise. To our astonishment, on putting the +fly over the spot, we hooked and landed a large trout Proceeding up +stream, two more were quickly basketed. When the water comes down as +thick as the Thames at London Bridge, after sheep washing, the big trout +are often attracted out of their holes by the insects washed out of the +wool; but they will seldom rise freely to the artificial fly on such +occasions. To-day, oddly enough, they take any fly they can see in the +thick water, and with a "coch-y-bondu" substituted for the may-fly, as +being more easily seen in the discoloured water, any number of fish were +to be caught. But there is little merit and, consequently, little +satisfaction in pulling out big trout under these conditions, so that, +having got seven fish, weighing nine pounds, in the basket, we are +satisfied. + +As a rule, it is only in the may-fly season that the biggest fish rise +freely; an average weight of one pound per fish is usually considered +first-rate in the Coln. On this day, however, although the may-fly was +not yet properly up, the big fish, which generally feed at night, had +been brought on the rise by the sheep-washing. + +All the way home we are regaled with impossible stories of big fish +taken in these waters, one of which, the keeper says, weighed five +pounds, "all but a penny piece." As a matter of fact, this fish was +taken out of a large spring close to the river; and it is very rarely +that a three-pounder is caught in the Coln above Bibury, whilst anything +over that weight is not caught once in a month of Sundays. Last January, +however, a dead trout, weighing three pounds eight ounces, was found at +Bibury Mill, and a few others about the same size have been taken during +recent years. At Fairford, where the stream is bigger, a five-pounder +was taken during the last may-fly. + +We are pleased to find that our friend from London, who has been fishing +the same water, has done splendidly; he has killed six brace of good +trout, besides returning a large number to the water. With a glow of +satisfaction he + + "Tells from what pool the noblest had been dragg'd; + And where the very monarch of the brook, + After long struggle, had escaped at last." + + WORDSWORTH. + +We laid our combined bag on the cool stone floor in the game larder; + + "And verily the silent creatures made + A splendid sight, together thus exposed; + Dead, but not sullied or deformed by death, + That seem'd to pity what he could not spare." + + WORDSWORTH. + +But the killing of trout is only a small part of the pleasure of being +here when the may-fly is up. How pleasant to live almost entirely in the +open air! after the day's fishing is over to rest awhile in the cool +manor house hard by the stream, watching from the window of the +oak-panelled little room the wonders of creation in the garden through +which the river flows! Now, from the recesses of the overhanging boughs +on the tiny island opposite, a moorhen swims forth, cackling and pecking +at the water as she goes. She is followed by five little balls of black +fur--her red-beaked progeny; they are fairly revelling in the evening +sunlight, diving, playing with each other, and thoroughly enjoying life. + +Up on the bough of the old fir, bearing its heavy mantle of ivy from +base to topmost twig, and not twenty yards from the window, a thrush +sits and sings. You must watch him carefully ere you assure yourself +that those sweet, trilling notes of peerless music come from that tiny +throat. A rare lesson in voice production he will teach you. Deep +breathing, headnotes clear as a bell and effortless, as only three or +four singers in Europe can produce them, without the slightest sense of +strain or throatiness--such are the songs of our most gifted denizens of +the woods. + +What a wondrous amount of life is visible on an evening such as this! +Among the fast-growing nettles beyond the brook scores of rabbits are +running to and fro, some sitting up on their haunches with ears pricked, +some gamboling round the lichened trunk of the weeping ash tree. + +Out of the water may-flies are rising and soaring upwards to circle +round the topmost branches of the firs. Looking upwards, you may see +hundreds of them dancing in unalloyed delight, enjoying their brief +existence in this beautiful world. + +Birds of many kinds, swallows and swifts, sparrows, fly-catchers, +blackbirds, robins and wrens, all and sundry are busy chasing the poor +green-drakes. As soon as the flies emerge from their husks and hover +above the surface of the stream, many of them are snapped up. But the +trout have "gone down,"--they are fairly gorged for the day; they will +not trouble the fly any more to-night. + +And then those glorious bicycle rides in the long summer evenings, when, +scarcely had the sun gone down beyond the ridge of rolling uplands than +the moon, almost at the full, and gorgeously serene, cast her soft, +mysterious light upon a silent world. One such night two anglers, +gliding softly through the ancient village of Bibury, dismounted from +their machines and stood on the bridge which spans the River Coln. Below +them the peaceful waters flowed silently onwards with all the smoothness +of oil, save that ever and anon rays of silvery moonlight fell in +streaks of radiant whiteness upon its glassy surface. + +From beneath the bridge comes the sound of busy waters, a sound, as is +often the case with running water, that you do not hear unless you +listen for it carefully. Close by, too, at the famous spring, crystal +waters are welling forth from the rock, pure and stainless as they were +a thousand years ago. All else is silent in the village. The sky is +flecked by myriads of tiny cloudlets, all separate from each other, and +mostly of one shape and size; but just below the brilliant orb, which +floats serene and proud above the line of mackerel sky, fantastic peaks +of clouds, like far-off snow-capped heights of rugged Alps, are +pointing upwards. + +Suddenly there comes a change. A fairy circle of prismatic colour is +gathering round the moon, beautifying the scene a thousandfold; an inner +girdle of hazy emerald hue immediately surrounds the lurid orb, which is +now seen as "in a glass darkly"; whilst encircling all is a narrow rim +of red light, like the rosy hues of the setting sun that have scarcely +died away in the west. The beauty of this lunar rainbow is enhanced by +the framework of shapely ash trees through whose branches it is seen. + +Along the river bank, nestling under the hanging wood, are rows of old +stone cottages, with gables warped a little on one side. One light +shines forth from the lattice window of the ancient mill; but in the +cool thick-walled houses the honest peasants are slumbering in deep, +peaceful sleep. + + "Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep. + The river glideth at his own sweet will: + Dear God, the very houses seem asleep." + + WORDSWORTH. + +We are in the very heart of England. What a contrast to London at night, +where many a poor fellow must be tossing restlessly in the stifling +atmosphere! + +As we return towards the old manor house the nightjar, or goatsucker, +is droning loudly, and a nightingale--actually a nightingale!--is +singing in the copse. These birds seldom visit us in the Cotswolds. In +the deserted garden the scent of fresh-mown hay is filling the air, and + + "The moping owl doth to the moon complain + Of such as wander near her secret bower." + +As we go we pluck some sprigs of fragrant honeysuckle and carry them +indoors. And so to bed, passing on the broad oak staircase the weird +picture of the man who built this rambling old house more than three +hundred years ago. + +There is a plain everyday phenomenon connected with pictures, and more +especially photographs, which must have been noticed time after time by +thousands of people; yet I never heard it mentioned in conversation or +saw it in print. I allude to the extraordinary sympathy the features of +a portrait are capable of assuming towards the expression of countenance +of the man who is looking at it. There is something at times almost +uncanny in it. Stand opposite a photograph of a friend when you are +feeling sad, and the picture is sad. Laugh, and the mouth of your friend +seems to curl into a smile, and his eyes twinkle merrily. Relapse into +gloom and despondency, and the smile dies away from the picture. Often +in youth, when about to carry out some design or other, I used to glance +at my late father's portrait, and never failed to notice a look of +approval or condemnation on the face which left its mark on the memory +for a considerable time. The countenance of the grim old gentleman in +the portrait on the stairs ("AETATIS SUAE 92. 1614 A.D.") wore a +distinct air of satisfaction to-night as I passed by on my way to bed; +he always looks pleased after there has been a good day with the hounds, +and likewise in the summer when the may-fly is up. + +[Illustration: Burford Priory. 194.png] + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BURFORD, A COTSWOLD TOWN. + +Burford and Cirencester are two typical Cotswold towns; and perhaps the +first-named is the most characteristic, as it is also the most remote +and old-world of all places in this part of England. It was on a lovely +day in June that we resolved to go and explore the ancient priory and +glorious church of old Burford. A very slow train sets you down at +Bampton, commonly called Bampton-in-the-Bush, though the forest which +gave rise to the name has long since given place to open fields. + +There are many other curious names of this type in Gloucestershire and +the adjoining counties. Villages of the same name are often +distinguished from each other by these quaint descriptions of their +various situations. Thus: + + Moreton-in-the-Marsh distinguishes from More-ton-on-Lug. + Bourton-on-the-Water distinguishes from Bourton-on-the-Hill. + Stow-on-the-Wold distinguishes from Stowe-Nine-Churches. + +Then we find + + Shipston-on-Stour and Shipton-under-Whichwood. + Hinton-on-the-Green and Hinton-in-the-Hedges. + Aston-under-Hill and Aston-under-Edge. + +It may be noted in passing that the derivation of the word +"Moreton-in-the-Marsh" has ever been the subject of much controversy. +But the fact that the place is on the ancient trackway from Cirencester +to the north, and also that four counties meet here, is sufficient +reason for assigning Morton-hen-Mearc (=) "the place on the moor by the +old boundary" as the probable meaning of the name. + +We were fortunate enough to secure an outside seat on the rickety old +"bus" which plies between Bampton and Burford, and were soon slowly +traversing the white limestone road, stopping every now and then to set +down a passenger or deposit a parcel at some clean-looking, stone-faced +cottage in the straggling old villages. + +It was indeed a glorious morning for an expedition into the Cotswolds. +The six weeks' drought had just given place to cool, showery weather. A +light wind from the west breathed the fragrance of countless wild +flowers and sweet may blossom from the leafy hedges, and the scent of +roses and honeysuckle was wafted from every cottage garden. After a +month spent amid the languid air and depressing surroundings of London, +one felt glad at heart to experience once again the grand, pure air and +rural scenery of the Cotswold Hills. + +What strikes one so forcibly about this part of England, after a sojourn +in some smoky town, is its extraordinary cleanliness. + +There is no such thing as _dirt_ in a limestone country. The very mud +off the roads in rainy weather is not dirt at all, sticky though it +undoubtedly is. It consists almost entirely of lime, which, though it +burns all the varnish off your carriage if allowed to remain on it for a +few days, has nothing repulsive about its nature, like ordinary mud. + +How pleasant, too, is the contrast between the quiet, peaceful country +life and the restless din and never-ceasing commotion of the "busy +haunts of men"! As we pass along through villages gay with flowers, we +converse freely with the driver of the 'bus, chiefly about fishing. The +great question which every one asks in this part of the world in the +first week in June is whether the may-fly is up. The lovely green-drake +generally appears on the Windrush about this time, and then for ten days +nobody thinks or talks about anything else. Who that has ever witnessed +a real may-fly "rise" on a chalk or limestone stream will deny that it +is one of the most beautiful and interesting sights in all creation? +Myriads of olive-coloured, transparent insects, almost as large as +butterflies, rising out of the water, and floating on wings as light as +gossamer, only to live but one short day; great trout, flopping and +rolling in all directions, forgetful of all the wiles of which they are +generally capable; and then, when the evening sun is declining, the +female fly may be seen hovering over the water, and dropping her eggs +time after time, until, having accomplished the only purpose for which +she has existed in the winged state, she falls lifeless into the stream. +But though these lovely insects live but twenty-four hours, and during +that short period undergo a transformation from the _sub-imago_ to the +_imago_ state, they exist as larvae in the bed of the river for quite +two years from the time the eggs are dropped. The season of 1896 was one +of the worst ever known on some may-fly rivers; probably the great frost +two winters back was the cause of failure. The intense cold is supposed +to have killed the larvae. + +The Windrush trout are very large indeed; a five-pound fish is not at +all uncommon. The driver of the 'bus talked of monsters of eight pounds +having been taken near Burford, but we took this _cum grano salis_. + +After a five-mile drive we suddenly see the picturesque old town below +us. Like most of the villages of the country, it lies in one of the +narrow valleys which intersect the hills, so that you do not get a view +of the houses until you arrive at the edge of the depression in which +they are built. + +Having paid the modest shilling which represents the fare for the five +miles, we start off for the priory. There was no difficulty in finding +our way to it. In all the Cotswold villages and small towns the "big +house" stands out conspicuously among the old cottages and barns and +farmhouses, half hidden as it is by the dense foliage of giant elms and +beeches and chestnuts and ash; nor is Burford Priory an exception to the +rule, though its grounds are guarded by a wall of immense height on one +side. And then once more we get the view we have seen so often on +Cotswold; yet it never palls upon the senses, but thrills us with its +own mysterious charm. Who can ever get tired of the picture presented by +a gabled, mediaeval house set in a framework of stately trees, amid +whose leafy branches the rooks are cawing and chattering round their +ancestral nests, whilst down below the fertilising stream silently +fulfils its never-ceasing task, flowing onwards everlastingly, caring +nothing for the vicissitudes of our transitory life and the hopes and +fears that sway the hearts of successive generations of men? + +There the old house stands "silent in the shade"; there are the "nursery +windows," but the "children's voices" no longer break the silence of the +still summer day. Everywhere--in the hall, in the smoking-room, where +the empty gun-cases still hang, and in "my lady's bower," + + "Sorrow and silence and sadness + Are hanging over all." + +Until we arrived within a few yards of the front door we had almost +forgotten that the place was a ruin; for though the house is but an +empty shell, almost as hollow as a skull, the outer walls are +absolutely complete and undamaged. At one end is the beautiful old +chapel, built by "Speaker" Lenthall in the time of the Commonwealth. +There is an air of sanctity about this lovely white freestone temple +which no amount of neglect can eradicate. The roof, of fine stucco work, +has fallen in; the elder shrubs grow freely through the crevices in the +broken pavement under foot,--and yet you feel bound to remove your hat +as you enter, for "you are standing on holy ground." + + "EXUE CALCEOS, NAM TERRA EST SANCTA." + +Over the entrance stands boldly forth this solemn inscription, whilst +angels, wonderfully carved in white stone, watch and guard the sacred +precincts. At the north end of the chapel stands intact the altar, and, +strangely enough, the most perfectly preserved remnants of the whole +building are two white stone tablets plainly setting forth the Ten +Commandments. The sun, as we stood there, was pouring its rays through +the graceful mullioned windows, lighting up the delicate carving,--work +that is rendered more beautiful than ever by the "tender grace of a day +that is dead,"--whilst outside in the deserted garden the birds were +singing sweetly. The scene was sadly impressive; one felt as one does +when standing by the grave of some old friend. As we passed out of the +chapel we could not help reflecting on the hard-heartedness of men fifty +years ago, who could allow this consecrated place, beautiful and fair +as it still is, to fall gradually to the ground, nor attempt to put +forth a helping hand to save it ere it crumbles into dust. How +ungrateful it seems to those whose labour and hard, self-sacrificing +toil erected it two hundred and fifty years ago! Those men of whom +Ruskin wrote: "All else for which the builders sacrificed has passed +away; all their living interests and aims and achievements. We know not +for what they laboured, and we see no evidence of their reward. Victory, +wealth, authority, happiness, all have departed, though bought by many a +bitter sacrifice." + +It should be mentioned, however, that Mr. R. Hurst is at the present +time engaged in a laudable endeavour to restore this chapel to its +original state. Inside the house the most noteworthy feature of interest +is a remarkably fine ornamental ceiling. Good judges inform us that the +ballroom ceiling at Burford Priory is one of the finest examples of old +work of the kind anywhere to be seen. The room itself is a very large +and well-proportioned one; the oak panels, which completely cover the +walls, still bear the marks of the famous portraits that once adorned +them. Charles I. and Henry Prince of Wales, by Cornelius Jansen; Queen +Henrietta Maria, by Vandyke; Sir Thomas More and his family, by Holbein; +Speaker Lenthall, the former owner of the house; and many other fine +pictures hung here in former times. The staircase is a fine broad +one, of oak. + +But now let us leave the inside of the house, which _ought_ to be so +beautiful and bright, and _is_ so desolate and bare, for it is of no +great age, and let us call to mind the picture which Waller painted, +engravings of which used to adorn so many Oxford rooms: "The Empty +Saddle." For, standing in the neglected garden we may see the very +terrace and the angle of the house which were drawn so beautifully by +him. Then, as we stroll through the deserted grounds towards the +peaceful Windrush, where the great trout are still sucking down the poor +short-lived may-flies, let us try to recollect what manner of men used +to walk in these peaceful gardens in the old, stirring times. + +Little or nothing is known of the monastery which doubtless existed +somewhere hereabouts prior to the dissolution in Henry VIII.'s reign. + +Up to the Conquest the manor of Burford was held by Saxon noblemen. It +is mentioned in Doomsday Book as belonging to Earl Aubrey; but the first +notable man who held it was Hugh le Despencer. This man was one of +Edward II.'s favourites, and was ultimately hung, by the queen's +command, at the same time that Edward was committed to Kenilworth +Castle. Burford remained with his descendants till the reign of Henry +V., when it passed by marriage to a still more notable man, in the +person of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the "kingmaker." Space does +not allow us to romance on the part that this great warrior played in +the history of those times; Lord Lytton has done that for us in his +splendid book, "The Last of the Barons." Suffice it to say that he left +an undying fame to future generations, and fell in the Wars of the Roses +when fighting at the battle of Barnet against the very man he had set on +the throne. The almshouses he built for Burford are still to be seen +hard by the grand old church. + + "For who lived king, but I could dig his grave? + And who durst smile, when Warwick bent his brow? + Lo, now my glory's smear'd in dust and blood! + My parks, my walks, my manors that I had, + Even now forsake me; and of all my lands, + Is nothing left me, but my body's length!" + + 3 _King Henry VI_., V. ii. + +In the reign of Henry VIII. this manor, having lapsed to the Crown, was +granted to Edmund Harman, the royal surgeon. Then in later days Sir John +Fortescue, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth, got hold of +it, and eventually sold it to Sir Lawrence Tanfield, a great judge in +those times. The latter was buried "at twelve o'clock in the Night" in +the church of Burford; and there is a very handsome aisle there and an +immense monument to his memory. The Tanfield monument, though somewhat +ugly and grotesque, is a wonderful example of alabaster work. The cost +of erecting it and the labour bestowed must have been immense. It was +this knight who built the great house of which the present ruins form +part, and the date would probably be about 1600. But in 1808 nearly half +the original building is supposed to have been pulled down, and what was +allowed to remain, with the exception of the chapel, has been very +much altered. + +It was in the time of Lucius Carey's (second Lord Falkland) ownership of +this manor that the place was in the zenith of its fame. This +accomplished man, whose father had married Chief Justice Tanfield's +only daughter, succeeded his grandfather in the year 1625. He gathered +together, either here or at Great Tew, a few miles away, half the +literary celebrities of the day. Ben Jonson, Cowley, and Chillingworth +all visited Falkland from time to time. Lucius Carey afterwards became +the ill-fated King Charles's Secretary of State, an office which he +conscientiously filled until his untimely death. + +Falkland left little literary work behind him of any mark, yet of no +other man of those times may it be said that so great a reputation for +ability and character has been handed down to us. Novelists and authors +delight in dwelling on his good qualities. Even in this jubilee year of +1897 the author of "Sir Kenelm Digby" has written a book about the +Falklands. Whyte Melville, too, made him the hero of one of his novels, +describing him as a man in whose outward appearance there were no +indications of the intellectual superiority he enjoyed over his fellow +men. Indeed, as with Arthur Hallam in our own times, so it was with +Falkland in the mediaeval age. Neither left behind them any work of +their own by which future generations could realise their abilities and +almost godlike charm, yet each has earned a kind of immortality through +being honoured and sung by the pens of the greatest writers of his +respective age. + +That great, though somewhat bombastic, historian, Lord Clarendon, tells +us that Falkland was "a person of such prodigious parts of learning and +knowledge, of that inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation, of +so flowing and obliging a humanity and goodness to mankind, and of that +primitive simplicity and integrity of life, that if there were no other +brand upon this odious and accursed Civil War than that single loss, it +must be most infamous and execrable to all posterity." From the same +authority we learn that although he was ever anxious for peace, yet he +was the bravest of the brave. At the battle of Newbury he put himself in +the first rank of Lord Byron's regiment, when he met his end through a +musket shot. "Thus," says Clarendon, "fell that incomparable young man, +in the four-and-thirtieth year of his age, having so much despatched the +true business of life that the eldest rarely attain to that immense +knowledge, and the youngest enter not into the world with more +innocency." + +When it is remembered that Falkland was not a soldier at all, but a +learned scholar, whose natural proclivities were literature and the arts +of peace, his self-sacrifice and bravery cannot fail to call forth +admiration for the man, and we cannot but regret his untimely end. + +King Charles was several times at Burford, for it was the scene of much +fighting in the Civil Wars. + +It was in the year 1636 that Speaker Lenthall purchased Burford Priory. +He was a man of note in those troublous times, and even Cromwell seems +to have respected him; for, although the latter came down to the House +one day with a troop of musketeers, with the express intention of +turning the gallant Speaker out of his chair, and effected his object +amid the proverbial cries of "Make way for honester men!" yet we find +that within twelve months the crafty old gentleman had once more got +back again into the chair, and remained Speaker during the Protectorate +of Richard Cromwell. He declared on his deathbed that, although, like +Saul, he held the clothes of the murderers, yet that he never consented +to the death of the king, but was deceived by Cromwell and his agents. + +The priory remained in the Lenthall family up to the year 1821. At the +present time it belongs to the Hurst family. + +We have now briefly traced the history of the manor from the time of the +Conquest, and, doubtless, all the men whose names occur have spent a +good deal of time on this beautiful spot. + +Alas that the garden should be but a wilderness! The carriage drive +consists of rich green turf. In a summer-house in the grounds John +Prior, Speaker Lenthall's faithful servant, was murdered in the year +1697. The Earl of Abercorn was accused of the murder, but was acquitted. + +In addition to King Charles I., many other royal personages have visited +this place. Queen Elizabeth once visited the town, and came with +great pomp. + +The Burgesses' Book has a note to the effect that in 1663 twenty-one +pounds was paid for three saddles presented to Charles II. and his +brother the Duke of York. Burford was celebrated for its saddles in +those days. It was a great racing centre, and both here and at Bibury +(ten miles off) flat racing was constantly attracting people from all +parts. Bibury was a sort of Newmarket in old days. Charles II. was at +Burford on three occasions at least. + +It was in the year 1681 that the Newmarket spring meeting was +transferred to Bibury. Parliament was then sitting at Oxford, some +thirty miles away; so that the new rendezvous was more convenient than +the old. Nell Gwynne accompanied the king to the course. For a hundred +and fifty years the Bibury club held its meetings here. The oldest +racing club in England, it still flourishes, and will in future hold its +meetings near Salisbury. + +In 1695 King William III. came to Burford in order to influence the +votes in the forthcoming parliamentary election. Macaulay tells us that +two of the famous saddles were presented to this monarch, and remarks +that one of the Burford saddlers was the best in Europe. William III. +slept that night at the priory. The famous "Nimrod," in his "Life of a +Sportsman," gives us a picture, by Alken, of Bibury racecourse, and +tells us how gay Burford was a hundred years ago: + +"Those were Bibury's very best days. In addition to the presence of +George IV., then Prince of Wales, who was received by Lord Sherborne for +the race week at his seat in the neighbourhood, and who every day +appeared on the course as a private gentleman, there was a galaxy of +gentlemen jockeys, who alone rode at this meeting, which has never since +been equalled. Amongst them were the Duke of Dorset, who always rode for +the Prince; the late Mr. Delme-Radcliffe; the late Lords Charles +Somerset and Milsington; Lord Delamere, Sir Tatton Sykes, and many other +first-raters. + +"I well remember the scenes at Burford and all the neighbouring towns +after the races were over. That at Burford 'beggars' description; for, +independently of the bustle occasioned by the accommodation necessary +for the club who were domiciled in the town, the concourse of persons of +all sorts and degrees was immense." + +Old Mr. Peregrine told me the other day that during the race week the +shopkeepers at Bibury village used to let their bedrooms to the +visitors, and sleep on the shop board, while the rest of the family +slept underneath the counter. + + * * * * * + +Ah well! _Tempora mutantur!_ "Nimrod" and his "notables" are all gone. + + "The knights' bones are dust, + And their good swords rust, + Their souls are with the saints, I trust." + +And whereas up to fifty years ago Burford was a rich country town, +famous for the manufacture of paper, malt, and sailcloth--enriched, too, +by the constant passage of numerous coaches stopping on their way from +Oxford to Gloucester--it is now little more than a village--the +quietest, the cleanest, and the quaintest place in Oxfordshire. Perhaps +its citizens are to be envied rather than pitied: + + "bene est cui deus obtulit + Parca, quod satis est, manu." + +Let us go up to the top of the main street, and sit down on the ancient +oak bench high up on the hill, whence we can look down on the old-world +place and get a birdseye view of the quaint houses and the surrounding +country. And now we may exclaim with Ossian, "A tale of the times of +old! The deeds of days of other years!" For yonder, a mile away from the +town, the kings of Mercia and Wessex fought a desperate battle in the +year A.D. 685. Quite recently a tomb was found there containing a stone +coffin weighing nearly a ton. The bones of the warrior who fought and +died there were marvellously complete when disturbed in their +resting-place--in fact, the skeleton was a perfect one. + +"Whose fame is in that dark green tomb? Four stones with their heads of +moss stand there. They mark the narrow house of death. Some chief of +fame is here! Raise the songs of old! Awake their memory in the +tomb." [4] + +[Footnote 4: Ossian.] + +Tradition has it that this was the body of a great Saxon chief, +Aethelhum, the mighty standard-bearer of the Mercian King Ethelbald. It +was in honour of this great warrior that the people of Burford carried a +standard emblazoned with a golden dragon through the old streets on +midsummer eve, annually, for nigh on a thousand years. We are told that +it was only during last century that the custom died out. + +How beautiful are some of the old houses in the broad and stately High +Street! + +The ancient building in the centre of the town is called the "Tolsey"; +it must be more than four hundred years old. The name originated in the +custom of paying tolls due to the lord of the manor in the building. +There are some grand old iron chests here; one of these old boxes +contains many interesting charters and deeds, some of them bearing the +signatures of chancellors Morton, Stephen Gardiner, and Ellesmere. There +are letters from Elizabeth, and an order from the Privy Council with +Arlington's signature attached. "The stocks" used to stand on the north +side of this building, but have lately been removed. Then the houses +opposite the Tolsey are as beautiful as they possibly can be. They are +fifteenth century, and have oak verge-boards round their gables, carved +in very delicate tracery. + +Another house has a wonderful cellar, filled with grandly carved +stonework, like the aisle of a church; this crypt is probably more than +five hundred years old. Perhaps this vaulted Gothic chamber is a remnant +of the old monastery, the site of which is not known. Close by is an +ancient building, now turned into an inn; and this also may have been +part of the dwelling-place of the monks of Burford. From the vaulted +cellar beneath the house, now occupied by Mr. Chandler, ran an +underground passage, evidently connected with some other building. + +How sweetly pretty is the house at the foot of the bridge, as seen from +the High Street above! The following inscription stands out prominently +on the front:-- + + "SYMON WYSDOM ALDERMAN + THE FYRST FOUNDER OR THE SCHOLE + IN BURFORD GAVE THE TENEMENES + IN A.D. 1577." + +The old almshouses on the green by the church have an inscription to +the effect that they were founded by Richard Earl of Warwick (the +kingmaker), in the year 1457. They were practically rebuilt about +seventy years ago; but remnants of beautiful Gothic architecture still +remain in the old stone belfry, and here and there a piece of tracery +has been preserved. In all parts of the town one suddenly alights upon +beautiful bits of carved stone--an Early English gateway in one street, +and lancet doorways to many a cottage in another. Oriel windows are also +plentiful. Behind the almshouses is a cottage with massive buttresses, +and everywhere broken pieces of quaint gargoyles, pinnacles, and other +remnants of Gothic workmanship are to be seen lying about on the walls +and in odd corners. A careful search would doubtless reveal many a fine +piece of tracery in the cottages and buildings. At some period, however, +vandalism has evidently been rampant. Happening to find our way into the +back premises of an ancient inn, we noticed that the coals were heaped +up against a wall of old oak panelling. + +And now we come to the most beautiful piece of architecture in the +place--the magnificent old church. It is grandly situated close to the +banks of the Windrush, and is more like a cathedral than a village +church. The front of the porch is worked with figures representing our +Lord, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. John the Evangelist; but the heads +were unfortunately destroyed in the Civil Wars. Inside the porch the +rich fan-tracery, which rises from the pilasters on each side, is carved +with consummate skill. + +Space does not allow us to dwell on the grandeur of the massive Norman +tower, the great doorway at the western entrance with its splendid +moulding, the quaint low arch leading from nave to chancel, and the +other specimens of Norman work to be seen in all parts of this +magnificent edifice. Nor can we do justice to the glorious nave, with +its roof of oak; nor the aisles and the chancel; nor the beautiful +Leggare chapel, with its oak screen, carved in its upper part in +fifteenth-century tracery, its faded frescoes and ancient altar tomb. +The glass of the upper portion of the great west window and the window +of St Thomas' chapel are indeed "labyrinths of twisted tracery and +starry light" such as would delight the fastidious taste of Ruskin. +Several pages might easily be written in describing the wonderful and +grotesque example of alabaster work known as the Tanfield tomb. The only +regret one feels on gazing at this grand old specimen of the toil of our +simple ancestors is that it is seldom visited save by the natives of +rural Burford, many of whom, alas! must realise but little the +exceptional beauty and stateliness of the lovely old church with which +they have been so familiar all their lives. + +A few years ago Mr. Oman, Fellow of All Souls', Oxford, made a curious +discovery. Whilst going through some documents that had been for many +years in the hands of the last survivor of the ancient corporation, and +being one of the few men in England in a position to identify the +handwriting, he came across a deed or charter signed by "the great +kingmaker" himself; it was in the form of a letter, and had reference +to the gift of almshouses he made to Burford in 1457 A.D. The boldly +written "R.I. Warrewyck" at the end is the only signature of the +kingmaker's known to exist save the one at Belvoir. In this letter +prayers are besought for the founder and the Countess Anne his wife, +whilst attached to it is a seal with the arms of Neville, Montacute, +Despencer, and Beauchamp. + +On the font in the church is a roughly chiselled name: + + "ANTHONY SEDLEY. 1649. Prisner." + +Not only prisoners, but even their _horses_, were shut up in these grand +old churches during the Civil Wars. This Anthony Sedley must have been +one of the three hundred and forty Levellers who were imprisoned here +in 1649. + +The register has the following entry:-- + +"1649. Three soldiers shot to death in Burford Churchyard, buried May +17th." + +Burford was the scene of a good deal of fighting during the Civil Wars. +On January 1st, 1642, in the dead of night, Sir John Byron's regiment +had a sharp encounter with two hundred dragoons of the Parliamentary +forces. A fierce struggle took place round the market cross, during +which Sir John Byron was wounded in the face with a poleaxe. Cromwell's +soldiers, however, were routed and driven out of the town. + +In the parish register is the following entry :-- + +"1642. Robert Varney of Stowe, slain in Burford and buried January 1st. + +"1642. Six soldiers slain in Burford, buried 2nd January. + +"1642. William Junks slain with the shot of musket, buried January 10th. + +"1642. A soldier hurt at Cirencester road was buried." + +Many other entries of the same nature are to be seen in the parish +register. + +The old market cross of Burford has indeed seen some strange things. Mr. +W.J. Monk, to whose "History of Burford" I am indebted for valuable +information, tells us that the penance enjoined on various citizens of +Burford for such crimes as buying a Bible in the year 1521 was as +follows:-- + +"Everyone to go upon a market day thrice about the market of Burford, +and then to stand up upon the highest steps of the cross there, a +quarter of an hour, with a faggot of wood upon his shoulder. + +"Everyone also to beare a faggot of wood before the procession on a +certain Sunday at Burford from the Quire doore going out, to the quire +doore going in, and once to bear a faggot at the burning of a heretic. + +"Also none of them to hide their mark [+] upon their cheek (branded +in)," etc., etc. + +"In the event of refusal, they were to be given up to the civil +authorities to be burnt." + +[Illustration: The Manor-House, Coln St. Aldwyns. 214.png] + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A STROLL THROUGH THE COTSWOLDS. + + "In Gloucestershire + These high, wild hills and rough, uneven ways + Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome." + +_King Richard II_. + +It cannot be said that there are many pleasant walks and drives in the +Cotswold country, because, as a rule, the roads run over the bleak +tableland for miles and miles, and the landscape generally consists of +ploughed fields divided by grey stone walls; the downs I have referred +to at different times are only to be met with in certain districts. Once +upon a time the whole of Cotswold was one vast sheep walk from beginning +to end. It was about a hundred and fifty years ago that the idea of +enclosing the land was started by the first Lord Bathurst. Early in the +eighteenth century he converted a large tract of downland round +Cirencester into arable fields; his example was soon followed by others, +so that by the middle of last century the transformation of three +hundred square miles of downs into wheat-growing ploughed fields had +been accomplished. It is chiefly owing to the depression in agricultural +produce that there are any downs now, for they merely exist because the +tenants have found during the last twenty years that it does not pay to +cultivate their farms, hence they let a large proportion go back +to grass. + +But there is one very pleasant walk in that part of the Cotswolds we +know best, and this takes you up the valley of the Coln to the Roman +villa at Chedworth. + +The distance by road from Fairford to the Chedworth woods is about +twelve miles; and at any time of the year, but more especially in the +spring and autumn, it is a truly delightful pilgrimage. + +And here it is worth our while to consider for a moment how tremendously +the abolition of the stage coach has affected places like Fairford, +Burford, and other Cotswold towns and villages. It was through these +old-world places, past these very walls and gables, that the mail +coaches rattled day after day when they "went down with victory" +conveying the news of Waterloo and Trafalgar into the heart of merry +England. In his immortal essay on "The English Mail Coach," De Quincey +has told us how between the years 1805 and 1815 it was worth paying +down five years of life for an outside place on a coach "going down with +victory." "On any night the spectacle was beautiful. The absolute +perfection of all the appointments about the carriages and the harness, +their strength, their brilliant cleanliness, their beautiful +simplicity--but more than all, the royal magnificence of the +horses--were what might first have fixed the attention. But the night +before us is a night of victory: and behold! to the ordinary display +what a heart-shaking addition! horses, men, carriages, all are dressed +in laurels and flowers, oak leaves and ribbons." The brilliancy of the +royal liveries, the thundering of the wheels, the tramp of those +generous horses, the sounding of the coach horn in the calm evening air, +and last, but not least, the intense enthusiasm of travellers and +spectators alike, as amid such cries as "Salamanca for ever!" "Hurrah +for Waterloo!" they cheered and cheered again, letting slip the dogs of +victory throughout those old English villages,--all these things must +have united the hearts of the classes and masses in one common bond, +rendering such occasions memorable for ever in the hearts of the simple +country folk. In small towns like Burford and Northleach, situated five +or six miles from any railway station, the prosperity and happiness of +the natives has suffered enormously by the decay of the stage coach; and +even in smaller villages the cheering sound of the horn must have been +very welcome, forming as it did a connecting link between these remote +hamlets of Gloucestershire and the great metropolis a hundred +miles away. + +Fairford Church is known far and wide as containing the most beautiful +painted glass of the early part of the sixteenth century to be found +anywhere in England. The windows, twenty-eight in number, are usually +attributed to Albert Dürer; but Mr. J.G. Joyce, who published a treatise +on them some twenty years ago, together with certain other high +authorities, considered them to be of English design and workmanship. +They would doubtless have been destroyed in the time of the Civil Wars +by the Puritans had they not been taken down and hidden away by a member +of the Oldysworth family, whose tomb is in the middle chancel. + +John Tame, having purchased the manor of Fairford in 1498, immediately +set about building the church. He died two years later, and his son +completed the building, and also erected two other very fine churches in +the neighbourhood--those at Rendcombe and Barnsley. He was a great +benefactor to the Cotswold country. Leland tells us that the town of +Fairford never flourished "before the cumming of the Tames into it." + +You may see John Tame's effigy on his tomb, together with that of his +wife, and underneath these pathetic lines: + + "For thus, Love, pray for me. + I may not pray more, pray ye: + With a pater noster and an ave: + That my paynys relessyd be." + +If I remember rightly his helmet and other parts of his armour still +hang on the church wall. Leland describes Fairford as a "praty +uplandish towne," meaning, I suppose, that it is situated on high +ground. It is certainly a delightful old-fashioned place--a very good +type of what the Cotswold towns are like. Chipping-Campden and Burford +are, however, the two most typical Cotswold towns I know. + +In the year 1850 a remarkable discovery was made in a field close to +Fairford. No less than a hundred and fifty skeletons were unearthed, and +with them a large number of very interesting Anglo-Saxon relics, some of +them in good preservation. In many of the graves an iron knife was found +lying by the skeleton; in others the bodies were decorated with bronze +fibulae, richly gilt, and ornamented in front. Mr. W. Wylie, in his +interesting account of these Anglo-Saxon graves, tells us that some of +the bodies were as large as six feet six inches; whilst one or two +warriors of seven feet were unearthed. All the skeletons were very +perfect, even though no signs of any coffins were to be seen. Bronze +bowls and various kinds of pottery, spearheads of several shapes, a +large number of coloured beads, bosses of shields, knives, shears, and +two remarkably fine swords were some of the relics found with the +bodies. A glass vessel, coloured yellow by means of a chemical process +in which iron was utilised, is considered by Mr. Wylie to be of Saxon +manufacture, and not Venetian or Roman, as other authorities hold. + +Whether this is merely an Anglo-Saxon burial-place, or whether the +bodies are those of the warriors who fell in a great battle such as that +fought in A.D. 577, when the Saxons overthrew the Britons and took from +them the cities of Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath, it is impossible +to determine. The natives are firmly convinced that the skeletons +represent the slain in a great battle fought near this spot; but this is +only tradition. At all events, the words of prophecy attributed to the +old Scotch bard Ossian have a very literal application with reference to +this interesting relic of bygone times: "The stranger shall come and +build there and remove the heaped-up earth. An half-worn sword shall +rise before him. Bending above it, he will say, 'These are the arms of +the chiefs of old, but their names are not in song.'" The "heaped-up" +earth has long ago disappeared, for there are no "barrows" now to be +seen. Cottages stand where the old burial mounds doubtless once existed, +and all monumental evidences of those mighty men--the last, perhaps, of +an ancient race--have long since been destroyed by the ruthless hand +of time. + +The manor of Fairford now belongs to the Barker family, to whom it came +through the female line about a century ago. + +We must now leave Fairford, and start on our pilgrimage to the Roman +villa of Chedworth. At present we have not got very far, having lingered +at our starting-point longer than we had intended. The first two miles +are the least interesting of the whole journey; the Coln, broadened out +for some distance to the size of a lake, is hidden from our view by the +tall trees of Fairford Park. It was along this road that John Keble, the +poet used to walk day by day to his cure at Coln-St.-Aldwyns. His home +was at Fairford. Two eminent American artists have made their home in +Fairford during recent years--Mr. Edwin Abbey and Mr. J. Sargent, both +R.A's. Close by, too, at Kelmscott, dwelt William Morris, the poet. + +On reaching Quenington we catch a glimpse of the river, whilst high up +on the hill to our right stands the great pile of Hatherop Castle. This +place, the present owner of which is Sir Thomas Bazley, formerly +belonged to the nunnery of Lacock. After the suppression of the +monasteries it passed through various heiresses to the family of Ashley. +It was practically rebuilt by William Spencer Ponsonby, first Lord de +Mauley; his son, Mr. Ashley Ponsonby, sold it to Prince Duleep Singh, +from whom it passed to the present owner. Sir Thomas Bazley has done +much for the village which is fortunate enough to claim him as a +resident; his estate is a model of what country estates ought to be, +unprofitable though it must have proved as an investment. + +As we pass on through the fair villages of Quenington and +Coln-St.-Aldwyns we cannot help noticing the delightful character of the +houses from a picturesque point of view; in both these hamlets there are +the same clean-looking stone cottages and stone-tiled roofs. Here and +there the newer cottages are roofed with ordinary slate; and this seems +a pity. Nevertheless, there still remains much that is picturesque to be +seen on all sides. Roses grow in every garden, clematis relieves with +its rich purple shade the walls of many a cosy little dwelling-house, +and the old white mills, with their latticed windows and pointed +gables, are a feature of every tiny hamlet through which the +river flows. + + "How gay the habitations that adorn + This fertile valley! Not a house but seems + To give assurance of content within, + Embosom'd happiness, and placid love." + + WORDSWORTH. + +The beautiful gabled house close to the Norman church of +Coln-St.-Aldwyns is the old original manor house. Inside it is an old +oak staircase, besides other interesting relics of the Elizabethan age. +For many years this has been a farmhouse, but it has recently been +restored by its owner, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the present Chancellor +of the Exchequer, who intends to make it his country abode. A piece of +carved stone with four heads was discovered by the workmen engaged in +the restoration, and is to be placed over the front door. It is +doubtless a remnant of an old monastery, and dates back to Norman times. + +Williamstrip House and Park lie on your right-hand side as you leave the +village of "Coln" behind you. This place also belongs to Sir Michael +Hicks-Beach; it has always seemed to us the _beau-ideal_ of an English +home. A medium-sized, comfortable square house of the time of George I., +surrounded by some splendid old trees, in a park not too large, a couple +of miles or so of excellent trout-fishing, very fair shooting, and good +hunting would seem to be a combination of sporting advantages that few +country places enjoy. Williamstrip came into the family of the present +owner in 1784. The three parishes of Hatherop, Quenington, and +Coln-St.-Aldwyns practically adjoin each other. Each has its beautiful +church, the Norman doorways in that of Quenington being well worth a +visit. Close to the church of Quenington are the remnants of an ancient +monastery. + +The "Knights Templar" of Quenington were famous in times gone by. There +is a fine entrance gate and porch on the roadside, which no doubt led to +the abbey. + +There is little else left to remind us of these Knights Templar. Here +and there are an old lancet window or a little piece of Gothic tracery +on an ancient wall, an old worm-eaten roof of oak or a heap of ruined +stones on a moat-surrounded close,--these are all the remnants to be +found of the days of chivalry and the monks of old. + +We have now two rather uneventful miles to traverse between +Coln-St.-Aldwyns and Bibury, for we must once more leave the valley and +set out across the bleak uplands. On the high ground we have the +advantage of splendid bracing air at all events. The hills have a charm +of their own on a fine day, more especially when the fields are full of +golden corn and the old-fashioned Cotswold men are busy among +the sheaves. + +And very soon we get a view which we would gladly have walked twenty +miles to see. Down below us and not more than half a mile away is the +fine old Elizabethan house of Bibury, standing out from a background of +magnificent trees. Close to the house is the grey Norman tower of the +village church, which has stood there for mote than six centuries. +Nestling round about are the old stone-roofed cottages, like those we +have seen in the other villages we have passed through. A broad reach of +the Coln and a grand waterfall enhance the quiet and peaceful beauty of +the scene. But this description falls very short of conveying any +adequate idea of the truly delightful effect which the old grey +buildings set in a framework of wood and water present on a fine +autumnal afternoon. + +Never shall I forget seeing this old place from the hill above during +one September sunset. There was a marvellous glow suffused over the +western sky, infinitely beautiful while it lasted; and immediately below +a silvery mist had risen from the surface of the broad trout stream, and +was hanging over the old Norman tower of the church. Amid the rush of +the waterfall could be heard the distant voices of children in the +village street. Then on a sudden the church clock struck the hour of +six, in deep, solemn tones. Against the russet-tinted woods in the +background the old court house stood out grey and silent under the +shadow of the church tower, preaching as good a sermon as any I +ever heard. + + "An English home, grey twilight poured + On dewy pastures, dewy trees, + Softer than sleep,--all things in order stored, + A haunt of ancient peace." + +Bibury Court is a most beautiful old house. Some of it dates back to +Henry VIII.'s time. The most remarkable characteristic of its interior +is a very fine carved oak staircase. The greater part of this house was +built in the year 1623 by Sir Thomas Sackville. It was long the seat of +the Creswell family, before passing by purchase to the family of the +present owner--Lord Sherborne. The fine old church has some Saxon work +in it, whilst the doorways and many other portions are Norman. Its +delightful simplicity and brightness is what pleases one most. On coming +down into the village, one notices a little square on the left, not at +all like those one sees in London, but very picturesque and clean +looking. In the olden times were to be seen in many villages little +courts of this kind; in the centre of them was usually a great tree, +round which the old people would sit on summer evenings, while the +children danced and played around. Gilbert White speaks of one at +Selborne, which he calls the "Plestor." The original name was +"Pleystow," which means a play place. We have noticed them in many parts +of the Cotswold country. Here, too, children are playing about under the +shade of some delightful trees in the centre of the miniature square, +whilst the variegated foliage sets off the gabled cottages which form +three sides of it. + +I have often wondered, as I stood by these chestnut trees, whether there +is any architecture more perfect in its simplicity and grace than that +which lies around me here. Not a cottage is in sight that is not worthy +of the painter's brush; not a gable or a chimney that would not be +worthy of a place in the Royal Academy. The little square is bordered +for six months of the year with the prettiest of flowers. Even as late +as December you may see roses in bloom on the walls, and chrysanthemums +of varied shade in every garden. Then, as we passed onwards, + + "On the stream's bank, and everywhere, appeared + Fair dwellings, single or in social knots; + Some scattered o'er the level, others perch'd + On the hill-sides--a cheerful, quiet scene." + + WORDSWORTH. + +There is a Gothic quaintness about all the buildings in the Cotswolds, +great and small alike, which is very charming. Bibury is indeed a pretty +village. As you walk along the main street which runs parallel with the +river, an angler is busy "swishing" his rod violently in the air to +"dry" the fly, ere he essays to drop it over the nose of one of the +speckled fario which abound; so be careful to step down off the path +which runs alongside the stream, in case you should put the fish "down" +and spoil the sport. And now on our left, beyond the green, may be seen +a line of gabled cottages called "Arlington Row," a picture of which by +G. Leslie was hung at the Royal Academy this year (1898). + +A few hundred yards on you stop to inspect the spring which rises in the +garden of the Swan Hotel. It has been said that two million gallons a +day is the minimum amount of water poured out by this spring. It +consists of the rain, which, falling on a large area of the hill +country, gradually finds its way through the limestone rocks and +eventually comes out here. It would be interesting to trace the course +of some of these underground rivers; for a torrent of water such as this +cannot flow down through the soft rock without in the course of +thousands of years, producing caves and grottoes and underground +galleries and all the wonders of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, with its +stalactite pillars and fairy avenues and domes--though the Cotswold +caves are naturally on a much smaller scale. At Torquay and on the +Mendip Hills, as everybody knows, there are caves of wondrous beauty, +carved by the water within the living rock. + +Probably within a hundred yards of Bibury spring there are beautiful +hidden caves, such as those funny little "palaeolithic" men lived in a +few thousand years ago; but why there have not been more discoveries of +this nature in this part of the Cotswolds it is difficult to say. There +is a cave hereabouts, men say, but the entrance to it cannot now be +found. There is likewise a Roman villa on the hill here which has not +yet been dug out of its earthy bed. A hundred years ago a large number +of Roman antiquities were discovered near this village. + +We now leave Bibury behind us, and a mile on we pass through the hamlet +of Ablington, which is very like Bibury on a smaller scale, with its +ancient cottages, tithe barns and manor house; its springs of +transparent water, its brook, and wealth of fine old trees. We have no +time to linger in this hamlet to-day, though we would fain pause to +admire the old house. + + "The pillar'd porch, elaborately embossed; + The low, wide windows with their mullions old; + The cornice richly fretted of grey stone; + And that smooth slope from which the dwelling rose + By beds and banks Arcadian of gay flowers, + And flowering shrubs, protected and adorned." + + WORDSWORTH + +After leaving Ablington we once more ascend the hill and make our way +along an old, disused road, probably an ancient British track, in +preference to keeping to the highway--in the first place because it is +by far the shortest, and secondly because we intend to go somewhat out +of our way to inspect two ancient barrows, the resting-place of the +chiefs of old, of whom Ossian (or was it Macpherson?)[5] sang: "If fall +I must in the field, raise high my grave. Grey stones and heaped-up +earth shall mark me to future times. When the hunter shall sit by the +mound and produce his food at noon, 'Some warrior rests here,' he will +say; and my fame shall live in his praise." + +[Footnote 5: In spite of Dr. Johnson and other eminent critics, one +cannot help believing in the genuineness of some of the poems attributed +to Ossian. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating"; and those +wonderful old songs are too wild and lifelike to have had their origin +in the eighteenth century. Macpherson doubtless enlarged upon the +originals, but he must have had a good foundation to work upon.] + +A very large barrow lies about a mile out of our track to the right +hand; as it is somewhat different from the other barrows in the +neighbourhood, we will briefly describe it. It is a "long barrow," with +the two horns at one end that are usually associated with "long" +barrows. In the middle of the curve between these ends stands a great +stone about five feet square, not very unlike our own gravestones, +though worn by the rains of thousands of years. The mound is surrounded +by a double wall of masonry. At the north end, when it was opened forty +years ago, a chamber was found containing human bones. It is supposed +that this mound was the burying-place of a race which dwelt on Cotswold +at least three thousand years ago. From the nature of the stone +implements found, it is conjectured that the people who raised it were +unacquainted with the use of metal. + +Now we will have a look at another barrow a few fields away. This is a +mound of a somewhat later age; for it was raised over the ashes of a +body or bodies that had been cremated. It was probably the Celts who +raised this barrow. The other day it was opened for a distinguished +society of antiquaries to inspect; they found that in the centre were +stones carefully laid, encircling a small chamber, whilst the outer +portions were of ordinary rubble. Nothing but lime-dust and dirt was +found in the chamber; but in the course of thousands of years most of +these barrows have probably been opened a good many times by Cotswold +natives in search of "golden coffins" and other treasures. + +There is a small, round underground chamber within a short distance of +these barrows, which the natives consider to be a shepherd's hut, put up +about two centuries back, and before the country was enclosed, as a +retreat to shelter the men who looked after the flocks. It has been +declared, however, by those who have studied the question of burial +mounds, that it was built in very early times, and contained bodies that +had not been cremated. The antiquaries who came a short time back to +view these remains describe it as "an underground chamber, circular in +shape, and an excellent sample of dry walling. The roof is dome-shaped, +and gradually projects inwards." I narrowly escaped taking this +"society" for a band of poachers; for when out shooting the other day, +somebody remarked, "Look at all those fellows climbing over the wall of +the fox-covert." + +Now the fox-covert is a very sacred institution in these parts; for it +is a place of only four acres, standing isolated in the midst of a fine, +open country--so that no human being is allowed to enter therein save to +"stop the earth" the night before hunting. We rushed up in great haste, +fully prepared for mortal combat with this gang of ruffians, until, when +within a hundred yards, the thought crossed us that we had given leave +to the Cotswold Naturalist Society to make a tour of inspection, and +that one of the barrows was in our fox-covert. + +Labouring friends of mine often bring me relics of the stone age which +they have picked up whilst at work in the fields. Quite recently a +shepherd brought me a knife blade and two flint arrow-heads. He also +tells me they have lately found a "himmige" up in old Mr. Peregrine's +"barn-ground." Tom Peregrine possesses a bag of old coins of all dates +and sizes, which he tells you with great pride have been an heirloom in +his family for generations. + +When we once more resume our pilgrimage along the track which leads to +Chedworth we find ourselves in a country which is never explored by the +tourist. Far removed from railways and the "busy haunts of men," it is +not even mentioned in the guide-books. Our way lies along the edge of +the hill for the next few miles, and we look down upon the picturesque +valley of the Coln. Four villages, all very like those we have +described, are passed in rapid succession. Winson, Coln Rogers, +Coln-St.-Dennis, and Fossbridge all lie below us as we wend our way +westwards. But although the architecture is of the same massive yet +graceful style, and the old Norman churches still tower their grand old +heads and cast their shadows over the cottages and farm buildings, there +are no manor houses of note in any of these four villages, and no +well-timbered demesnes; so that they are not so interesting as some of +those we have passed through. In all, however, there dwell the good old +honest labouring folk, toiling hard day by day at "the trivial round, +the common task," just earning enough to scrape up a livelihood, but +enjoying few of the amenities of life. The village parsons--good, pious +men--share in the quiet, uneventful life of their flock. And who shall +contemn their lot? As Horace tells us: + + "Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum + Splendet in mensa tenui salinum + Nec leves somnos timor aut cupido + Sordidus aufert." + +These four villages were all built two centuries or more ago, when the +Cotswolds were the centre of much life and activity and the days of +agricultural depression were not known. When we look down on their old, +grey houses nestling among the great trees which thrive by the banks of +the fertilising stream, we cannot but speculate on their future fate. +Gradually the population diminishes, as work gets scarcer and scarcer. +Unless there is an unexpected revival in prices through some measure of +"protection" being granted by law, or the medium of a great European +war, or some such far-reaching dispensation of Providence, terrible to +think of for those who live to see it, but with all its possibilities of +"good arising out of evil" for future generations, these old villages +will contain scarcely a single inhabitant in a hundred year's time. This +part of the Cotswold country will once more become a huge open plain, +retaining only long rows of tumbled-down stone walls as evidences of its +former enclosed state; no longer on Sundays will the notes of the +beautiful bells call the toilers to prayer and thanksgiving, and all +will be desolation. If only the capitalist or wealthy man of business +would take up his abode in these places, all might be well. But, alas! +the peace and quiet of such out-of-the-way spots, with all their +fascinating contrast to the smoke and din of a manufacturing town, have +little attraction for those who are unused to them. And yet there is +much happiness and content in these rural villages. The lot of those who +are able to get work is a thousand times more supportable than that of +the toiling millions in our great cities. There is less drinking and +less vice among these villagers than there is in any part of this world +that we are acquainted with; consequently you find them cheerful, +good-humoured, and, if they only knew it, happy. Grumble they must, or +they would not be mortal. Ah! if they could but realise the blessings of +the elixir of life--pure air, and fresh, clear, spring water, and +sunshine--three inestimable privileges that they enjoy all the year +round, and which are denied to so many of the inhabitants of this +globe--there would be little grumbling in the Cotswolds. + + "From toil he wins his spirits light, + From busy day the peaceful night; + Rich from the very want of wealth + In heaven's best treasures, peace and health." + + GRAY. + +"But these villages are so _dull_, and life is so monotonous there," is +the constant complaint. But what part of this earth is there, may I ask, +that is not dull to those who live there, unless we drive out dull care +and _ennui_ by that glorious antidote to gloom and despondency, a fully +occupied mind? There are two chapters in Carlyle's "Past and Present" +that ought to be printed in letters of gold, set in an ivory frame, and +hung up in the sleeping apartment of every man, woman, and child on the +face of this earth. They are called "Labour" and "Reward." In those few +short pages is embodied the whole secret of content and happiness for +the dwellers in quiet country villages and smoky towns alike. They +contain the philosopher's stone, which makes men cheerful under all +circumstances, but especially those who are poor and down-trodden. The +secret is a very simple one; but if the educated classes are continually +losing sight of it, how much easier is it for those who have only the +bare necessaries of life and few of the comforts to become deadened to +its influence! It lies first of all in the realisation of the fact that +the object of life is not to get, still less to enjoy, riches and +pleasure. It teaches for the thousandth time that the humblest and the +highest of us alike are immortal souls imprisoned for threescore years +and ten in a tenement of clay, preparing for a better and higher +existence. It reverses the position of things on earth--placing the +crown of kings on the head of the toiling labourer, and making "the last +first and the first last." Its very essence lies in the dictum of the +old monks, "_Laborare est orare_" ("Work is worship"). + +It was one of the chief characteristics of the Roman people in the time +of their greatness that their most successful generals were content to +return to the plough after their wars were over. Thus Pliny in his +"Natural History" remarks as follows: "Then were the fields cultivated +by the hands of the generals themselves, and the earth rejoiced, tilled +as it was by a ploughshare crowned with laurels, he who guided the wheel +being himself fresh from glorious victories." And no sooner did honest +hand labour become despised than effeminacy crept in, and this once +haughty nation was practically blotted out from the face of the earth. + +Let the Cotswold labourer realise that to work on the land, ploughing +and reaping, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, come weal, come +woe, is no mean destiny for an honest man; there is scope for the +display of a noble and generous spirit in the beautiful green fields as +well as in the smoky atmosphere of the east end of London, in a +Birmingham factory, or a Warrington forge. + +"What is the meaning of nobleness?" asks Carlyle. "In a valiant +suffering for others did nobleness ever lie. Every noble crown is, and +on earth will for ever be, a crown of thorns. All true work is sacred. +In all true work, were it but true hand labour, there is something of +divineness. Sweat of the brow; and up from that to sweat of the brain, +sweat of the heart; up to that 'agony of bloody sweat' which all men +have called divine. Oh, brother, if this is not worship, then, I say, +the more pity for worship: for this is the noblest thing yet discovered +under God's sky. Who art thou that complainest of thy life of toil? +Complain not. Look up, my wearied brother; see thy fellow workmen there +in God's eternity surviving those, they alone surviving; peopling, they +alone, the unmeasured solitudes of Time. To thee Heaven, though severe, +is not unkind. Heaven is kind, as a noble mother; as that Spartan +mother, saying, while she gave her son his shield, 'With it, my son, or +upon it, thou, too, shalt return home in honour--to thy far distant home +in honour--doubt it not--if in the battle thou keep thy shield!' Thou in +the eternities and deepest death kingdoms art not an alien; thou +everywhere art a denizen. Complain not; the very Spartans did not +complain." + +Would that the toiling labourer in the Cotswolds and in our great smoky +cities might keep these words continually before him, so that he might +grasp, not merely the secret of content and happiness in this life, but +the golden key to the immeasurable blessings of "the sure and certain +hope" of that life which is to come! Then shall he hear the words: + + "King, thou wast called Conqueror; + In every battle thou bearest the prize." + +Conqueror will he be in life's battle if he follow in the footsteps of +the Spartan of old or of Wordsworth's "Happy Warrior": + + "Who, doomed to go in company with pain, + And fear, and bloodshed--miserable train!-- + Turns his necessity to glorious gain." + +Finally, the countryman who feels discontented with his lot--and there +are few indeed who do not occasionally pine for a change of +employment--should go on a railway journey through "the black country" +at night, and mark the fierce light that reddens the murky skies as the +factory fires send forth their livid flames and clouds of sooty smoke. +He should watch the swarms of long-suffering human beings going to and +fro and in and out like busy bees around their hive, toiling, ever +toiling, round about the blazing fires. He should spend an hour in the +streets of Birmingham, where, as I passed through one fine September +morning recently on my way to Ireland, the atmosphere was darkened and +the human lungs stifled by a thick yellow fog. Or he should go down to +the engine-room of a mighty liner, when it is doing its twenty knots +across the seas, and then think of his own life in the happy hamlets and +the fresh, green fields of our English country. + + * * * * * + +Coming once more down the hill into the valley of the Coln, we must +cross the old Roman road known as the Fossway, follow the course of the +stream, and, about a mile beyond the snug little village of Fossbridge, +we reach the great woods of Chedworth. + +These coverts form part of the property of Lord Eldon. His house of +Stowell stands well up on the hill. It is a grey, square building of +some size, placed so as to catch all the sun and the breezes too,--very +much more healthy and bright than most of the old houses we have passed, +which were built much too low down in the valley, where the winter +sunbeams seldom penetrate and the river mists rise damp and cold at +night. As we walk along the drive which leads through the woods to the +Roman villa, any amount of rabbits and pheasants are to be seen. And +here take place annually some of those big shoots which ignorant people +are so fond of condemning as unsportsmanlike, simply because they have +not the remotest idea what they are talking about. Why it should be +cruel to kill a thousand head in a day instead of two hundred on five +separate days, one fails to understand. As a matter of fact, the bigger +the "shoot" the less cruelty takes place, because bad shots are not +likely to be present on these occasions, whilst in small "shoots" they +are the rule rather than the exception. Instead of birds and ground game +being wounded time after time, at big _battues_ they are killed stone +dead by some well-known and acknowledged good shot. To see a real +workman knocking down rocketer after rocketer at a height which would be +considered impossible by half the men who go but shooting is to witness +an exhibition of skill and correct timing which can only be attained by +the most assiduous practice and the quickest of eyes. No, it is the +pottering hedgerow shooter, generally on his neighbour's boundary, who +is often unsportsmanlike. We know one or two who would have no +hesitation in shooting at a covey of partridges on the ground, when they +were within shot of the boundary hedge; and if they wounded three or +four and picked them up, they would carry them home fluttering and +gasping, because they are too heartless to think of putting the wretched +creatures out of their sufferings. + +The extensive Roman remains discovered some years ago in the heart of +this forest doubtless formed the country house of some Roman squire. +They are well away from the river bank, and about three parts of the way +up the sloping hillside. The house faced as nearly as possible +south-east. In this point, as in many others, the Romans showed their +superiority of intellect over our ancestors of Elizabethan and other +days. Nowadays we begin to realise that houses should be built on high +ground, and that the aspect that gives most sun in winter is south-east. +The old Romans realised this fifteen hundred years ago. In other words, +our ancestors in the dark ages were infinitely behind the Romans in +intellect, and we are just reaching their standard of common sense. The +characteristics of the interior of these old dwellings are simplicity +combined with refinement and good taste. And it is worthy of remark that +the men who are ahead of the thought and feeling of the present day are +crying out for more simplicity in our homes and furniture, as well as +for more refinement and real architectural merit. No useless luxuries +and nick-nacks, but plenty of public baths, and mosaic pavements +laboriously put together by hard hand labour,--these are the points that +Ruskin and the Romans liked in common. + +With this grandly timbered valley spread beneath them, no more suitable +spot on which to build a house could anywhere be found. And though the +Romans who inhabited this villa could not from its windows see the sun +go down in the purple west, emblematic of that which was shortly to set +over Rome, they could see the glorious dawn of a new day--boding forth +the dawn that was already brightening over England, even as "The old +order changeth, yielding place to new";--and they could see the +splendours of the moon rising in the eastern sky. + +The principal apartment in this Roman country house measures about +thirty feet by twenty; it was probably divided into two parts, forming +the dining-room and drawing-room as well. The tessellated pavements are +wonderfully preserved, though not quite so perfect as a few others that +have been found in England. With all their beautiful colouring they are +merely formed of different shades of local stone, together with a little +terra-cotta. Perhaps these pavements, with their rich mellow tints of +red sandstone, and their shades of white, yellow, brown, and grey, +afforded by different varieties of limestone, are examples of the most +perfect kind of work which the labours of mankind, combined with the +softening influences of time, are able to produce. In one corner the +design is that of a man with a rabbit in his hand; and no doubt there +were lots of rabbits in these woods in those days, as well as deer and +other wild animals long since extinct. + +In these woods of Chedworth the rose bay willow herbs grow taller and +finer than is their wont elsewhere. In every direction they spring up in +hundreds, painting the woodlands with a wondrously rich purple glow. +Here, too, the bracken thrives, and many a fine old oak tree spreads its +branches, revelling in the clay soil. On the limestone of the Cotswolds +oaks are seldom seen; but wherever a vein of clay is found, there will +be the oaks and the bracken. Every forest tree thrives hereabouts; and +in the open spaces that occur at intervals in the forest there grow such +masses of wild flowers as are nowhere else to be seen in the Cotswold +district. White spiraea, or meadow-sweet, crowds into every nook and +corner of open ground, raising its graceful stems in almost tropical +luxuriance by the brook-side. Campanula and the blue geranium or meadow +crane's-bill, with flowers of perfect blue, grow everywhere amid the +white blossoms of the spiraea. St John's wort, with its star-shaped +golden flowers, white and red campion, and a host of others, are larger +and more beautiful on the rich loam than they are on the stony hills. +Even the lily-of-the-valley thrives here. + +In the bathroom may be seen an excellent example of the hypocaust--an +ingenious contrivance, by means of which the rooms were heated with hot +air, which passed along beneath the floors. + +In the museum are portions of the skulls of men and of oxen, the +antlers of red deer, oyster shells, knives, spear-heads, arrow-heads, +bits of locks with keys, and excellent horseshoes, not to speak of such +things as bronze spurs, spoons, part of a Roman weighing-machine, and a +splendid pair of compasses. There are pieces of earthenware with +potter's marks on them, and red tiles bearing unmistakable marks of +fingering, as well as footprints of dogs and goats; these impressions +must have been made when the tiles were in a soft state. But the most +interesting relics are three freestone slabs, on which are inscribed the +Greek letters [Greek: chi] and [Greek: rho]. It was Mr. Lysons who first +noticed this evidence of ancient faith, and he is naturally of the +opinion that the sacred inscription proves that the builder was a +Christian. Another stone in this collection has the word "PRASIATA" +roughly chiselled on it. + +There was a British king, by name Prasutagus, said to have been a +Christian, and possibly it was this man who built the old house in the +midst of the Chedworth woods. A mile beyond this interesting relic of +Roman times is the manor house of Cassey Compton, built by Sir Richard +Howe about the middle of the seventeenth century. It stands on the banks +of the Coln, and in olden times was approached by a drawbridge and +surrounded by a moat. The farmer by whom it is inhabited tells me that, +judging by the fish-ponds situated close by, he imagines it was once a +monastery. This was undoubtedly the case, for we find in Fozbrooke that +the Archbishop of York had license to "embattle his house" here in the +reign of Edward I. + +A mosaic pavement, discovered here about 1811, was placed in the +British Museum. + +It is very sad to come upon these remote manor houses in all parts of +the Cotswold district, and to find that their ancient glory is departed, +even though their walls are as good as they were two hundred years ago, +when the old squires lived their jovial lives, and those halls echoed +the mirth and merriment which characterised the life of "the good old +English gentleman, all of the olden time." + +Other fine old houses in this immediate district which have not been +mentioned are Ampney Park, a Jacobean house containing an oak-panelled +apartment, with magnificently carved ceiling and fine stone fireplace; +Barnsley and Sherborne, partly built by Inigo Jones; Missarden, +Duntisborne Abbots, Kemble, and Barrington. Rendcombe is a modern house +of some size, built rather with a view to internal comfort than external +grace and symmetry. + +[Illustration: Village cricketers 242.png] + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +COTSWOLD PASTIMES. + +It is not surprising that in those countries which abound in sunshine +and fresh, health-giving air, the inhabitants will invariably be found +to be not only keen sportsmen, but also accomplished experts in all the +games and pastimes for which England has long been famous. Given good +health and plenty of work mankind cannot help being cheerful and +sociably inclined; for this reason we have christened the district of +which we write the "Merrie Cotswolds." From time immemorial the country +people have delighted in sports and manly exercises. On the north wall +of the nave in Cirencester Church is a representation of the ancient +custom of Whitsun ale. The Whitsuntide sports were always a great +speciality on Cotswold, and continue to the present day, though in a +somewhat modified form. + +The custom portrayed in the church of Cirencester was as follows:-- + +The villagers would assemble together in one of the beautiful old barns +which are so plentiful in every hamlet. Two of them, a boy and a girl, +were then chosen out and appointed Lord and Lady of the Yule. These are +depicted on the church wall; and round about them, dressed in their +proper garb, are pages and jesters, standard-bearer, purse-bearer, +mace-bearer, and a numerous company of dancers. + +The reason that a representation of this very secular custom is seen in +the church probably arises from the fact that the Church ales were +feasts instituted for the purpose of raising money for the repair of the +church. The churchwardens would receive presents of malt from the +farmers and squires around; they sold the beer they brewed from it to +the villagers, who were obliged to attend or else pay a fine. + +The church house--a building still to be seen in many villages--was +usually the scene of the festivities. + +The "Diary of Master William Silence" tells us that the quiet little +hamlets presented an unusually gay appearance on these memorable +occasions. "The village green was covered with booths. There were +attractions of various kinds. The churchwardens had taken advantage of +the unusual concourse of strangers as the occasion of a Church ale. +Great barrels of ale, the product of malt contributed by the +parishioners according to their several abilities, were set abroach in +the north aisle of the church, and their contents sold to the public. +This was an ordinary way of providing for church expenses, against which +earnest reformers inveighed, but as yet in vain so far as Shallow was +concerned. The church stood conveniently near the village green, and the +brisk trade which was carried on all day was not interrupted by the +progress of divine service." The parson's discourse, however, appears to +have suffered some interruption by reason of the numbers who crowded +into the aisles to patronise the churchwardens' excellent ale. + +In the reign of James I. one, Robert Dover, revived the old Olympic +games on Cotswold. Dover's Hill, near Weston-under-Edge, was called +after him. + +These sports included horse-racing, coursing, cock-fighting, and such +games as quoits, football, skittles, wrestling, dancing, jumping in +sacks, and all the athletic exercises. + +The "Annalia Dubrensia" contain many verses about these sports by the +hand of Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, and others. + + "On Cotteswold Hills there meets + A greater troop of gallants than Rome's streets + E'er saw in Pompey's triumphs: beauties, too, + More than Diana's beavie of nymphs could show + On their great hunting days." + +That hunting was practised here in these days is evident, for Thomas +Randall, of Cambridge, writes in the same volume: + + "Such royal pastimes Cotteswold mountains fill, + When gentle swains visit Anglonicus hill, + When with such packs of hounds they hunting go + As Cyrus never woon'd his bugle to." + +Fozbrooke tells us that the Whitsuntide sports are the _floralia_ of the +Romans. They are still a great institution in all parts of the +Cotswolds, though Church ales, like cock-fighting and other barbaric +amusements, have happily long since died out. + +Golf and archery are popular pastimes in the merry Cotswolds. It is +somewhat remarkable that this district has produced in recent years the +amateur lady champions of England in each of these fascinating pastimes, +Lady Margaret Scott, of Stowell, being _facile princeps_ among lady +golfers, whilst Mrs. Christopher Bowly, of Siddington, even now holds +the same position in relation to the ancient practice of archery. + +The ancient art of falconry is still practised in these parts. Thirty +years ago, when Duleep Singh lived at Hatherop, hawking on the downs was +one of his chief amusements. But the only hawking club hereabouts that +we know of is at Swindon, in Wiltshire. + +Coursing is as popular as ever among the Cotswold farmers. These hills +have always been noted for the sport. Drayton tells us that the prize at +the coursing meetings held on the Cotswolds in his day was a +silver-studded collar. Shakespeare, in his _Merry Wives of Windsor_ +alludes to the coursing on "Cotsall." There is an excellent club at +Cirencester. The hares in this district are remarkably big and +strong-running. The whole district lends itself particularly to this +sport, owing to the large fields and fine stretches of open downs. + + + +CRICKET. + +In an agricultural district such as the Cotswolds it is inevitable that +the game of cricket should be somewhat neglected. Men who work day after +day in the open air, and to whom a half-holiday is a very rare +experience, naturally seek their recreations in less energetic fashion +than the noble game of cricket demands of its votaries. The class who +derive most benefit from this game spring as a rule from towns and +manufacturing centres and those whose work and interests confine them +indoors the greater part of their time. Among the Cotswold farmers, +however, a great deal of interest is shown; the scores of county matches +are eagerly pursued in the daily papers; and if there is a big match on +at Cheltenham or any other neighbouring town, a large number invariably +go to see it. There is some difficulty in finding suitable sites for +your ground in these parts, for the hill turf is very stony and shallow; +it is not always easy to find a flat piece of ground handy to the +villages. A cricket ground is useless to the villagers if it is perched +up on the hill half a mile away. It must be at their doors; and even +then, though they may occasionally play, they will never by any chance +trouble to roll it. We made a ground in the valley of the Coln some +years ago, and went to some expense in the way of levelling, filling up +gravel pits, and removing obstructions like cowsheds; but unless we had +looked after it ourselves and made preparations for a match, it would +have soon gone back to its original rough state again. And yet two of +the young Peregrines in the village are wonderfully good cricketers, and +as "keen as mustard" about it; though when it comes to rolling and +mowing the ground they are not quite as keen. They will throw you over +for a match in the most unceremonious way if, when the day comes, they +don't feel inclined to play. We have often tried to persuade these two +young fellows to become professional cricketers, there being such a poor +prospect in the farming line; but they have not the slightest ambition +to play for the county, though they are quite good enough; so they +"waste their sweetness on the desert air." + +Old Mr. Peregrine, a man of nearly eighty years of age, is splendid fun +when he is watching his boys play cricket. He goes mad with excitement; +and if you take them off bowling, however much the batsmen appear to +relish their attack, he won't forgive you for the rest of the day. + +His eldest son, Tom--our old friend the keeper--generally stands umpire; +he is not so useful to his side as village umpires usually are, because +he hasn't got the moral courage to give his side "in" when he knows +perfectly well they are "out." The other day, however, he made a slight +error; for, on being appealed to for the most palpable piece of +"stumping" ever seen in the cricket field, the ball bouncing back on to +the wicket from the wicket-keeper's pads while the batsman was two yards +out of his ground, he said, "Not out; it hit the wicket-keeper's pads." +He imagined he was being asked whether the batsman had been bowled, and +it never occurred to him that you could be "stumped out" in this way. +Altogether, Cotswold cricket is great fun. + +The district is full of memories of the prehistoric age, and in certain +parts of the country _prehistoric_ cricket is still indulged in. Never +shall I forget going over to Edgeworth with the Winson Cricket XI. to +play a _grand_ match at that seat of Roman antiquities. The carrier +drove us over in his pair-horse brake--a rickety old machine, with a +pony of fourteen hands and a lanky, ragged-hipped old mare over sixteen +hands high in the shafts together. A most useful man in the field was +the honest carrier, whether at point or at any other place where the +ball comes sharp and quick; for, to quote Shakespeare, + + "he was a man + Of an unbounded stomach." + +The rest of our team included the jovial miller; two of the village +carpenter's sons--excellent folk; the village curate, who captained the +side, and stood six feet five inches without his cricket shoes; one or +two farmers; a footman, and a somewhat fat and apoplectic butler. + +The colours mostly worn by the Winson cricketers are black, red, and +gold--a Zingaric band inverted (black on top); their motto I believe to +be "Tired, though united." + +As the ground stands about eight hundred feet above sea level, all of +us, but especially the fat butler, found considerable difficulty in +getting to the top of the hill, after the brake had set us down at the +village public. But once arrived, a magnificent view was to be had, +extending thirty miles and more across the wolds to the White Horse Hill +in Berkshire. However, we had not come to admire the view so much as to +play the game of cricket. We therefore proceeded to look for the pitch. +It was known to be in the field in which we stood, because a large red +flag floated at one end and proclaimed that somewhere hereabouts was the +scene of combat. It was the fat butler, I think, who, after sailing +about in a sea of waving buttercups like a veritable Christopher +Columbus, first discovered the stumps among the mowing grass. + +Evident preparations had been made either that morning or the previous +night for a grand match; a large number of sods of turf had been taken +up and hastily replaced on that portion of the wicket where the ball is +supposed to pitch when it leaves the bowler's hand. There had been no +rain for a month, but just where the stumps were stuck a bucket or two +of water had been dashed hastily on to the arid soil; while, to crown +all, a chain or rib roller--a ghastly instrument used by agriculturists +for scrunching up the lumps and bumps on the ploughed fields, and +pulverising the soil--had been used with such effect that the surface of +the pitch to the depth of about an inch had been reduced to dust. + +In spite of this we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Delightful +old-fashioned people, both farmers and labourers, were playing against +us; quaint (I use the word in its true sense) and simple folk, who +looked as if they had been dug up with the other Saxon and Roman +antiquities for which Edgeworth is so famous. + +I was quite certain that the man who bowled me out was a direct +descendant of Julius Caesar. He delivered the ball underhand at a rapid +rate. It came twisting along, now to the right, now to the left; seemed +to disappear beneath the surface of the soil, then suddenly came in +sight again, shooting past the block. Eventually they told me it removed +the left bail, and struck the wicket-keeper a fearful blow on the chest. +It was generally agreed that such a ball had never been bowled before. +"'Twas a _pretty_ ball!" as Tom Peregrine pronounced it, standing umpire +in an enormous wideawake hat and a white coat reaching down to his +knees, and smoking a bad cigar. "A very pretty ball," said my fellow +batsman at the other wicket "A d--d pretty ball," I reiterated _sotto +voce_, as I beat a retreat towards the flag in the corner of the field, +which served as a pavilion. + +When I went on to bowl left-handed "donkey-drops," Tom Peregrine (my own +servant, if you please) was very nearly no-balling me. "For," said he, +"I 'ate that drabby-handed business; it looks so awkid. Muddling work, I +calls it." But I am anticipating. + +As I prepared myself for the fray, and carefully donned a pair of +well-stuffed pads and an enormously thick woollen jersey for protection, +not so much against the cold as against the "flying ball," it flashed +across me that I was about to personify the immortal Dumkins of Pickwick +fame; whilst in my companion, the stout butler, it was impossible not +to detect the complacent features and rounded form of Mr. Podder. Up to +a certain point the analogy was complete. Let the Winson Invincibles +equal the All Muggleton C.C., while the Edgeworth Daisy Cutters shall be +represented by Dingley Dell; then sing us, thou divine author of +Pickwick, the glories of that never-to-be-forgotten day. + +"All Muggleton had the first innings, and the interest became intense +when Mr. Dumkins and Mr. Podder--two of the most renowned members of +that distinguished club--walked bat in hand to their respective wickets. +Mr. Luffy, the highest ornament of Dingley Dell, was pitched to bowl +against the redoubtable Dumkins, and Mr. Struggles was selected to do +the same kind office for the hitherto unconquered Podder...The umpires +were stationed behind the wickets [Tom Peregrine had been suborned for +Winson, and proved the most useful man on the side], the scorers were +prepared to notch the runs. A breathless silence ensued. Mr. Luffy +retired a few paces behind the wicket of the passive Podder, and applied +the ball to his right eye for several seconds. Dumkins [the author] +confidently awaited its coming with his eyes fixed on the motions of Mr. +Luffy. 'Play!' suddenly cried the bowler. The ball flew from his hand +straight and swift towards the centre stump of the wicket. The wary +Dumkins was on the alert; it fell upon the tip of his bat...." + +Here, with deep sorrow, let it be stated that the writer failed to +evince the admirable skill displayed by his worthy prototype; the +Dumkins of grim reality was unable to compete with the Dumkins of +fiction. Instead of "sending the ball far away over the heads of the +scouts; who just stooped low enough to let it fly over them," I caught +it just as it pitched on a rabbit-hole, and sent it straight up into the +air like a soaring rocket. "Right, right, I have it!" yelled bowler and +wicket-keeper simultaneously. "Run two, Podder; they'll never catch it!" +shouted Dumkins with all his might. "Catch it in your 'at, Bill!" +screamed the Edgeworth eleven. Never was such confusion! I was already +starting for the second run, whilst my stout fellow batsman was halfway +through the first, when the ball came down like a meteor, and, narrowly +shaving the luckless "Podder's" head, hit the ground with a loud thud +about five yards distant from the outstretched hands of the anxious +bowler, who collided with his ally, the wicket-keeper, in the middle of +the pitch. Half stunned by the shock, and disappointed at his want of +success in his attempt to "judge" the catch, the bowler had yet presence +of mind enough to seize the ball and hurl it madly at the stumps. But +the wicket-keeper being still _hors de combat_, it flew away towards the +spectators, and buried itself among the mowing grass. "Come six, +Podder!" I shouted, amid cries of "Keep on running!" "Run it out!" etc., +from spectators and scouts alike. And run we did, for the umpire forgot +to call "lost ball," and we should have been running still but for the +ingenuity of one of our opponents; for, whilst all were busily engaged +in searching among the grass, a red-faced yokel stole up unawares, with +an innocent expression on his face, raced poor "Podder" down the pitch, +produced the ball from his trouser pocket, and knocked off the bails in +the nick of time. "Out," says Peregrine, amid a roar of laughter from +the whole field; and Mr. "Podder" had to go. + +Now came the question how many runs should be scored, for I had passed +my fellow batsman in the race, having completed seven runs to his five. +Eventually it was decided to split the difference and call it a sixer; +the suggestion of a member of our side that seven should be scored to me +and five to Mr. "Podder" (making twelve in all) being rejected after +careful consideration. + +Thus, from the first ball bowled in this historic match there arose the +whole of the remarkable events recorded above. Therein is shown the +complete performances with the bat of two renowned cricketers; for, alas +I in once more trying to play up to the form of Dumkins, I was bowled +"slick" the very next ball, "as hath been said or sung." + +There was much good-natured chaff flying about during the match, but no +fighting and squabbling, save when a boundary hit was made, when the +batsman always shouted "Three runs," and the bowler "No, only one." The +scores were not high; but I remember that we won by three runs, that the +carpenter's son got a black eye, that we had tea in an old manor house +turned into an inn, and drove home in the glow of a glorious sunset, not +entirely displeased with our first experience of "prehistoric" cricket. + +Some of the pleasantest matches we have ever taken part in have been +those at Bourton-on-the-Water. Owing to the very soft wicket which he +found on arriving, this place was once christened by a well-known +cricketer _Bourton-on-the-Bog_. Indeed, it is often a case of +Bourton-_under_-the-Water; but, in spite of a soft pitch, there is great +keenness and plenty of good-tempered rivalry about these matches. +Bourton is a truly delightful village. The Windrush, like the Coln at +Bibury, runs for some distance alongside of the village street. + +The M.C.C., or "premier club"--as the sporting press delight to call the +famous institution at Lord's--generally get thoroughly well beaten by +the local club. For so small a place they certainly put a wonderfully +strong team into the field; on their own native "bog" they are fairly +invincible, though we fancy on the hard-baked clay at Lord's their +bowlers would lose a little of their cunning. + +In the luncheon tent at Bourton there are usually more wasps than are +ever seen gathered together in one place; they come in thousands from +their nests in the banks of the Windrush. + +If you are playing a match there, it is advisable to tuck your trousers +into your socks when you sit down to luncheon. This, together with the +fact that the tent has been known to blow down in the middle of +luncheon, makes these matches very lively and amusing. What more lively +scene could be imagined than a large tent with twenty-two cricketers and +a few hundred wasps hard at work eating and drinking; then, on the tent +suddenly collapsing, the said cricketers and the said wasps, mixed up +with chairs, tables, ham, beef, salad-dressing, and apple tart, and the +various ingredients of a cricket lunch, all struggling on the floor, and +striving in vain to find their way out as best they can? Fortunately, on +the only occasion that the tent blew down when we were present, it was +not a good wasp year. + +Besides the matches at Bourton, there is plenty of cricket at +Cirencester, Northleach, and other centres in the Cotswolds. The "hunt" +matches are great institutions, even though hunting people as a rule do +not care for cricket, and invariably drop a catch. A good sportsman and +excellent fellow has lately presented a cup to be competed for by the +village clubs of this district. This, no doubt, will give a great +impetus to the game amongst all classes; our village club has already +been revived in order to compete. Our only fear with regard to the cup +competition is that when you get two elevens on to a ground, and two +umpires, none of whom know the rules (for cricket laws are the most +"misunderstandable" things in creation), the final tie will degenerate +into a free fight. + +Be this as it may, anything that can make the greatest pastime of this +country popular in the "merrie Cotswolds" is a step in the right +direction. It is pleasing to watch boys and men hard at work practising +on summer evenings. The rougher the ground the more they like it. +Scorning pads and gloves, they "go in" to bat, and make Herculean +efforts to hit the ball. And this, with fast bowling and the bumpy +nature of the pitch, is a very difficult thing to do. They play on, long +after sunset,--the darker it gets, and the more dangerous to life and +limb the game becomes, the happier they are. We are bound to admit that +when we play with them, a good pitch is generally prepared. It would be +bad policy to endeavour to compete in the game they play, as we should +merely expose ourselves to ridicule, and one's reputation as the man who +has been known "to play in the papers," as they are accustomed to call +big county matches, would very soon be entirely lost. + +I was much amused a few years ago, on arriving home after playing for +Somersetshire in some cricket matches, when Tom Peregrine made up to me +with "a face like a benediction," and asked if I was the gentleman who +had been playing "in the papers." + +While on the subject of cricket, for some time past we have made +experiments of all sorts of cricket grounds, and have come to the +conclusion that the following is the best recipe to prepare a pitch on a +dry and bumpy ground. A week before your match get a wheelbarrow full of +clay, and put it into a water-cart, or any receptacle for holding water. +Having mixed your clay with water, keep pouring the mixture on to your +pitch, taking care that the stones and gravel which sink to the bottom +do not fall out. When you have emptied your water-cart, get some more +clay and water, and continue pouring it on to the ground until you have +covered a patch about twenty-two yards long and three yards wide, always +remembering not to empty out the sediment at the bottom of the +water-cart, for this will spoil all. Then, setting to work with your +roller, roll the clay and water into the ground. Never mind if it picks +up on to the roller: a little more water will soon put that to rights. +After an hour's rolling you will have a level and true cricket pitch, +requiring but two or three days' sun to make it hard and true as +asphalt. You may think you have killed the grass; but if you water your +pitch in the absence of rain the day after you have played on it, the +grass will not die. It is chiefly in Australia that cricket grounds are +treated in this way; they are dressed with mud off the harbours, and +rolled simultaneously. Such grounds are wonderfully true and durable. + +If the pitch is naturally a clay one, it might be sufficient to use +water only, and roll at the same time; but for renovating a worn clay +pitch, a little strong loamy soil, washed in with water and rolled down +will fill up all the "chinks" and holes. It will make an old pitch as +good as new. + +The reason that nine out of ten village grounds are bad and bumpy is +that they are not rolled soon enough after rain or after being watered. +Roll and water them simultaneously, and they will be much improved. + +Another excellent plan is to soak the ground with clay and water, and +leave it alone for a week or ten days before rolling. Permanent benefit +will be done to the soil by this method. For golf greens and lawn-tennis +courts situated on light soil, loam is an indispensable dressing. Any +loamy substance will vastly improve the texture of a light soil and the +quality of the herbage. Yet it is most difficult to convince people of +this fact. We have known cases in which hundreds of pounds have been +expended on cricket grounds and golf greens when an application of clay +top-dressing would have put the whole thing to rights at the cost of a +few shillings. One committee had artificial wells made on every "putting +green" of their golf course, in order to have water handy for keeping +the turf cool and green. What better receptacle for water could they +have found than a top-dressing of half an inch of loam or clay, +retaining as it does every drop of moisture that falls in the shape of +dew or rain, instead of allowing it to percolate through like a sieve, +as is the case with an ordinary sandy soil? Yet this clay dressing, +while retaining water, becomes hard, firm, and as level as a billiard +table on the timely application of the roller. + +Those who look after cricket grounds and the like have seldom any +acquaintance with the constitution of soils; they are apt to treat all, +whether sand, light loam, strong loam, heavy clay, or even peat, in +exactly the same way, instead of recollecting that, as in agriculture, a +judicious combination will alone give us that _ideal loam_ which +produces the best turf, and the best soil for every purpose. I am quite +convinced that our farmers do not realise how much worthless light land +may be improved by a dressing of clay or loam. Such dressings are +expensive without a doubt, but the amelioration of the soil is so marked +that in favourable localities the process ought to pay in the long run. + +Turning to cricket in general, perhaps the modern game, as played on a +good wicket, is in every respect, save one, perfection. If only +something could be done to curtail the length of matches, and rid us of +that awful nuisance the poking, time-wasting batsman, there would be +little improvement possible. + +"All the world's a stage," and even at cricket the analogy holds good. +Thus Shakespeare: + + "As in a theatre the eyes of men, + After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, + Are idly bent on him that enters next, + Thinking his prattle to be tedious." + +So also one may say of some dull and lifeless cricketer who, after the +famous Gloucestershire hitter has made things merry for spectators and +scouts alike, "enters next": + + "As in a cricket field the eyes of men, + After a well-_Graced_ player leaves the _sticks_, + Are idly bent on him that enters next, + Thinking his _batting_ to be tedious." + +On the other hand, if we sow the wild oats of cricket--in other words, +if we risk everything for the fleeting satisfaction of a blind +"slog"--we shall be bowled, stumped, or caught out for a moral +certainty. It is only a matter of time. + +Perhaps the addition of another stump might help towards the very +desirable end of shortening the length of matches, and thus enable more +amateurs to take part in them. I cannot agree with those who lament the +improved state of our best English cricket grounds; if only the batsmen +play a free game and do not waste time, the game is far more +entertaining for players and spectators alike, when a true wicket is +provided. The heroes of old, + + "When Bird and Beldham, Budd, and such as they,-- + Lord Frederick, too, once England's chief and flower,-- + Astonished all who came to see them play," + +those "scorners of the ground" and of pads and gloves doubtless +displayed more _pluck_ on their rough, bumpy grounds than is now called +forth in facing the attack of Kortright, Mold, or Richardson. But on the +other hand, on rough grounds much is left to chance and _luck_; cricket, +as played on a billiard-table wicket certainly favours the batsman, but +it admits of a brilliancy and finish in the matter of style that are +impossible on the old-fashioned wicket. Whilst the modern bowler has +learnt extraordinary accuracy of pitch, the batsman has perfected the +art of "timing" the ball. And what a subtle, delicate art is correct +"timing"!--the skilful embodiment of thought in action, depending for +success on that absolute sympathy of hand and eye which only assiduous +practice, confidence, and a good digestion can give. And on uncertain, +treacherous ground confident play is never seen. A ball cannot be "cut" +or driven with any real brilliancy of style when there is a likelihood +of its abruptly "shooting" or bumping. No; if we would leave as little +as possible to chance, our grounds cannot be too good. Even from a +purely selfish point of view, apart from the welfare of our side, the +pleasure derived from a good "innings" on a first-rate cricket ground +is as great as that bestowed by any other physical amusement. + +Perhaps one ought not to think of comparing the sport of fox-hunting, +with its extraordinary variety of incident and surroundings, the study +of a lifetime, to the game of cricket. At the same time, for actual +all-round enjoyment, and for economy, the game holds its own against all +amusements. + +Bromley-Davenport has said that given a _good_ country and a _good_ fox, +_and_ a burning scent, the man on a _good_ horse with a good _start_, +for twenty or thirty minutes absorbs as much happiness into his mental +and physical organisation as human nature is capable of containing at +one time. This is very true. But how seldom the five necessary +conditions are forthcoming simultaneously the keen hunting man has +learnt from bitter experience. You will be lucky if the real good thing +comes off once for every ten days you hunt. In cricket a man is +dependent on his own quickness of hand and eye; in hunting there is that +vital contingency of the well-filled purse. "'Tis money that makes the +mare to go." + +Then what a grand school is cricket for some of the most useful lessons +of life! Its extraordinary fluctuations are bound to teach us sooner +or later + + "Rebus angustis animosus atque + Fortis appare." + +The _rebus angustis_ are often painfully impressed on the memory by a +long sequence of "duck's eggs"; and how difficult is the _animosus atque +fortis appare_ when we return to the pavilion with a "pair of +spectacles" to our credit! + +Then, again, cricketers are taught to preserve a mind + + "Ab insolenti temperatam + Laetitiâ." + +We must not permit the _laetitiâ insolenti_ to creep in when we have +made a big score. How often do we see young cricketers over-elated under +these circumstances, and suffering afterwards from temporary +over-confidence and consequent carelessness! + +But we must have no more Horace, lest our readers exclaim, with Jack +Cade, "Away with him! away with him! he speaks _Latin_!" + +Hope, energy, perseverance, and courage,--all these qualities are learnt +in our grand English game. There is always hope for the struggling +cricketer. In no other pursuit are energy and perseverance so absolutely +sure of bearing fruit, if we only stick to it long enough. + +The fact is that cricket, like many other things, is but the image and +prototype of life in general. And the same qualities that, earnestly +cultivated in spite of repeated failure and disappointment, make good +cricketers lead ultimately to success in all the walks of life. In spite +of the improvement in grounds, cricket is still an excellent school for +teaching physical courage. Many grounds are somewhat rough and bumpy to +field on, beautifully smooth though they look from the pavilion. We have +only to stand "mid-off" or "point" on a cold day at the beginning of +May whilst a hard-hitting batsman, well set on a true wicket, is +driving or cutting ball after ball against our hands and shins, to +realise what a capital school for courage the game is! + +How exacting is the critic in this matter of fielding! and how +delightfully simple the bowling looks from that admirably safe +vantage-ground, the pavilion! Just as to a man comfortably stationed in +the grand-stand at Aintree nothing looks easier than the way in which +the best horses in the world flit over the five-foot fences, leaving +them behind with scarcely an effort, their riders sitting quietly in the +saddle all the while, so does the pavilion critic pride himself on the +way he would have "cut" that short one instead of merely stopping it, or +blocked that simple ball that went straight on and bowled the wicket. +Everything that is well and gracefully performed appears easy to the +looker-on. But that ease and grace, whether in the racehorse or in the +man, has only been acquired by months and years of training +and practice. + +It is seldom that the spectator is able to form a true and unbiassed +opinion as to the varied contingencies which lead to victory or defeat +in cricket. The actual players and the umpires are perhaps alone +qualified to judge to what extent the fluctuations of the game are +affected by the vagaries of weather and ground. For this reason it is +well to take newspaper criticism _cum grano salis_. + +What is the cause of the extraordinary fluctuations of form which all +cricketers, from the greatest to the least, are more or less subject to? +It cannot be set down altogether to luck, for a run of bad luck, such +as all men have at times experienced, is often compatible with being in +the very best form. A man who is playing very well at the net often gets +out directly he goes in to bat in a match, whilst many a good player, +who tells you "he has not had a bat in his hand this season," in his +very first innings for the year makes a big score. In subsequent +innings's, oddly enough, he feels the want of net practice. _Confidence_ +would seem to be the _sine quâ non_ for the successful batsman. Nothing +succeeds like success; and once fairly started on a sequence of big +scores, the cricketer goes on day by day piling up runs and _vires +acquirit eundo_. + +Perhaps "being in form" does not depend so much on the state of the +digestion as on the state of the _mind_. Anxiety or excitement, fostered +by over-keenness, usually results in a blank score-sheet. Some men, like +horses, are totally unable to do themselves credit on great occasions. +They go off their feed, and are utterly out of sorts in consequence. On +the other hand, sheer force of will has often enabled men to make a big +score. Many a good batsman can recall occasions on which he made a +mental resolve on the morning of a match to make a century, and did it. + +How curious it is that really good players, from staleness or some +unknown cause, occasionally become absolutely useless for a time! Every +fresh failure seems to bring more and more nervousness, until, from +sheer lack of confidence, their case becomes hopeless, and a child could +bowl them out. Ah well! we must not grumble at the ups and downs of the +finest game in creation: "every dog will have his day" sooner or later; +of that we may be sure. + +And not the least of the advantages of cricket is the large number of +friends made on the tented field. For this reason the jolliest cricket +is undoubtedly that which is played by the various wandering clubs. +Whether you are fighting under the banner of the brotherhood whose motto +is "United though untied," [6] or under the flag of the "Red, Black, and +Gold," [7] or with any other of the many excellent clubs that abound +nowadays, you will have an enjoyable game, whether you make fifty runs +or a duck's egg. + +[Footnote 6: The Free Foresters.] + +[Footnote 7: The I Zingari.] + +County cricket is nowadays a little over done. Two three-day matches a +week throughout the summer don't leave much time for other pursuits. A +liberal education at a good public school and university seems to be +thrown away if it is to be followed by five or six days a week at +cricket all through the summer year after year. Most of our best +amateurs realise this, and, knowing that if they go in for county +cricket at all they must play regularly, they give it up, and are +content to take a back seat. They do wisely, for let us always remember +that cricket is a game and not a business. + +On the other hand, much good results from the presence in county cricket +of a leavening of gentle; for they prevent the further development of +professionalism. It is doubtless owing to the "piping times of peace" +England has enjoyed during the past fifty years that cricket has +developed to such an abnormal extent. The British public are +essentially hero worshippers, and especially do they worship men who +show manliness and pluck; and those feelings of respect and admiration +that it is to be hoped in more stirring times would be reserved for a +Nelson or a Wellington have been recently lavished on our Graces, our +Stoddarts, our Ranjitsinhjis, and our Steels. + +As long as war is absent, and we "live at home at ease," so long will +our sports and pastimes flourish and increase. And long may they +flourish, more especially those in which the quality of courage is +essential for success! It will be a bad day for England when success in +our sports and pastimes no longer depends on the exercise of pluck and +manliness; when hunting gives place to bicycling, and cricket to golf; +when, in fact, the wholesome element of _danger_ is removed from our +recreation and pursuits. Should, in the near future, the long-talked-of +invasion of this country by a combination of European powers become an +accomplished fact, Englishmen may perchance be glad, as the cannon balls +and musket shots are whizzing round their heads, that on the mimic +battlefields of cricket, football, polo, and fox-hunting they learnt two +of the most useful lessons of life--coolness and courage. + +[Illustration: Hawking 267.png] + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE COTSWOLDS THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. + +Nowadays, thanks in a great measure to Mr. Madden's book, the "Diary of +Master William Silence," it is beginning to dawn on us that the +Cotswolds are more or less connected with the great poet of +Stratford-on-Avon. + +Mr. Blunt, in his "Cotswold Dialect," gives no less than fifty-eight +passages from the works of Shakespeare, in which words and phrases +peculiar to the district are made use of. Up to the reign of Queen Anne +this vast open tract of downland formed a happy hunting ground for the +inhabitants of all the surrounding counties. Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, +and Wiltshire, as well as Gloucestershire folk repaired to the wolds for +hunting, coursing, hawking, and other amusements; and in olden times, +even more than to-day, Cotswold was, as Burton described it, "a type of +what is most commodious for hawking, hunting, wood, waters, and all +manner of pleasures." There never was a district so well adapted for +stag-hunting. Nowadays the Cotswold district falls short in one +desideratum, and that a most essential one, of being a first-rate +hunting country. The large extent of ploughed land and the extreme +dryness and poverty of the soil cause it on four days out of five to +carry a most indifferent scent. But to-day we pursue the fox; in +Shakespeare's time the stag was the quarry. And, as hunting men are well +aware, the scent given off by a stag is not only ravishing to hounds, +but it actually increases as the quarry tires, whilst that from a fox +"grows small by degrees and beautifully less." + +As with hunting, so also with coursing and hawking; the Cotswolds were +the grand centre of Elizabethan sport. Here it was that Shakespeare +marked the falcon "waiting on and towering in her pride of place." Here +he saw the fallow greyhounds competing for the silver-studded collar. + +What an interest and a dignity does a district such as this draw from +even the slenderest association with the splendid name of William +Shakespeare! For my part I freely confess that scenery, however grand +and sublime, appeals but little to the imagination unless it be hallowed +by association or blended in the thoughts with the recollection of those +we have either loved or admired. Thus in India, in Natal and Cape +Colony, in glorious Ceylon, I could admire those wonderful purple +mountains and that tropical luxuriance of fertility and verdure; but I +could not _feel_ them. The boundless wolds of Africa, reminding one so +much of Gloucestershire, yet far grander and far finer than anything of +the kind in England, were to me a dreary wilderness. Passing through the +fine broken hill country of Natal was like visiting chaos, a waste, +inhospitable land, + + "Where no one comes + Or hath come since the making of the world." + +How well I remember the first sight of the wolds of South Africa! It was +the hour of uncertain light that comes before the dawn; and as our +railway train wound its tortuous course like a snake up the awful +heights that would ultimately end in Majuba Hill--to which ill-fated +spot I was bound--the billowy waves of rolling down seemed gradually to +change to an immensely rough ocean running mountains high, and the +mimosa trees dotting the plain for hundreds of miles appeared like +armies of the souls of all the black men that ever lived on earth since +the world began. There were passes and chasms like the portals of +far-off, inaccessible Paradise, + + "With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms." + +And then the scene changed. The hills rose like graves of white men and +barrows to the long-forgotten dead. Great oblong barrows, round Celtic +barrows, and stately sarcophagi. Monumental effigies in alabaster, +granite and porphyry; grim Gothic castles dating back to the foundation +of the world, and grim Gothic cathedrals with long-drawn aisles, where +the "great organ of Eternity" kept thundering ceaselessly. For the +lightning and the thunder are powers to be reckoned with in those awful +realms of chaos. And then the scene changed again. There suddenly uprose +weird shapes of giants and leviathans, huge mammoths and whole regiments +of fantastic monsters that looked like clouds and yet were mountains; +and there were fortresses and towers of silence, with vultures hovering +over them, and cliffs and crags and jutting promontories that looked +like mountains, but were really clouds: for the black clouds and the +frowning hills were so much alike that, save when the lightning shone, +you could not say where the sky ended and the land began. But there was +one gleam of hope in this weird and dismal scene, for on the farthest +verge of the horizon there appeared, as it were, a lake--such a lake as +saw the passing of Arthur, vanishing in mystery and silently floating +away upon a barge towards the east. It was a lake of beryl, whose +far-off golden shores were set with rubies and sardonyx, and beyond +these, again, were the more distant waters of the silver sea; and as +when Sir Bedivere + + "... saw, + Straining his eyes beneath an arch of hand, + Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King, + Down that long water opening on the deep + Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go + From less to less and vanish into light. + And the new sun rose bringing the new year,--" + +so over the plains of Africa rose the mighty Alchemist and great +revealer of truth, the scatterer of dreary darkness and secret night, +turning those shadowy hills to purple and those mystic waters in the +eastern sky to gold. + +How different are our feelings when we traverse, either in reality or in +fancy, such parts of the earth as are deeply blended in our hearts and +minds with old familiar associations! Whilst wandering through the Lake +District of England, how are we reminded of Wordsworth and the +"Excursion"! How can we visit Devonshire and the West Country without +summoning up pleasant thoughts of Charles Kingsley and Amyas Leigh; of +the men of Bideford, Sir Richard Grenville, Kt., and "The little +Revenge"? How vividly do the Trossachs recall "The Lady of the Lake" and +Walter Scott! How with Edinburgh do we connect the sad story of Mary, +the ill-fated queen! At Killarney, or standing amid the Gothic tracery +of Tintern, how do we think on Alfred Tennyson and "the days that are no +more"! These are only a few of the places in the British Isles that by +universal consent are hallowed by tender associations. Of those spots in +England which are dear to our hearts for personal reasons, there are of +course hundreds. Every man has his own peculiar prejudices in this +respect. To some London is the most sacred spot on earth. And who shall +deny that with all her faults London is not a vastly interesting place? +Is not every street hallowed by its associations with some great name or +some great event in English history? Which of us can stand amid the +Gothic tracery and the crumbling cloisters of Westminster, or under the +shadow of the old grey towers of Whitehall, without recalling +heart-stirring scenes and "paths of glory that lead but to the grave"? +Who can stand unmoved on any of the famous bridges that span the silent +river? Dr. Johnson, who acted up to Pope's well-known motto, + + "The proper study of mankind is man," + +thought Fleet Street the most interesting place on the face of the +earth; and perhaps he was right. Let us hear what he has to say about +this halo of old association: "To abstract the mind from all local +emotion would be impossible if it were endeavoured; and would be foolish +if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; +whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the +present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and +from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent +and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, +or virtue." + +This, then, is the difference between the plains of Africa and the hills +and valleys of England. The one is at present a vast inhospitable chaos, +the other a land in which there is scarcely an acre that has not been +dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. Such are the signs by which we +are to distinguish Cosmos from Chaos. + +How far into the Cotswold Hills the halo of Stratford-on-Avon's glory +may be said to extend it is not easy to determine. Let us allow at all +events that the _reflection_ from the arc reaches across the whole +extent of the wolds as far as Dursley. For here on the western edge of +the Cotswolds it is probable that Shakespeare spent that portion of his +life which has always been involved in obscurity--the interval between +his removal from Warwickshire and his arrival in London. + +On a fine autumnal evening in the year 1592 a horseman, mounted on a +little ambling nag, neared the Cotswold village of Bibury. Both man and +steed showed unmistakable signs of weariness. The horse especially, +though of that wiry kind known as the Irish hobby, hard as iron, and +accustomed to long journeys, evinced by that sober and even dejected +expression of countenance so well known to hunting men, that he had been +ridden both far and fast. The saddle too, as well as the legs, chest, +and flanks of the nag, appeared wet and mud-stained, as if some brook +had been swum or some deep and muddy river forded, whilst the left +shoulder and knee of the rider bore marks which told tales of a fall. +The personal appearance of the man was not such as to excite the +interest of the casual passer-by; for his dress, though extremly neat, +was that worn by clerks and other townsfolk of the day; yet a keen +observer might have noticed that the features were those of a man of +uncommon character, in whom, as Carlyle would have said, a germ of +irrepressible force had been implanted. + +It had indeed been a glorious day. The hounds, after meeting close to +Moreton-in-the-Marsh, in Warwickshire, had found a great hart in the +forest near Seizincote, and had hunted him "at force" over the deep +undrained vale up on to the Cotswold Hills, away past Stow-on-the-Wold +and Bourton-on-the-Water, towards the great woods of Chedworth. But the +stag, after crossing the Windrush close to Mr. Dutton's house at +Sherborne, had failed to make his point, and had "taken soil" in a deep +pool of the river Coln, near the little village of Coln-St-Dennis, where +eventually the mort had sounded. Such a run had not been seen for many a +long day; for it measured no less than fourteen miles "as the crow +flies," and about five-and-twenty as the hounds ran. The time occupied +had been close on seven hours. There had of course been several checks; +but so strong had been the scent of this hart that, in spite of two +"lets" of some twenty minutes' duration, the pack had been able to hunt +their quarry to the bitter end. Only two men had seen the end. The pride +and chivalry of Warwickshire, mounted on their high-priced Flanders +mares, their Galway nags, and their splendid Barbaries, had been +hopelessly thrown out of the chase; and besides the huntsman, on his +plain-bred little English horse, the only remnant of the field was our +friend with his tough and wiry Irish hobby. + +It is five o'clock, and the sun as it disappears beyond a high ridge of +the wolds, is tinging the grey walls of an ancient Gothic fane with a +rosy glow. This our sportsman does not fail to notice; but in spite of +his keen appreciation of the beauties of nature, the question uppermost +in his mind, as he jogs along the rough, uneven road or track which +leads to Bibury, is where to spend the night. The thought of returning +home at that late hour does not enter his head; for the stag having +gone away in exactly the opposite direction to that from which the +Warwickshire man had set out early in the morning, there are no less +than three-and-thirty long and weary miles between the hunter and his +home. In the days of good Queen Bess, however, hospitality was +proverbially free, and any decently set up Englishman was tolerably sure +of a welcome at any of the country houses which were then, as now, +scattered at long intervals over this wild, uncultivated district. And +as he rides round a bend in the valley, a fair manor house comes into +view, pleasantly placed in a sheltered spot hard by the River Coln. It +was built in the style which had just come into vogue--the Elizabethan +form of architecture; and in honour of the reigning monarch its front +presented the appearance of the letter E. The windows, instead of being +made of horn, were of glass; and tall stone chimneys (a modern luxury +but lately invented) carried away the smoke from the chambers within. + +It so happened that at the moment the stranger was passing, the owner of +the house--a squire of some sixty years of age, but hale and hearty--was +standing in front of his porch taking the evening air. This fact the +horseman did not fail to notice, and with a ready eye to the main +chance, which showed its possessor to be a man of no ordinary +apprehension, he glanced approvingly at the groined porch, the richly +carved pinnacles above it, and at the quaint belfry beyond, exclaiming +with great enthusiasm: + +"'Fore God, you have a goodly dwelling and a rich here. I do envy thee +thine house, sir." + +"Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all," [8] was the reply, +to which, after a pause, the squire added, "Marry, good air." + +[Footnote 8: _2 Henry IV_, V. iii.] + +"Ah, 'tis a good air up on these wolds," replied the sportsman. "But I +am a stranger here in Gloucestershire; these high wild hills and rough, +uneven ways draw out our miles and make them wearisome.[9] How far is it +to Stratford?" + +[Footnote 9: _King Richard II._, II. iii.] + +"Marry, 'tis nigh on forty mile, I warrant. Thou'll not see Stratford +to-night, sir; thy horse is wappered[10] out, and that I plainly see." + +[Footnote 10: _Wappered_ = tired. A Cotswold word.] + +To him replied the stranger wearily: + + Where is the horse that doth untread again + His tedious measures with the unbated fire + That he did pace them first? All things that are, + Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed.[11] + +[Footnote 11: _Merchant of Venice_, II. vi.] + +"Hast been with the hounds to-day?" enquired the honest squire. + +"Ah, sir, and that I have," was the reply; "and never have I seen such +sport before. For seven long hours they made the welkin ring, and ran +like swallows o'er the plain." [12] + +[Footnote 12: _Titus Andronicus_, II. ii.] + +"Please to step in; we be just a-settin' down to supper--a cold capon +and a venison pasty. I'll tell my serving man to take thy nag to yonder +yard, and make him comfortable for the night." + +"Thanks, sir, I'll take him round myself, and give the honest beast a +drench of barley broth,[13] and afterwards, to cheer him up a bit, a +handful or two of dried peas." [14] + +[Footnote 13: _Henry V_., III. v.] + +[Footnote 14: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, IV. i.] + +Whilst the hunter was seeing to his nag, the squire thus addressed his +serving man: + +"Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, +and any pretty tiny kickshaws, tell William cook." [15] + +[Footnote 15: 2 _Henry IV_., V. i.] + +DAVY: "Doth the hunter stay all night, sir?" + +SQUIRE: "Yes, Davy. I will use him well; good sportsmen are ever welcome +on Cotswold." + +The wants of the Irish hobby having been thoroughly attended to, and the +game little fellow having recovered in some measure his natural gaiety +of spirits, the squire ushered the stranger into a long low hall, hung +with pikes and guns and bows, and relics of the chase as well as of the +wars. The stone floor was strewed with clean rushes, and lying about on +tables were trashes, collars, and whips for hounds, as well as hoods, +perches, jesses, and bells for hawks; whilst a variety of odds and ends, +such as crossbows and jumping-poles, were scattered about the apartment. +An enormous wood fire blazed at one end of the hall, and in the +inglenook sat a girl of some twenty summers. + +"My daughter, sir," exclaimed the squire; "as good a girl as ever lived +to make a cheese, brew good beer, preserve all sorts of wines, and cook +a capon with a chaudron! Marry! I forgot to ask thee thy name?" + +"Oh, my name is Shakespeare--William Shakespeare, sir. I come from +Stratford-on-the-Avon, up to'rds Warwick." + +"Shakespy, Shakespy; a' don't know that name. Dost bear arms, sir?" + +"I am entitled to them--a spear on a bend sable, and a falcon for my +crest; but we have not yet applied to the heralds for the confirmation. +And you, sir?" + +"He writes himself _armigero_ in any bill, warrant, quittance, or +obligation," here put in Davy the serving man. + +"Ah, that I do! and have done any time these three hundred years." + +"All his successors gone before him hath done it; and all his ancestors +that come after him may," added Davy, with pride. + +"To be sure, to be sure," said the squire. "Well, welcome to Cotswold, +Master Shakespeare; good sportsmen are ever welcome on Cotswold. But +tell me, how didst thou get thy downfall?" + +"The first was at the mound into the tyning by Master Blackett's house +at Iccomb; old Dobbin breasted it, and the stones did rattle round mine +ears like a house a-coming down. We made a shard[16] that let the rest +of 'em through. It was the only wall that came in the way of the chase +to-day. The second downfall was at the brook by Bourton-Windrush, I +think they call it. Dobbin being a bit short of wind, and quilting +sadly, stuck fast in the mire, and tumbled on to his nose in scrambling +out. Marry, sir, but 'twas a famous chase; the like of it I never saw +before. 'Twas grand at first to see the hart unharboured--a stag with +all his rights, 'brow, bay, and trey.'" + +[Footnote 16: A Cotswold word = breach.] + +"Thou shouldst know, our hounds at Warwick are a noted pack, + + So flew'd, so sanded, and their beads are hung + With ears that sweep away the morning dew; + Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls; + Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells, + Each under each. A cry more tuneable + Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn.'" [17] + +[Footnote 17: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, IV. i.] + +Then he told how, after leaving behind the deep undrained grass country +round Moreton-in-the-Marsh, they rose the hills by Stow and came across +the moor. How the riders who spurred their horses up the steep uprising +ascent were soon left behind. For + + "To climb steep hills + Requires slow pace at first; anger is like + A full hot horse, who, being allowed his way, + Self mettle tires him." + +He told how, after an hour's steady running over the wolds, a "let" [18] +occurred, and "the hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt";[19] +how Mountain, Fury, Tyrant, and Ringwood, who had been leading the rest +of the pack, strove in vain for a considerable time to pick out the cold +scent, until suddenly the cheery sound of the old huntsman's voice was +heard crying: + +[Footnote 18: _Two Noble Kinsmen_, III. v.] + +[Footnote 19: _Venus and Adonis_, 692.] + +"Fury! Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark! Hark!" [20] + +and the whole pack went "yoppeting" off as happy as the hunt was long. +He told how Belman fairly surpassed himself, and "twice to-day picked +out the dullest scent";[21] and how little Dobbin, the Irish hobby, went +cantering on "as true as truest horse, that yet would never tire." [22] +He told how, after running from scent to view, they came down into the +woodlands of the valley of the Coln, and awoke the echoes with their +"gallant chiding." + +[Footnote 20: _Tempest_, IV, i.] + +[Footnote 21: _Taming of the Shrew_, Introduction.] + +[Footnote 22: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, III. i.] + + "... besides the groves, + The skies, the fountains, every region near + Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard + So musical a discord, such sweet thunder." [23] + +[Footnote 23: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, IV.] + +And how the noble animal took soil in the Coln, + + "Under an oak whose antique root peeps out + Upon the brook that brawls along this wood: + To the which place our poor sequester'd stag + Did come to languish; and indeed, my lord, + The wretched animal heaved forth such groans + That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat + Almost to bursting, and the big round tears + Coursed one another down his innocent nose + In piteous chase. + + Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends, + ''Tis right,' quoth he: 'thus misery doth part + The flux of company': anon a careless herd, + Full of the pasture, jumps along by him, + And never stays to greet him. 'Ah,' quoth Jaques, + 'Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens; + 'Tis just the fashion: wherefore do you look + Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?'" [24] + +[Footnote 24: _As You Like It_, II. i.] + +And finally he told how the gallant beast died a soldier's death, +fighting to the bitter end. + +"Marry, 'twas a right good chase, and bravely must thy steed have borne +thee. But thou wast too venturesome, Master Shakespeare," exclaimed the +squire, "a-trying to jump that mound into the tyning by Master +Blackett's house." + +"Tell me, I prithee," answered Shakespeare, anxious to turn the +conversation from his own share in the day's proceedings, "whose dog won +the silver-studded collar this year in the coursing matches on +Cotswold?" [25] + +[Footnote 25: _Merry Wives of Windsor_,] + +"Our Bill Peregrine, here, at the farm, carried it off. A prettier bit +of coursing I never did see!" + +"Ah! that was the country fellow that turned up when we sounded the mort +by Col-Dene. He seemed to spring up out of the ground. He is a snapper +up of unconsidered trifles, I'll be bound. The fellow claimed the hide: +he said the skin was the keeper's fee." [26] + +[Footnote 26: 3 _Henry VI_, III. i.] + +"That 'ould be he. I warrant he lent a hand in taking assay and +breaking up the deer. Tis just what he enjoys." + +"Ah! I marked him disembowelling the poor dead beast in right good will, +with hands besmeared with blood." [27] + +[Footnote 27: _Henry IV._, V. iv.] + +Then they fell to talking of other things; and the honest old squire +began to brag about his London days, and how he was once of +Clement's Inn. + +"There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George +Barnes, and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele, a Cotswold man; you had +not four such swinge-bucklers in all the Inns o' Court again." [28] + +[Footnote 28: _Henry IV._, III. ii.] + +But the old man was far too interested in his own doings to ask if his +guest had ever been in London. It is the prerogative of age to take for +granted that all younger men are of no account, and even as children, +"to be seen and not heard." + +"To-morrow," said the squire, "at break of day, we be a-going a-birding, +to try some young falcons Bill Peregrine has lately trained. Wilt join +us, Master Shakespeare?" + +"Ah, that I will, sir! I know a hawk from a handsaw, or my name's not +William Shakespeare." + +By this time the cold capon and the venison pasty, as well as the +"little tiny kickshaws," together with a gallon of "good sherris-sack," +had been considerably reduced by the united efforts of the squire, the +famished hunter, and those below the salt. During the meal such scraps +of conversation as this might have been heard: + +"Will you please to take a bit of bacon, Master Shakespeare?" + +"Not any, I thank you," replied the poet. + +"What, no bacon!" put in the serving man from behind, in a voice of +surprise bordering on disappointment. + +"No bacon for me, I thank you; _I never take bacon_," repeated +Shakespeare, with some emphasis. + +Then the master of the house would occasionally address a remark to his +serving man about the farm, such as, "How a good yoke of bullocks at +Ciren Fair?" or, "How a score of ewes now?" meaning how much are they +worth. Once the serving man took the initiative, asking, "Shall we sow +the headlands with wheat?" receiving the reply, "With red wheat, +Davy." [29] + +[Footnote 29: 2 _Henry IV_, V. i.] + +Then there was some discussion concerning the stopping of William's +(Peregrine's?) wages, "About the sack he lost the other day at +Hinckley Fair." + +SHAKESPEARE: "This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving man +and your husbandman." + +SQUIRE: "A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet.... By the +mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper! A good varlet." [30] + +[Footnote 30: 2 _Henry IV_, V. iii.] + +These were the squire's last words that night. He soon slept peacefully, +as was his wont after his evening meal; whereupon the poet, with his +accustomed gallantry, commenced making love in right good earnest to the +fair daughter of the house. + +The Cotswold girls, like the Irish, have always been famous for their +beauty. Even amongst the peasants you may nowadays see the most +beautiful and graceful women in the world, though their attire is +usually of a plain and unbecoming character, and but ill adapted to set +off the features and form of the wearer. The squire's daughter, whom we +will call Jessica, was no exception to the rule. She was a handsome +brunette--indeed, the squire called her a "black ousel." Shakespeare +fell in love with her at once, and, forgetting all about the family at +Stratford, he plunged into the most desperate flirtation. The girl, with +that natural perception of the divine in man common to her sex, could +not help feeling a strange admiration for this unexpected, though not +unwelcome, guest. There was something about his countenance which +exercised a peculiar charm and fascination. The thoughtful brow, the +keen hazel eye, and the gentle bearing of the man were what at first +attracted attention. But it was his manner and speech, half serious and +half mirthful, which made such an impression on her mind; and perhaps +she felt that, "to the face whose beauty is the harmony between that +which speaks from within and the form through which it speaks, power is +added by all that causes the outer man to bear more deeply the impress +of the inner." + +The surroundings, too, were as romantic as they possibly could be. A +pair of rush candles were shedding their dim light through the long low +oak-panelled apartment; they were the only lights that were burning, and +even these flickered ominously at times, as if threatening to go out and +leave the place in total darkness. A full moon, however, was casting her +silvery beams through the great lattice casement, and in one of the +upper panes of this window were richly emblazoned the arms of which the +squire was so proud. + +It was a glorious evening. Opening the window, William Shakespeare +looked out upon the peaceful garden. The moon was shedding a pale light +upon the woods and the stream, "decking with liquid pearl the bladed +grass." A hundred yards away the silent Coln was gliding slowly onwards +towards the sea. Owls were breathing heavily in the hanging wood, and a +pair of otters were hunting in the pool. + +As the two sat by the open window, the poet's own life and its prospects +formed the principal topic of conversation. After years of toil in +London his fortunes were beginning at length to improve. He was manager +of a theatre, and was at length earning a moderate competency. He had +already saved a little money, and hoped soon to buy a house at +Stratford. He looked forward some day to returning to his native place +and living a country life. At present he was enjoying a short holiday, +the first for over a year. + +As they sat and talked over these matters, a minstrel began to play in +one of the cottages of the village; the sound of the harp added another +charm to the peaceful surroundings, and filled the poet's mind with a +strange delight. + +"I am never merry when I hear sweet music," said Jessica. + +Whereupon her companion replied: + + "' ... soft stillness and the night + Become the touches of sweet harmony. + Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven + Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: + There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st + But in his motion like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; + Such harmony is in immortal souls; + But whilst this muddy vesture of decay + Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.'" [31] + +[Footnote 31: _Merchant of Venice_, V. i.] + +Sweet is the sound of soft melodious music on a moonlight night; sweet +the faint sigh of the breeze among the elms, and the light upon the +silent stream; but sweeter far is music on a moonlight night, sweeter +the faint sigh of the breeze, and the light upon the silent stream, when +hope, renewed after years of sorrow and sadness, flatters once again the +aims and objects of youth, gilding the landscape of life with wondrous +alchemy, shedding rays of happy sunshine on the vague, mysterious +yearnings of the soul of man towards the hidden destinies of the +boundless future. + +It was not long, however, before Shakespeare bade the fair Jessica +good-night and retired to his sleeping apartment; for a run of such +uncommon excellence as he had enjoyed that day was calculated to produce +the tired, though not unpleasant, sensation which even now sends the +hunting man sleepy, though happy, to bed. + +So, lulled by the strains of the minstrel's harp did William Shakespeare +seek his couch and sleep the sleep of the just But even while the body +was wrapped in slumber, the highly wrought, powerful mind, though yet +unconscious of its awful destiny, was hard at work, "moving about in +worlds not realised." Yonder on the turret of that grey Gothic castle, +whose pinnacles point ever upwards to the skies, they stand and wait, a +glorious throng; and as they stand they wave him onwards. Dante, Homer, +Virgil, Chaucer, Plutarch, Montaigne, and many another hero of old is +waiting there. See the sharp-pointed features of the Italian bard, and +Homer no longer blind! The two are holding animated converse, and ever +beckoning him on. And a voice seemed to speak out loud and clear amid +the solemn silence of eternity: + + "Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, + Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues + Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike + As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd + But to fine issues." [32] + +[Footnote 32: _Measure for Measure_, I. i.] + +Can he linger? Away with blank misgivings, fears, and doubts! He will +climb the rugged, steep ascent, and follow even unto the end. + +The following morning a little before sunrise saw a party of five +assembled for a hawking expedition on the downs. Besides the squire and +William Shakespeare, the parson had turned up, whilst Bill Peregrine +(ancestor of all the Peregrines, including, no doubt, the famous +Peregrine Pickle) brought one of his brothers from the farm to "help him +out" with the hawks. It was somewhat of a peculiar dawn--one of those +dull grey mornings which often bodes a fine day. The bard was much +interested in the glowing eastern sky, and as the sun began to appear he +turned to William Peregrine and enthusiastically exclaimed: + + "'.... what envious streaks + Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: + Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.'" [33] + +[Footnote 33: _Romeo and Juliet_, III. v.] + +"To be sure, to be sure, it do look a bit comical, don't it?" answered +the yeoman, with a cackle; and then, turning to his brother, he said, +"Ain't 'e ever seen the sun rise before?" + +"Please, squire, who be the gent from Warwickshire?" says Peregrine, +_sotto voce_; "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is!" + +"Oh! 'is name's Shakespy, William Shakespy. A good un at his books, I'll +be bound. Get the hawks, Bill; the sun be up. A' must be off to +Stratford shortly," answered the squire, glancing at the poet. + +Whereupon the yeoman opened the door of a long covered shed commonly +called the "mews," and shortly appeared again with four hooded +hawks--two falcons, and two males or tiercel-gentles--placed on a wooden +frame or cadge. These he handed to a stout yokel to carry, and the whole +party sallied forth towards the downs. The squire and the parson were +mounted on their palfreys, the rest of the party being on foot. + +It was not long before William Peregrine started an interesting +conversation with the stranger somewhat after this manner: + +"Did you 'ave a pretty good day's spart yesterday, Master Quakespear?" + +"Ah, that we had! I never saw such a day's sport in all my life!" + +"I thought ye did. I could see the 'art was tired smartish. I qeum along +by the bruk, and give un the meeting. When I sees un I says, 'I can see +you've 'ad a smartish doing, old boy.' Then the 'ounds qeum yoppeting +along as nice as could be. Then I sees you and the 'untsman lolloping +along arter the dogs, and soon arter I 'urd the trumpets goin'; and so +says I, 'It's a _case_,' and I qeums up and skins un. 'E did skin +beautiful to be sure! I never see a better job in all my life--never!" + +"'Twas a fine hart," replied Shakespeare, "and no dull and muddy-mettled +rascal!" [34] + +[Footnote 34: _Hamlet_, II. ii.] + +"I be fond of a bit of spart like that," continued Peregrine; "but I +never could away with books and larning. Muddling work, I calls it, +messing over books. Do you care for that kind of stuff, Master +Quakespear?" + +"I dabble in it when I am away from the country," was the reply. + +Then the Warwickshire man began soliloquising again, somewhat after this +manner: + + "'In his brain + He hath strange places crammed with observation, + The which he vents in mangled forms.'" [35] + +[Footnote 35: _As you Like It_ vii.] + +"Drat the fellow!" whispered Peregrine, turning to the parson, who +happened to be riding alongside "I don't like un, 'e's so unkit." + +PARSON: "What makes him talk so, William?" + +PEREGRINE (_touching his forehead_): "It's a case; I'll be bound it's a +case. 'E's unkit." + +"Would you mind saying that again, sir," said the bard, producing a +notebook. + +Peregrine goes into a fit of giggling, so Shakespeare writes down from +memory; whereupon the yeoman makes up to the squire, and says, "Hist, +squire, we must 'ave a care; 'e's takin' notes 'o anything we says. 'Tis +my belief 'e's got to do with that 'ere case of Tom Barton's they're +makin' such a fuss and do about at Coln. We shall all be 'ung for a set +o' sheep-stealing ruffians." + +"Thee be quite right, William," put in the parson "I thought a' looked a +bit suspicious. If I was you, squire, I'd clap the baggage into +Northleach gaol, and exercise the justice of the peace agin un for an +idle varmint." + +"Yet a milder mannered man I never saw," said the squire. + +PARSON: "Mild-mannered fiddlestick!" Then, raising his voice so that the +stranger should get the full benefit, he added, "He's as mild a mannered +man as ever scuttled ship or cut a throat!" + +Shakespeare hurriedly draws out notebook, and smilingly writes down the +parson's words; then, in perfect good humour, he says: + +"You must excuse me, gentlemen, but I have somewhat of a passion for +writing down such sayings as suit my humour, lest I forget what good +company I keep." + +SQUIRE (_excitedly_): "Let go the hawk, Tom; there's a great lanky +heron risin' at the withybed yonder." + +And here it is necessary to say something about the methods and language +of falconry as practised by our forefathers. + +Shakespeare tells us to choose "a falcon or tercel for flying at the +brook, and a hawk for the bush." In other words, we are to select the +nobler species, the long-winged peregrine falcon, the male of which was +called a tiercel-gentle, for flying at the heron or the mallard; and a +short-winged hawk, such as the goshawk or sparrow-hawk, for blackbirds +and other hedgerow birds. For as Mr. Madden explains, not only does the +true falcon, be she peregrine, gerfalcon, merlin, or hobby, differ in +size and structure of wing and beak from the short-winged hawks, but she +also differs in her method of hunting and seizing her prey. + +The falcons are "hawks of the tower and lure." They tower aloft and +swoop down on partridge, rabbit, or heron, finally returning to the +lure; and be it noted that the lure is a sham bird, with a "train" of +food to entice the falcons back to their master. + +The short-winged hawks, on the other hand, are birds of the fist or the +bush. Instead of "towering" and "stooping," they lurch after their prey +in wandering flight, finally returning to their master's fist. + +In _Macbeth_ we find allusion to the "falcon towering in her pride of +place"; and indeed there is no prettier sport on a still day than a +flight at the partridge or the heron with the noble peregrine falcon or +her mate the tiercel-gentle. + +At the honest squire's word of command, a male peregrine is forthwith +despatched, and, soaring upwards into the air, he is almost lost to +sight in the clouds, though the faint tinkling of the bells attached to +his feet may yet be heard; then, stooping from the skies, the +tiercel-gentle descends from the heavens and strikes his long-beaked +adversary. Down, down they come, fighting and struggling in the air, +until, exhausted by the unequal combat, the heron gradually falls to the +ground, and receives from the falconer his final _coup de grâce_. +Sometimes a pair of hawks are thrown off against a heron. + +Now comes a flight at the partridge. First of all the spaniel is +despatched to search the fields for a covey of birds. The desired quarry +being found, he "points" to them, and this time the female peregrine or +true falcon is sent on her way. Away she soars upwards, "waiting on and +towering in her pride of place." Then the birds, lying like stones +beneath her savage ken, are flushed by the dog, and the cruel peregrine, +after selecting her bird, with her characteristic "swoop" brings it to +the ground. If she is unsuccessful in her first attempt, she will tower +again, and renew the attack. The riders have to gallop as fast as their +nags can go, if they would keep in with the sport, for as often as not a +mile or more of ground has to be covered in a long flight, ere the +falcon "souses" [36] her prey. After the flight, a well-trained falcon +will invariably return to the lure with its "train" of food. + +[Footnote 36: _King John_. V. ii.] + +As Mr. Madden has proved, the whole of Shakespeare's works teem with +allusions to the art of falconry. + + "HENRY: But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, + And what a pitch she flew above the rest! + To see how God in all His creatures works! + Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. + + SUFFOLK: No marvel, an it like your majesty, + My lord protector's hawks do tower so well; + They know their master loves to be aloft + And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. + + GLOUCESTER: My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind + That mounts no higher than a bird can soar." [37] + +[Footnote 37: 2 _Henry VI_., II. i.] + +But it was not the death of the poor partridge that appealed to the +poet's mind so much as the pride and cunning of the mighty peregrine, +and the beauty and stillness of the autumnal morning. He loved to hear +the faint tinkling of the falcon's bells, the homely cry of the plover, +and the sweet carol of the lark; but more than all he felt the mystery +of the downs, wondering by what power and when those old seas were +converted into a sea of grass. + +But whilst the hawking party was moving slowly across the wolds to try +fresh ground an event occurred which had the effect of bringing the +morning's sport, as far as hawks were concerned, to an abrupt +conclusion. This was nothing more nor less than the sight of a great +Cotswold fox of the greyhound breed making his way towards a copse on +the squire's demesne. The quick eye of the Peregrine family was the +first to view him, and forthwith both Bill and his brother screamed in +unison: "What's that sneaking across Smoke Acre yonder? 'Tis a fox--a +great, lanky, thieving, villainous fox, darned if it ain't!" + +"Where?" said parson and squire excitedly. + +"There," said Peregrine, "over agin Smoke Acre." + +"By jabbers, so it be!" said the parson. "Now look thee here, Joe +Peregrine, go thee to the sexton and tell 'un to ring the church bells +for the folks to come for a fox; and be sure and tell the +churchwardens." + +"Ah!" said the poet, almost as excited as the rest of the party, + + "'And do not stand on quillets how to slay him: + Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety, + Sleeping or waking, 'tis no matter how, + So he be dead.'" [38] + +[Footnote 38: _2 Henry VI._, III. i.] + +Thus abruptly ended this hawking expedition on the Cotswolds; for the +whole party made off to the manor house to fetch guns, spades, pickaxes, +and dogs, as was the custom in those days, when a "lanky, villainous +fox" was viewed. + +As for Shakespeare, after bidding adieu to the old squire, and thanking +him for his hospitality, he mounted his game little Irish hobby and +steered his course due northward for Stow-on-the-Wold. His track lay +along the old Fossway, a road infested in those days by murderous +highwaymen; yet, unarmed and unattended, unknown and unappreciated, did +that mighty man of genius set cheerfully out on his long and +solitary way. + +[Illustration: The Abbey Gateway, Cirencester 295.png] + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CIRENCESTER. + +The ancient town of Cirencester--the Caerceri of the early Britons, the +Corinium of the Romans, and the Saxon Cyrencerne--has been a place of +importance on the Cotswolds from time immemorial. The abbreviations +Cisetre and Cysseter were in use as long ago as the fifteenth century, +though some of the natives are now in the habit of calling it Ciren. The +correct modern abbreviation is Ciceter. + +The place is so rich in Roman antiquities that we must perforce devote a +few lines to their consideration. A whole book would not be sufficient +to do full justice to them. + +No less than four important Roman roads meet within a short distance of +Cirencester; and very fine and broad ones they are, generally running as +straight as the proverbial arrow. + +1. The Irmin Way, between Cricklade and Gloucester, _viâ_ Cirencester. + +2. Acman Street connects Cirencester with Bath. + +3. Icknield Street, running to Oxford. + +4. The Fossway, extending far into the north of England. This +magnificent road may be said to connect Exeter in the south with Lincoln +in the north. It is raised several feet above the natural level of the +country, and in many places there still remain traces of the ancient +ditch which was dug on either side of its course. + +In the year 1849 two very fine tessellated pavements were unearthed in +Dyer Street, and removed to a museum which Lord Bathurst built purposely +for their reception and preservation. Another fine specimen of this kind +of work may be seen in its original position at a house called the +"Barton" in the park. It is a representation of Orpheus and his lute; +and the various animals which he is said to have charmed are wonderfully +worked in the coloured pavements. Even as far back as three hundred +years ago these beautiful relics were being discovered in this town; for +Leland in his "Itinerary," mentions the finding of some tesserae; +unfortunately but few have been preserved. + +There are two inscribed stones in this collection which deserve special +mention, as they are marvellously well preserved, considering the fact +that they are probably eighteen hundred years old. They are about six +feet in height and about half that breadth; on each is carved the figure +of a mounted soldier, spear in hand. On the ground lies his prostrate +foe, pierced by his adversary's spear. Underneath one of these carvings +are inscribed the following words:-- + + DANNICVS. EQES. AIAE. + INDIAN. TVR. ALBANI. + STIP. XVI. CIVES. RAVR. + CVR. FVLVIVS. NATALIS. IT. + FVLIVS. BITVCVS. EX. TESTAME. + H S E. + +The meaning of the above words is as follows:-- + +"Dannicus, a horseman of Indus's Cavalry, of the squadron of Albanus. He +had seen sixteen years' service. A citizen of Rauricum. Fulvius Natalis +and Fulvius Bitucus have caused this monument to be made in accordance +with his will. He is buried here." + +The other stone has a somewhat similar inscription. + +The Romans, who did not use wallpapers, were in the habit of colouring +their plaster with various pigments. Some very interesting specimens of +wall-painting are preserved at Cirencester, and may be seen in the +museum. The most remarkable example of the kind is a piece of coloured +plaster, with the following square scratched on its surface:-- + + ROTAS + OPERA + TENET + AREPO + SATOR + +It will be noticed that these five words, the meaning of which is, +"Arepo, the sower, guides the wheels at work," form a kind of puzzle; +they may be read in eight different directions. + +A large variety of sepulchral urns have been found at Cirencester. When +dug up they usually contain little besides the ashes of the dead, though +a few coins are sometimes included. There is a very perfect specimen of +a glass urn--a large green bottle, square, wide-mouthed, and absolutely +intact--in this collection. It was found, wrapped in lead and enclosed +in a hollow stone, somewhere near the town about the year 1758. + +A fine specimen of a stone coffin is likewise to be seen. When +discovered at Latton it was found to contain an iron axe, a dish of +black ware of the kind frequently discovered at Upchurch in Kent, a +juglike-handled vase of a light red colour, and some human bones. + +The various kinds of pottery in the Corinium Museum are interesting on +account of the potters' marks found on them. There must be considerably +over a hundred different marks in this collection, chiefly of the +following kind:-- + +_Putri M_. (Manû Putri), by the hand of Putrus. + +_Mara. F_. (Formâ Marci), from the mould of Marcus. + +_Olini Off_. (Officinâ Olini), from the workshop of Olinus. + +The museum contains many good specimens of iron and bronze implements, +as well as coins and stonework, and is well worthy of the attention +bestowed on it, not only by antiquaries, but by the public at large. + +At a place called the Querns, a short distance from the town, is a very +interesting old amphitheatre called the Bull-ring. This is an ellipse of +about sixty yards long by forty-five wide; it is surrounded by mounds +twenty feet high. Originally the scene of the combats of Roman +gladiators, in mediaeval times it was probably used for the pastime of +bull-baiting, a barbarous amusement which has happily long since +died out. + +Amphitheatres of the same type are to be seen at Dorchester, Old Sarum, +Silchester, and other Roman stations. + +Mr. Wilfred Cripps, C.B., the head of a family that has been seated at +Cirencester for many hundreds of years, has an interesting private +collection of Roman antiquities which have been found in the +neighbourhood from time to time. He has quite recently discovered the +remnants of the Basilica or Roman law-courts. + +Turning to the place as it now stands, one is struck on entering the +town by the breadth and clean appearance of the main street, known as +the market-place. The shops are almost as good as those to be found in +the principal thoroughfares of London. + +I have spoken before of the magnificent old church. There is, perhaps, +no sacred building, except St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol and Beverley +Minster, that we know of in England which for perfect proportion and +symmetry can vie with the imposing grandeur of this pile, as seen from +the Cricklade-street end of Cirencester market-place. + +The south porch is a very beautiful and ornamental piece of +architecture. The work is of fifteenth-century design, the interior of +the porch consisting of delicately wrought fan-tracery groining. The +carving outside is most picturesque, there being many handsome niches +and six fine oriel windows. The whole of the _façade_ is crowned with +very large pierced battlements and crocketed pinnacles. Over this porch +is one of those grand old sixteenth-century halls such as were built in +former times in front of the churches. It is called the "Parvise," a +word derived from the same source as Paradise, which in the language of +architecture means a cloistered court adjoining a church. Many of these +beautiful old apartments existed at one time in England, but were pulled +down by religious enthusiasts because they were considered to be out of +place when attached to the church and used for secular purposes. This is +now known as the town hall, and contrasts very favourably with the +hideous erections built in modern times in some of our English towns for +this purpose. + +The church of Cirencester contains a large amount of beautiful +Perpendicular work. + +In the grand old tower are twelve bells of excellent tone. The Early +English stonework in the chancel and chapels is very curious, a fine +arch opening from the nave to the tower. There is, in fact, a great deal +to be seen on all sides which would delight the lover of architecture. + +Some ancient brasses of great interest and beautiful design in various +parts of this church claim attention; the earliest of them is as old as +1360; a pulpit cloth of blue velvet, made from the cape of one Ralph +Parsons in 1478 and presented by him, is still preserved. + +Cirencester House stands but a stone's throw from the railway station, +but is hidden from sight by a high wall and a gigantic yew hedge. Behind +it and on all sides, save one, the park--one of the largest in +England--stretches away for miles. So beautiful and rural are the +surroundings that the visitor to the house can hardly realise that the +place is not far removed from the busy haunts of men. + +The Cirencester estate was purchased by Sir Benjamin Bathurst rather +more than two hundred years ago. This family has done good service to +their king and country for many centuries. We read the other day that no +less than _six_ of Sir Benjamin's brothers died fighting for the king in +the Civil Wars. Nor have they been less conspicuous in serving their +country in times of peace. + +The park, which was designed to a great extent by the first earl, with +the assistance of Pope, has been entirely thrown open to the people of +Cirencester; and "the future and as yet visionary beauties of the noble +scenes, openings, and avenues" which that great poet used to delight in +dwelling upon have become accomplished facts. The "ten rides"--lengthy +avenues of fine trees radiating in all directions from a central point +in the middle of the park--are a picturesque feature of the landscape. + +The lover of horses and riding finds here a paradise of grassy glades, +where he can gallop for miles on end, and tire the most obstinate of +"pullers." + +Picnic parties, horse shows, cricket matches, and the chase of the fox +all find a place in this romantic demesne in their proper seasons. The +enthusiast for woodland hunting, or the man who hates the sight of a +fence of any description, may hunt the fox here day after day and never +leave the recesses of the park. + +The antiquary will find much to delight him. Here is the ancient high +cross, erected in the fourteenth century, which once stood in front of +the old Ram Inn. The pedestal is hewn from a single block of stone, and +beautifully wrought with Gothic arcades and panelled quatrefoils; this +and the shaft are the sole relics of the old cross. We may go into +raptures over the ivy-covered ruin known as Alfred's Hall, fitted up as +it is with black oak and rusty armour and all the pompous simplicity of +the old baronial halls of England. Antiquaries of a certain order are +easily deceived; and this delightful old ruin, though but two hundred +years old, has been so skilfully put together as to represent an ancient +British castle. That celebrated, though indelicate divine, Dean Swift, +was, like Alexander Pope, deeply interested in the designing of +this park. + +As long ago as 1733 Alfred's Hall was a snare and delusion to +antiquaries. In that year Swift received a letter stating that "My Lord +Bathurst has greatly improved the Wood-House, which you may remember was +a cottage, not a bit better than an Irish cabin. It is now a venerable +castle, and has been taken by an antiquary for one of King Arthur's." + +The kennels of the V.W.H. hounds are in the park. Here the lover of +hounds can spend hours discussing the merits of "Songster" and +"Rosebud," or the latest and most promising additions to the families of +"Brocklesby Acrobat" or "Cotteswold Flier." + +In this house are some very interesting portraits. Full-length pictures +of the members of the Cabal Ministry adorn the dining-room--all fine +examples of Lely's brush; then there is a very large representation of +the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo mounted on his favourite charger +"Copenhagen" by Lawrence; two "Romneys," one "Sir Joshua," and several +"Knellers." + +Turning to the Abbey, the seat for the last three hundred and thirty +years of the Master family, we find another instance of a large country +house standing practically in a town. The house is situated immediately +behind the church and within a stone's throw of the market-place. But on +the side away from the town the view from this house extends over a +large extent of rural scenery. The site of the mitred Abbey of Saint +Mary is somewhere hereabouts, but in the time of the suppression of the +monasteries every stone of the old abbey was pulled down and carried +away; so that the twelfth-century gateway and some remnants of pillars +are the sole traces that remain. This gateway, which is a very fine one, +is still used as a lodge entrance. Queen Elizabeth granted this estate +to Richard Master in 1564. When King Charles was at Cirencester in the +time of the Rebellion he twice stayed at this house. In 1642 the +townspeople of Cirencester rose in a body, and tried to prevent the lord +lieutenant of the county, Lord Chandos, from carrying out the King's +Commission of Array. For a time they gained their ends, but in the +following year there was a sharp encounter between Prince Rupert's force +and the people of Cirencester, resulting in the total defeat of the +latter. Three hundred of them were killed, and over a thousand taken +prisoners. They were confined in the church, and eventually taken to +Oxford, where, upon their submitting humbly to the king, he pardoned +them, and they were released. This is one account. It is only fair to +state that another account is less complimentary to Charles. + +When Charles II. escaped from Worcester he put up at an old hostelry in +Cirencester called the Sun. King James and, still later, Queen Anne paid +visits to this town. + +Altogether the town of Cirencester is a very fascinating old place. The +lot of its inhabitants is indeed cast in pleasant places. The grand +bracing air of the Cotswold Hills is a tonic which drives dull care away +from these Gloucestershire people; and when it is remembered that they +enjoy the freedom of Lord Bathurst's beautiful park, that the +neighbourhood is, in spite of agricultural depression, well off in this +world's goods, it is not surprising that the pallid cheeks and drooping +figures to be met with in most of our towns are conspicuous by their +absence here. The Cotswold farmers may be making no profit in these days +of low prices and competition, but against this must be set the fact +that their fathers and grandfathers made considerable fortunes in +farming three decades ago, and for this we must be thankful. + +The merry capital of the Cotswolds abounds in good cheer and good +fellowship all the year round; and one has only to pay a visit to the +market-place on a Monday to meet the best of fellows and the most genial +sportsmen anywhere to be found amongst the farming community of England. + +One of the old institutions which still remain in the Cotswolds is the +annual "mop," or hiring fair. At Cirencester these take place twice in +October. Every labouring man in the district hurries into the town, +where all sorts of entertainments are held in the market-place, +including "whirly-go-rounds," discordant music, and the usual "shows" +which go to make up a country fair. "Hiring" used to be the great +feature of these fairs. In the days before local newspapers were +invented every sort of servant, from a farm bailiff to a +maid-of-all-work, was hired for the year at the annual mop. The word +"mop" is derived from an old custom which ordained that the +maid-servants who came to find situations should bring their badge of +office with them to the fair. They came with their brooms and mops, just +as a carter would tie a piece of whipcord to his coat, and a shepherd's +hat would be decorated with a tuft of wool. Time was when the labouring +man was never happy unless he changed his abode from year to year. He +would get tired of one master and one village, and be off to Cirencester +mop, where he was pretty sure to get a fresh job. But nowadays the +Cotswold men are beginning to realise that "Two removes are as bad as a +fire." The best of them stay for years in the same village. This is very +much more satisfactory for all concerned. Deeply rooted though the love +of change appears to be in the hearts of nine-tenths of the human race, +the restless spirit seldom enjoys real peace and quiet; and the +discontent and poverty of the labouring class in times gone by may +safely be attributed to their never-ceasing changes and removal of their +belongings to other parts of the country. + +Now that these old fairs no longer answer the purpose for which they +existed for hundreds of years, they will doubtless gradually die out. +And they have their drawbacks. An occasion of this kind is always +associated with a good deal of drunkenness; the old market-place of +Cirencester for a few days in each autumn becomes a regular pandemonium. +It is marvellous how quickly all traces of the great show are swept away +and the place once more settles down to the normal condition of an +old-fashioned though well-to-do country town. + +There are many old houses in Cirencester of more than average interest, +but there is nothing as far as we know that needs special description. +The Fleece Hotel is one of the largest and most beautiful of the +mediaeval buildings. It should be noted that some of the new buildings +in this town, such as that which contains the post office, have been +erected in the best possible taste. With the exception of some of the +work which Mr. Bodley has done at Oxford in recent years, notably the +new buildings at Magdalen College, we have never seen modern +architecture of greater excellence than these Cirencester houses. They +are as picturesque as houses containing shops possibly can be. + +HUNTING FROM CICETER. + +But it is as a hunting centre that Ciceter is best known to the world at +large, and in this respect it is almost unique. The "Melton of the +west," it contains a large number of hunting residents who are not mere +"birds of passage," but men who live the best part of the year in or +near the town. The country round about, from a hunting point of view, is +good enough for most people. Five days a week can be enjoyed, over a +variety of hill and vale, all of which is "rideable"; nor can there be +any question but that the sport obtainable compares favourably with that +enjoyed in the more grassy Midlands. Not that there is much plough round +about Cirencester nowadays; agricultural depression has diminished the +amount of arable in recent years. The best grass country round about, +however, with the exception of the Crudwell and Oaksey district, rides +decidedly deep. The enclosures are small and the fences rough and +straggling. + +A clever, bold horse, with plenty of jumping power in his quarters and +hocks, is essential. It may safely be said that a man who can command +hounds in the Braydon and Swindon district will find the "shires" +comparatively plain sailing. The wall country of the Cotswold tableland +is exactly the reverse of the vale. The pace there is often tremendous, +but the obstacles are not formidable enough to those accustomed to +walls to keep the eager field from pressing the pack, save on those rare +occasions when, on a burning scent, the hounds manage to get a start of +horses; and then they will never be caught. Well-bred horses are almost +invariably ridden in this wall country; if in hard condition, and there +are no steep hills to be crossed, they can go as fast and stay almost as +long as hounds, for the going is good, and they are always galloping on +the top of the ground. + +At the time of writing, there are over two hundred hunters stabled in +the little town of Cirencester, to say nothing of those kept at the +numerous hunting boxes around. More than this need not be said to show +the undoubted popularity of the place as a hunting centre. And a very +sporting lot the people are. Brought up to the sport from the cradle, +the Gloucestershire natives, squires, farmers, all sorts and conditions +of men, ride as straight as a die. + +From what has been said it will be readily gathered that the attraction +of the place as a hunting centre lies in the variety of country it +commands. Not only is a different stamp of country to be met with each +day of the week, but on one and the same day you may be riding over +banks, small flying fences, and sound grass, or deep ploughs and pasture +divided by hairy bullfinches, or, again, over light plough and stone +walls; and to this fact may be attributed the exceptional number of good +performers over a country that this district turns out. Both men and +horses have always appeared to us to reach a very high standard of +cleverness. + +To Leicestershire, Northants, Warwick, and the Vale of Aylesbury +belongs by undisputed right the credit of the finest grass country in +hunting England. But for Ireland and the rougher shires I claim the +honour of showing not only the straightest foxes, but also the best +sportsmen and the boldest riders. The reason seems to me to be this: in +Leicestershire you find the field composed largely of smart London men; +and after a certain age a man "goes to hounds" in inverse ratio to the +pace at which he travels as a man about town. The latter (with a few +brilliant exceptions to prove the rule) is not so quick and determined +when he sees a nasty piece of timber or an awkward hairy fence as his +reputation at the clubs would lead you to expect; whilst the rougher +countryman, be he yeoman or squire, farmer or peer, endowed with nerves +of iron, is able to cross a country with a confidence and a dash that +are denied to the average dandy, with his big stud, immaculate +"leathers," and expensive cigars. In Gloucestershire many an honest +yeoman goes out twice a week and endeavours to drown for a while all +thoughts of hard times and low prices, content for the day if the fates +have left him a sound horse and the consolation of a gallop over the +grass. Let it here be said that there are no grooms in the world who +better understand conditioning hunters than those of Leicestershire. +Nowhere can you see horses better bred or fitter to go; and he who rides +a-hunting on _fat_ horses must himself be _fat_. + +The V.W.H. hounds, on Mr. Hoare's retirement in 1886, were divided into +two packs. Mr. T. Butt Miller hunts three days a week on the eastern +side, with Cricklade as his centre; whilst Lord Bathurst has sufficient +ground for two days on the west, where the country flanks with the Duke +of Beaufort's domain on the south and the Cotswold hounds on the north. +Mr. Miller retains the original pack, and a very fine one it is. Lord +Bathurst likewise, by dint of sparing no pains, and by bringing in the +best blood obtainable from Belvoir, Brocklesby, and other kennels, has +gradually brought his pack to a high state of excellence. + +Turning to the week's programme for a man hunting five or six days a +week from Cirencester, Monday is the day for the duke's hounds. Here you +may be riding over some of the best of the grass, where light flying +fences grow on the top of low banks, or else it will be a stone-wall +country of mixed grass and light plough. In either case the country is +very rideable, and sport usually excellent. The Badminton hounds and +Lord Worcester's skill as a huntsman are too well known to require any +description here. + +On Tuesday Lord Bathurst's hounds are always within seven miles of the +town, and the country is a very open one, but one that requires plenty +of wet to carry scent. Though on certain days there is but little scent, +in favourable seasons during recent years wonderful sport has been shown +in this country. In the season of 1895-6 especially, a fine gallop came +off regularly every Tuesday from October to the end of February. In '97, +on the other hand, little was done. There is far more grass than there +used to be, owing to so much of the land having gone out of cultivation. +The plough rides lighter than grass does in nine counties out of ten, +the coverts are small, and the pace often tremendous. Every country has +its drawback, and in this case it lies partly in bad scent and partly in +the fences being too easy. Men who know the walls with which the +Cotswold tableland is almost entirely enclosed, ride far too close to +hounds: thus, the pack and the huntsman not being allowed a chance, +sport is often spoiled. Occasionally, when a real scent is forthcoming, +the hounds can run right away from the field; but as a rule they are +shamefully over-ridden. The fact is that in the hunting field, as +elsewhere, John Wolcot's epigram, written a hundred years ago, exactly +hits the nail on the head: + + "What rage for fame attends both great and small! + Better be d--d than mentioned not at all." + +We all want to ride in the front rank, and are, or ought to be, d--d +accordingly by the long-suffering M.F.H. + +On Wednesdays the Cotswold hounds are always within easy reach of +Cirencester. There are few better packs than the Cotswold. Started forty +years ago with part of the V.W.H. pack which Lord Gifford was giving up, +the Cotswold hounds have received strains of the best blood of the +Brocklesby, Badminton, Belvoir, and Berkeley kennels. They have +therefore both speed and stamina as well as good noses. Their huntsman, +Charles Travess, has no superior as far as we know; the result is that +for dash and drive these hounds are unequalled. Notwithstanding the +severe pace at which they are able to run, owing to the absence of high +hedges and other impediments--for most of the country is enclosed with +stone walls--they hunt marvellously well together and do not tail; they +are wonderfully musical, too,--more so than any other pack. + +Here it is worth our while to analyse briefly the qualities which +combine to make this huntsman so deservedly popular with all who follow +the Cotswold hounds. We venture to say that he pleases all and sundry, +"thrusters," hound-men, and _liver-men_ alike, because he invariably has +a double object in view--he hunts his fox and he humours his field. And +firstly he hunts his fox in the best possible method, having regard to +the scenting capabilities of the Cotswold Hills. + +He is quick as lightning, yet he is never in a hurry--that is to say, in +a "_bad_ hurry." When the hounds "throw up" or "check," like all other +good huntsmen he gives them plenty of time. He stands still and he +_makes his field stand still_; then may be seen that magnificent proof +of canine brain-power, the fan-shaped forward movement of a +well-drafted, old-established pack of foxhounds, making good by two +distinct casts--right-and left-handed--the ground that lies in front of +them and on each side. Should they fail to hit off the line, the +advantage of a brilliant huntsman immediately asserts itself. Partly by +certain set rules and partly by a knowledge of the country and the run +of foxes, but more than all by that _daring_ genius which was the +making of Shakespeare and the great men of all time, he takes his hounds +admirably in hand, aided by two quiet, unassuming whippers-in, and in +four cases out of five brings them either at the first or second cast to +the very hedgerow where five minutes before Reynard took his sneaking, +solitary way. It may be "forward," or it may be down wind, right or +left-handed, but it is at all events the _right_ way; thus, owing to +this happy knack of making the proper cast at a large percentage of +checks this man establishes his reputation as a first-class huntsman. + +Should the day be propitious, a run is now assured, unless some +unforeseen occurrence, such as the fox going to ground, necessitates a +draw for a fresh one; but in any case, owing to this marvellous knack of +hitting off the line at the first check, our huntsman generally +contrives to show a run some time during the day. + +So much for the methods by which this William Shakespeare of the hunting +field is wont to pursue his fox. But we have not done with him yet. What +does he do on those bad scenting days which on the dry and stony +Cotswold Hills are the rule rather than the exception? On such days, as +well as hunting his fox, he humours his field. In the first place, +unless he has distinct proof to the contrary, he invariably gives his +fox credit for being a straight-necked one. He keeps moving on at a +steady pace in the direction in which his instinct and knowledge lead +him, even though there may be no scent, either on the ground or in the +air, to guide the hounds. Every piece of good scenting ground--and he +knows the capabilities of every field in this respect--is made the most +of; "carrying" or dusty ploughs are scrupulously avoided. If he "lifts," +it is done so quietly and cunningly that the majority of the riders are +unaware of the fact; and the hounds never become wild and untractable. +It is this free and generous method of hunting the fox that pleases his +followers. Travess's casts are not made in cramped and stingy fashion, +but a wide extent of country is covered even on a bad day; there is no +rat-hunting. After a time all save a dozen sportsmen are left several +fields behind. "They won't run to-day," is the general cry; "there is no +hurry." But meantime some large grass fields are met with, or the +huntsman brings the pack on to better terms with the fox, or maybe a +fresh one jumps up, and away go the hounds for seven or eight minutes as +hard as they can pelt. Only a dozen men know exactly what has happened. +Most of the thrusters and all the _liver-men_ have to gallop in earnest +for half an hour to come up with the hunt; indeed, on many days they +never see either huntsman or hounds again, and go tearing about the +country cursing their luck in missing so fine a run! It is the old story +of the hare and the tortoise. But herein lies the "humour" of it: the +hare is pleased and the tortoise is pleased. The former, as represented +by the field, has enjoyed a fine scamper, and lots of air (bother the +currant jelly!) and exercise; the tortoise, on the other hand, has had a +fine hunting run, and possibly by creeping slowly on for some hours it +has killed its fox; whilst several good sportsmen have enjoyed an +old-fashioned hunt in a wild country with a kill in the open. + +_Verbum sap:_ If you want to humour your field, you must leave them +behind. It must not be done intentionally, however; the riders must be +allowed, so to speak, to work out their own salvation in this respect. + +Major de Freville's country as a whole is more suited to the "houndman" +than for him who hunts to ride. The hills, save in one district, are so +severe that hounds often beat horses; the result is, many are tempted to +station themselves on the top of a hill, whence a wide view is +obtainable, and trust to the hounds coming back after running a ring. +Given the right sort of horse, however--short-backed, thoroughbred if +possible, and with good enough manners to descend a steep place without +boring and tearing his rider's arms almost out of their sockets--many a +fine run may be seen in this wild district. Much of the arable land has +gone back to grass, so that it is quite a fair scenting country; and the +foxes are stronger and more straight-necked than in more civilised +parts. One of the best days the writer ever had in his life was with +these hounds. Meeting at Puesdown, they ran for an hour in the morning +at a great pace, with an eight-mile point; whilst in the afternoon came +a run of one-and-a-half hours, with a point of somewhere about +ten miles. + +With the exception of a small vale between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, +which is very good indeed, the Puesdown country is about the best, the +undulations being less severe than in other parts. + +On Thursdays Cirencester commands Mr. Miller's Braydon country. This +country is a very great contrast to that which is ridden over on +Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and requires a very stout horse. It rides +tremendously deep at times; and the fences, which come very frequently +in a run, owing to the small size of the enclosures, are both big and +blind. It is practically all grass. But there are several large +woodlands, with deep clay rides, in which one is not unlikely to spend a +part of Thursday; and these woods, owing in part to the shooting being +let to Londoners, are none too plentifully provided with foxes. Wire, +too, has sprung up in some parts of Mr. Miller's Braydon country. Few +people have large enough studs to stand the wear and tear of this fine, +wild country; consequently the fields are generally small. Sport, though +not so good as it used to be, is still very fair, and to run down to +Great Wood in the duke's country is sufficient to tax the powers of the +finest weight-carrying hunter, whilst only the man with a quick eye to a +country can live with hounds. It is often stated that blood horses are +the best for galloping through deep ground. This is true in one way, +though not on the whole. Thoroughbred horses are practically useless in +this sort of country; their feet are often so small that they stick in +the deep clay. A horse with small feet is no good at all in Braydon. A +short-legged Irish hunter, about three parts bred, with tremendous +strength in hocks and quarters, and biggish feet, is the sort the writer +would choose. If up to quite two stone more than his rider's weight, +and a safe and temperate fencer, he will carry you well up with hounds +over any country. A fast horse is not required; for a racer that can do +the mile on the flat at Newmarket in something under two minutes is +reduced in really deep ground to an eight-mile-an-hour canter, and your +short-legged horse from the Emerald Isle will leave him standing still +in the Braydon Vale. + +Some countries never ride really deep. The shires, for instance, though +often said to be deep, will seldom let a horse in to any great +extent--the ridge and furrow drains the field so well; and in that sort +of deep ground which is met with in Leicestershire a thoroughbred one +will gallop and "stay" all day. But a ride in Braydon or in the Bicester +"Claydons" will convince us that a stouter stamp of horse is necessary +to combat a deep, undrained clay country. + +We must now leave the sporting Thursday country of the V.W.H. and turn +to Friday. + +Eastcourt, Crudwell, Oaksey, Brinkworth, Lea Schools--such are some of +Lord Bathurst's Friday meets; and the pen can hardly write fast enough +in singing the praises of this country. Strong, well-preserved coverts, +sound grass fields, flying fences, sometimes set on a low bank, +sometimes without a bank, varied by an occasional brook, with now and +then a fence big enough to choke off all but the "customers"--such is +the bill of fare for Fridays. To run from Stonehill Wood, _viâ_ Charlton +and Garsdon, to Redborn in the duke's country, as the hounds did on the +first day of 1897, is, as "Brooksby" would say, "a line fit for a king, +be that king but well minded and well mounted." + +Stand on Garsdon Hill, and look down on the grassy vale mapped out +below, and tell me, if you dare, that you ever saw a pleasanter stretch +of country. How dear to the hunting man are green fields and +sweet-scenting pastures, where the fences are fair and clean and the +ditches broad and deep, where there is room to gallop and room to jump, +and where, as he sails along on a well-bred horse or reclines perchance +in a muddy ditch (Professor Raleigh! what a watery bathos!), he may +often say to himself, "It is good for me to be here!" For when the +hounds cross this country there are always "wigs on the green" in +abundance; and in spite of barbed wire we may still sing with Horace, + + "Nec fortuitum spernere caespitem + Leges sinebant," + +which, at the risk of offending all classical scholars, I must here +translate: "Nor do the laws allow us to despise a chance tumble on +the turf." + +Round Oaksey, too, is a rare galloping ground. Should you be lucky +enough to get a start from "Flistridge" and come down to the brook at a +jumpable place, in less than ten minutes you will be, if not _in_ +Paradise, at all events as near as you are ever likely to be on this +earth. This is literally true, for half way between "Flistridge" and +Kemble Wood, and in the midst of Elysian grass fields, is a narrow strip +of covert happily christened "Paradise." + +Would that there was a larger extent of this sort of country, for it is +not every Friday that hounds cross it! The duke's hounds have a happy +knack of crossing it occasionally on a Monday, however, and on Thursdays +Mr. Miller's hounds may drive a fox that way. + +This district is not so easy for a stranger to ride his own line over as +the Midlands; it is not half so stiff, but it is often cramped and +trappy. But then you must "look before you leap" in most countries +nowadays. In this Friday country wire is comparatively scarce. The +fields run very large on this day,--quite two hundred horsemen are to be +seen at favourite fixtures. About half this number would belong to the +country, and the other half come from the duke's country and elsewhere. +These Friday fields are as well mounted and well appointed as any in +England. And to see a run one must have a good horse,--not necessarily +an expensive one, for "good" and "expensive" are by no means synonymous +terms with regard to horseflesh. It is with regret that we must add that +foxes were decidedly scarce here last season (1897-8). + +On Saturdays the Cirencester brigade will hunt with Mr. Miller. +Fairford, Lechlade, Kempsford, and Water-Eaton are some of the meets. +Here we have a totally different country from any yet considered. It is +a wonderfully sporting one; and last season these hounds never had a bad +Saturday, and often a 'clinker' resulted. Here again one can never +anticipate what sort of ground will be traversed; but the best of it +consists of a fine open country of grass and plough intermingled, the +fields being intersected by small flying fences and exceptionally wide +and deep ditches. "Snowstorm"--a small gorse half way between Fairford +and Lechlade stations on the Great Western Railway--is a favourite draw. +If a fox goes away you see men sitting down in their saddles and +cramming at the fences as hard as their horses can gallop. There appears +to be nothing to jump until you are close up to the fence; but +nevertheless pace is required to clear them, for there is hardly a ditch +anywhere round "Snowstorm" that is not ten feet wide and eight feet or +more deep, and if you are unlucky your horse may have to clear fourteen +feet. On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing that a horse going +fast cannot clear almost without an effort if he jumps at all. So you +may ride in confidence at every fence, and take it where you please. The +depth of the ditch is what frightens a timid horse and, I may add, a +timid rider; and if your horse stops dead, and then tries to jump it +standing, you are very apt to tumble in. + +A rare sporting country is this district; and as the horses and their +riders know it, there are comparatively few falls. Round Kempsford and +Lechlade the Thames and the canal are apt to get in the way, but once +clear of these impediments a very open country is entered, either of +grass and flying fences or light plough and stone walls. Another style +of country is that round Hannington and Crouch. In old days, before wire +was known, this used to be the best grass country in the V.W.H., but +nowadays you must "look before you leap." With a good fox, however, +hounds may take you into the best of the old Berkshire vale, and +perhaps right up to the Swindon Hills. Round Water-Eaton is a fine grass +country, good enough for anybody; but the increase of wire is becoming +more and more difficult to combat in this as in other grazing districts +of England. + +The very varied bill of fare we have briefly sketched for a man hunting +from Cirencester may include an occasional Wednesday with the Heythrop +at "Bradwell Grove." It is not possible to reach the choicest part of +this pleasant country by road from Cirencester, but some of the best of +the stone-wall country of the Cotswold tableland is included in the +Heythrop domain. Everybody who has been brought up to hunting has heard +of "Jem Hills and Bradwell Grove": rare gallops this celebrated huntsman +used to show over the wolds in days gone by; and on a good scenting day +it requires a quick horse to live with these hounds. A fast and +well-bred pack, established more than sixty years ago, they have been +admirably presided over by Mr. Albert Brassey for close on a quarter of +a century. Several pleasant vales intersect this country, notably the +Bourton and the Gawcombe Vale; and there is excellent grass round +Moreton-in-the-Marsh. As, however, the grass country of the Heythrop is +too far from Cirencester to be reached by road, it hardly comes within +our scope. + +If hunting is doomed to extinction in the Midlands, owing to the growth +of barbed wire, it is exceedingly unlikely ever to die out in the +neighbourhood of Cirencester; for there is so much poor, unprofitable +land on the Cotswold tableland and in the Braydon district that barbed +wire and other evils of civilisation are not likely to interfere to +deprive us of our national sport; Hunting men have but to be true to +themselves, and avoid doing unnecessary damage, to see the sport carried +on in the twentieth century as it has been in the past. If we conform to +the unwritten laws of the chase, and pay for the damage we do, there +will be no fear of fox-hunting dying out. England will be "Merrie +England" still, even in the twentieth century; the glorious pastime, +sole relic of the days of chivalry, will continue among us, cheering the +life in our quiet country villages through the gloomy winter months;--if +only we be true to ourselves, and do our uttermost to further the +interests of the grandest sport on earth. + +As I have given an account of a run over the walls, and as the Ciceter +people set most store on a gallop over the stiff fences and grass +enclosures of their vale, here follows a brief description in verse of +the glories of fifty minutes on the grass. I have called it "The +Thruster's Song," because on the whole I thoroughly agree with +Shakespeare that + + "Valour is the chietest virtue, and + Most dignifies the haver." + +Hard riding and all sports which involve an element of danger are the +best antidotes to that luxury and effeminacy which long periods of peace +are apt to foster. What would become of the young men of the present +day--those, I mean, who are in the habit of following the hounds--if +hard riding were to become unfashionable? I cannot conceive anything +more ridiculous than the sight of a couple of hundred well-mounted men +riding day after day in a slow procession through gates, "craning" at +the smallest obstacles, or dismounting and "leading over." No; hard +riding is the best antidote in the world for the luxurious tendency of +these days. A hundred years ago, when the sport of fox-hunting was in +its infancy and modern conditions of pace were unknown, there was less +need for this kind of recreation, "the image of war without its guilt, +and only twenty-five per cent of its danger." For there was real +fighting enough to be done in olden times; and amongst hunting folk, +though there was much drinking, there was little luxury. Therefore our +fox-hunting ancestors were content to enjoy slow hunting runs, and small +blame to them! But those who are fond of lamenting the modern spirit of +the age, which prefers the forty minutes' burst over a severe country to +a three hours' hunting run, are apt to lose sight of the fact that in +these piping times of peace, without the risks of sport mankind is +liable to degenerate towards effeminacy. For this reason in the +following poem I have purposely taken up the cudgels for that somewhat +unpopular class of sportsmen, the "thrusters" of the hunting field. They +are unpopular with masters of hounds because they ride too close to the +pack; but as a general rule they are the only people who ever see a +really fast run. In Shakespeare's time hounds that went too fast for the +rest of the pack were "trashed for over-topping," that is to say, they +were handicapped by a strap attached to their necks. In the same way in +every hunt nowadays there are half a dozen individuals who have reduced +riding to hounds to such an art that no pack can get away from them in a +moderately easy country. These "bruisers" of the hunting field ought to +be made to carry three stone dead weight; they should be "trashed for +overtopping." However, as Brooksby has tersely put it, "Some men hunt to +ride and some ride to hunt; others, thank Heaven! double their fun by +doing both." There are many, many fine riders in England who will not be +denied in crossing a stiff country, and who at the same time are +interested in the hounds and in the poetry of sport: men to whom the +mysteries of scent and of woodcraft, as well as the breeding and +management of hounds, are something more than a mere name: men who in +after days recall with pleasure "how in glancing over the pack they have +been gratified by the shining coat, the sparkling eye--sure symptoms of +fitness for the fight;--how when thrown in to covert every hound has +been hidden; how every sprig of gorse has bristled with motion; how when +viewed away by the sharp-eyed whipper-in, the fox stole under the hedge; +how the huntsman clapped round, and with a few toots of his horn brought +them out in a body; how, without tying on the line, they 'flew to head'; +how, when they got hold of it, they drove it, and with their heads up +felt the scent on both sides of the fence; how with hardly a whimper +they turned with him, till at the end of fifty minutes they threw up; +how the patient huntsman stood still; how they made their own cast: and +how when they came back on his line, their tongues doubled and they +marked him for their own." To such good men and true I dedicate the +following lines:-- + +A DAY IN THE VALE; OR, THE THRUSTER'S SONG. + +You who've known the sweet enjoyment of a gallop in the vale, +Comrades of the chase, I know you will not deem my subject stale. +Stand with me once more beside the blackthorn or the golden gorse,-- +Don't forget to thank your stars you're mounted on a favourite horse; +For the hounds dashed into covert with a zest that bodes a scent, +And the glass is high and rising, clouded is the firmament. +When the ground is soaked with moisture, when the wind is in the east +Scent lies best,--the south wind doesn't suit the "thruster" in the least. +Some there are who love to watch them with their noses on the ground; +We prefer to see them flitting o'er the grass without a sound. +We prefer the keen north-easter; ten to one the scent's "breast high"; +With a south wind hounds can sometimes hunt a fox, but seldom fly. +Hark! the whip has viewed him yonder; he's away, upon my word! +If you want to steal a start, then fly the bullfinch like a bird; +Gallop now your very hardest; turn him sharp, and jump the stile, +Trot him at it--never mind the bough,--it's only smashed your tile! +Now we're with them. See, they're tailing, from the fierceness of the pace, +Up the hedgerow, o'er the meadow, 'cross the stubble see them race: +Governor--by Belvoir Gambler,--he's the hound to "run to head," +Tracing back to Rallywood, that fifty years ago was bred; +Close behind comes Arrogant, by Acrobat; and Artful too; +Rosy, bred by Pytchley Rockwood; Crusty, likewise staunch and true. +Down a muddy lane, in mad excitement, but, alas! too late, +Thunders half the field towards the portals of a friendly gate; +Sees a dozen red-coats bobbing in the vale a mile ahead; +Hears the huntsman's horn, and longs to catch those distant bits of red;-- +But in vain, for blind the fences, here a fall and there a "peck." +Some one cries, "An awful place, sir; don't go there, you'll break + your neck." +Not the stiff, unbroken fences, but the treacherous gaps we fear; +"Though in front the post of honour, that of danger's in the rear." +Forrard on, then forrard onwards, o'er the pasture, o'er the lea, +Tossed about by ridge and furrow, rolling like a ship at sea; +Stake and binder, timber, oxers, all are taken in our stride,-- +Better fifty minutes' racing than a dawdling five hours' ride. +I am not ashamed to own, with him who loves a steeplechase, +That to me the charm in hunting is the ecstasy of _pace_,-- +This is what best schools the soldier, teaches us that we are men +Born to bear the rough and tumble, wield the sword and not the pen. +Some there are who dub hard riders worthless and a draghunt crew-- +Tailors who do all the damage, mounted on a spavined screw. +Well, I grant you, hunting men are sometimes narrow-minded fools; +Ignorant of all worth knowing, save what's learnt in riding-schools; +Careless of the rights of others, scampering over growing crops, +Smashing gates and making gaps and scattering wide the turnip tops;-- +But I hold that out of all the hunting fields throughout the land +I could choose for active service a large-hearted, gallant band; +I could choose six hundred red-coats, trained by riding in the van, +Fit to go to Balaclava under brave Lord Cardigan. +'Tis the finest school, the chase, to teach contempt of cannon balls, +If a man ride bravely onward, spite of endless rattling falls. +And to be a first-rate sportsman, not a man who merely "rides," +Is to be a perfect gentleman, and something more besides; +Fearing neither man nor devil, kind, unselfish he must be, +Born to lead when danger threatens--type of ancient chivalry. +When you hear a "houndman" jeering at the "customers" in front, +Saying they come out to ride a steeplechase and not to hunt, +You may bet the "grapes are sour," the fellow's smoked his nerve away; +Once he went as well as they do: "every dog will have his day." +Though to ride about the roads in state may do your liver good, +You see precious little "houndwork" either there or in the wood. +He who loves to mark the work of hounds must ride beside the pack, +Choosing his own line, or following others, if he's lost the knack. +Lookers-on, I grant you, often see the best part of the game,-- +Still, to ride the roads and live with hounds are things not quite + the same. +Now a word to all those gallant chaps who love a hunting day: +In bad times you know that farming is a trade that doesn't pay, +Barbed wire's the cheapest kind of fence; the farmer can't afford +Tempting post-and-rails and timber--for he's getting rather bored. +Therefore, if we want to ride with our old devilry and dash, +We must put our hands in pockets deep and shovel out the cash. +When you want to hire a shooting you will gladly pay a "pony," +Yet when asked to give it to the hounds you're apt to say you're "stony." +Pay the piper, and the sport you love so well will flourish yet, +Flourish in the dim hereafter; and its sun will never set. +Help the noble cause of freedom; rich and poor together blend +Hands and hearts for ever working for a great and glorious end. + +[Illustration: An old barn 329.png] + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SPRING IN THE COTSWOLDS. + +Whilst walking by the river one day in May I noticed a brood of wild +ducks about a week old. The old ones are wonderfully tame at this time +of year. The mother evidently disliked my intrusion, for she started off +up stream, followed by her offspring, making towards a withybed a +hundred yards or so higher up, where a secluded spring gives capital +shelter for duck and other shy birds. What was my surprise a couple of +hours later to see the same lot emerge from some rushes three-quarters +of a mile up stream! They had circumvented a small waterfall, and the +current is very strong in places. Part of the journey must have been +done on dry land. + +At the same moment that I startled this brood out of the rushes a +moorhen swam slowly out, accompanied by her mate. It was evident, from +her cries and her anxious behaviour, that she too had some young ones in +the rushes; and soon two tiny little black balls of fur crawled out from +the bank and made for the opposite shore. Either from blindness or +fright they did not join their parents in mid stream, but hurried across +to the opposite bank and scrambled on to the mud, followed by the old +couple remonstrating with them on their foolishness. The mother then +succeeded in persuading one of them to follow her to a place of safety +underneath some overhanging boughs, but the other was left clinging to +the bank, crying piteously. I went round by a bridge in the hope of +being able to place the helpless little thing on the water; but, alas! +by the time I got to the spot it was dead. The exertion of crossing the +stream had been too much for it, for it was probably not twelve +hours old. + +When there are young ones about, moorhens will not dive to get out of +your sight unless their children dive too. It is pretty to see them +swimming on the down-stream side of their progeny, buoying them up in +case the current should prove too strong and carry them down. If there +are eggs still unhatched, the father, when disturbed, takes the little +ones away to a safer spot, whilst the mother sticks to the nest. But +they are rather stupid, for even the day after the eggs are hatched, on +being disturbed by a casual passer-by, the old cock swims out into mid +stream. He then calls to his tiny progeny to follow him, though they are +utterly incapable of doing so, and generally come to hopeless grief in +the attempt. Then the old ones are not very clever at finding children +that have been frightened away from the nest. I marked one down on the +opposite bank, and could see it crawling beneath some sticks; but the +old bird kept swimming past the spot, and appeared to neither hear nor +see the little ball of fur. Perhaps he was playing cunning; he may have +imagined that the bird was invisible to me, and was trying to divert my +attention from the spot. + +Moorhens are always interesting to watch. With a pair of field-glasses +an amusing and instructive half hour may often be spent by the stream in +the breeding season. + +I was much amused, while feeding some swans and a couple of wild ducks +the other day, to notice that the mallard would attack the swans if they +took any food that he fancied. One would have thought that such powerful +birds as swans--one stroke of whose wings is supposed to be capable of +breaking a man's leg--would not have stood any nonsense from an +unusually diminutive mallard. But not a bit of it: the mallard ruled the +roost; all the other birds, even the great swans, ran away from him when +he attacked them from behind with his beak. This state of things +continued for some days. But after a time the male swan got tired of the +game; his patience was exhausted. Watching his opportunity he seized the +pugnacious little mallard by the neck and gave him a thundering good +shaking! It was most laughable to watch them. It is characteristic of +swans that they are unable to look you in the face; and beautiful beyond +all description as they appear to be in their proper element, meet them +on dry land and they become hideous and uninteresting, scowling at you +with an evil eye. + +Sometimes as you are walking under the trees on the banks of the Coln +you come across a little heap of chipped wood lying on the ground. Then +you hear "tap, tap," in the branches above. It is the little nuthatch +hard at work scooping out his home in the bark. He sways his body with +every stroke of his beak, and is so busy he takes no notice of you. The +nuthatch is very fond of filberts, as his name implies. You may see him +in the autumn with a nut firmly fixed in a crevice in the bark of a +hazel branch, and he taps away until he pierces the shell and gets at +the kernel. Nuthatches, which are very plentiful hereabouts, are +sometimes to be found in the forsaken homes of woodpeckers, which they +plaster round with mud. The entrance to the hole in the tree is thus +made small enough to suit them. Sometimes when I have disturbed a +nuthatch at work at a hole in a tree, the little fellow would pop into +the hole and peep out at me, never moving until I had departed. + +Woodpeckers are somewhat uncommon here: I have not heard one in our +garden by the river for a very long time, though a foolish farmer told +me the other day that he had recently shot one. A mile or so away, at +Barnsley Park, where the oaks thrive on a vein of clay soil, green +woodpeckers may often be seen and heard. What more beautiful bird is +there, even in the tropics, than the merry yaffel, with his emerald back +and the red tuft on his head? The other two varieties of woodpeckers, +the greater and lesser spotted, are occasionally met with on the +Cotswolds. I do not know why we have so few green woodpeckers by the +river, as there are plenty of old trees there; but these birds, which +feed chiefly on the ground among the anthills, have a marked preference +for such woods in the neighbourhood as contain an abundance of oak +trees. The local name for these birds is "hic-wall," which Tom Peregrine +pronounces "heckle." There is no more pleasing sound than the long, +chattering note of the green woodpecker; it breaks so suddenly on the +general silence of the woods, contrasting as it does in its loud, +bell-like tones with the soft cooing of the doves and the songs of the +other birds. + +In various places along its course the river has long poles set across +it; on these poles Tom Peregrine has placed traps for stoats, weasels, +and other vermin. Recently, when we were fishing, he pointed out a great +stoat caught in one of these traps with a water-rat in its mouth--a very +strange occurrence, for the trap was only a small one, of the usual +rabbit size, and the rat was almost as big as the stoat. There is so +little room for the bodies of a stoat and a rat in one of these small +iron traps that the betting must be at least a thousand to one against +such an event happening. Unless we had seen it with our eyes we could +not have believed it possible. The stoat, in chasing the rat along the +pole, must have seized his prey at the very instant that the jaws of the +trap snapped upon them both. They were quite dead when we found them. + +Every one acquainted with gamekeepers' duties is well aware that the +iron traps armed with teeth which are in general use throughout the +country are a disgrace to nineteenth-century civilisation. It is a +terrible experience to take a rabbit or any other animal out of one of +these relics of barbarism. Sir Herbert Maxwell recently called the +attention of game preservers and keepers to a patent trap which Colonel +Coulson, of Newburgh, has just invented. Instead of teeth, the jaws of +the new trap have pads of corrugated rubber, which grip as tightly and +effectively as the old contrivance without breaking the bones or +piercing the skin. I trust these traps will shortly supersede the old +ones, so that a portion of the inevitable suffering of the furred +denizens of our woods may be dispensed with. + +In a hunting country where foxes occasionally find their way into vermin +traps, Colonel Coulson's invention should be invaluable. Instead of +having to be destroyed, or being killed by the hounds in covert, owing +to a broken leg, it is ten to one that Master Reynard would be released +very little the worse for his temporary confinement. Moreover, as Sir +Herbert Maxwell points out, dog owners will be grateful to the inventor +when their favourites accidentally find their way into one of these +traps and are released without smashed bones and bleeding feet. Any kind +of trap is but a diabolical contrivance at best, but these "humane +patents" are a vast improvement, and do the work better than the old, as +I can testify, having used them from the time Sir Herbert Maxwell first +called attention to them, and being quite satisfied with them. + +Badgers are almost as mysterious in their ways and habits as the otter. +Nobody believes there are badgers about except those who look for their +characteristic tracks about the fox-earths. Every now and then, however, +a badger is dug out or discovered in some way in places where they were +unheard of before. We have one here now. + +A few years ago I saw a pack of foxhounds find a badger in Chearsley +Spinneys in Oxfordshire. They hunted him round and round for about ten +minutes. I saw him just in front of the hounds; a great, fine specimen +he was too. As far as I remember, the hounds killed him in covert, and +then went away on the line of a fox. + +A year or two ago three fine young badgers were captured near +Bourton-on-the-Water, on the Cotswolds. When I was shown them I was told +they would not feed in confinement. Finding a large lobworm, I picked it +up and gave it to one of them. He ate it with the utmost relish. His +brown and grey little body shook with emotion when I spoke to him +kindly--just as a dog trembles when you pet him. I am not certain, +however, whether the badger trembled out of gratitude for the lobworm or +out of rage and disgust at being confined in a cage. + +Badgers would make delightful pets if they had a little less _scent_: +nature, as everybody knows, has endowed them with this quality to a +remarkable degree; they have the power of emitting or retaining it at +their own discretion. + +Badger-baiting with terriers is not an amusement which commends itself +to humane sportsmen. It is hard luck on the terriers, even more than on +the badger. The dogs have a very bad time if they go anywhere near him. + +Talking of terriers, how endless are the instances of superhuman +sagacity in dogs of all kinds! I once drove twenty-five miles from a +place near Guildford in Surrey to Windsor. In the cart I took with me a +little liver-coloured spaniel. When I had completed about half the +journey I put the spaniel down for a run of a few miles: this was all +she saw of the country. In Windsor, through some cause or other, I lost +her; but when I arrived home a day or two afterwards, she had arrived +there before me. It should be mentioned that the journey was not along a +high-road, but by cross-country lanes. How on earth she got home first, +unless she came back on my scent, then, finding herself near home, took +a short cut across country, so as to be there before me, it is +impossible to imagine. + +How curious it is that all animals seem to know when Sunday comes round! + +Fish and fowl are certainly much tamer on the seventh day of the week +than on any other. We had a terrier that would never attempt to follow +you when you were going to church so long as you had your Sunday clothes +on; whilst even when he was following you on a week day, if you turned +round and said "Church" in a decisive tone, he would trot straight back +to the house. As far as we know he had no special training in this +respect. This terrier, who was a rare one to tackle a fox, has on +several occasions spent the best part of a week down a rabbit burrow. +When dug out he seemed very little the worse for his escapade, though +decidedly emaciated in appearance. Poor little fellow! he died a +painless death not long ago from sheer old age. I was with him at the +time, and did not even know he was ill until five minutes before he +expired. The most obedient and faithful, as well as the bravest, little +dog in the world, he could do anything but speak. How much we can learn +from these little emblems of simplicity, gladness, and love. Implicit +obedience and boundless faith in those set over us, to forgive and +forget unto seventy times seven, to give gold for silver, nay, to +sacrifice all and receive back nothing in return,--these are some of the +lessons we may learn from creatures we call dumb. Perhaps they will have +their reward. There is room in eternity for the souls of animals as well +as of men; there is room for the London cab-horse after his life of +hardship and cruel sacrifice; there is room for the innocent lamb that +goes to the slaughter; there is room in those realms of infinity for +every bird of the air and every beast of the field that either the +necessity (that tyrant's plea) or the ignorance of man has condemned to +torture, injustice, or neglect! + +The most delightful of all dogs are those rough-haired Scotch deerhounds +the author of "Waverley" loved so well. How timid and subdued are these +trusty hounds on ordinary occasions! yet how fierce and relentless to +pursue and slay their natural quarry, the antlered monarch of the glen! +Once, in Savernake Forest, where the yaffels laugh all day amid the +great oak trees, and the beech avenues, with their Gothic foliations and +lichened trunks, are the finest in the world, a young, untried deerhound +of ours slipped away unobserved and killed a hind "off his own bat." +Though he had probably never seen a deer before, hereditary instinct was +too strong, and he succumbed to temptation. Yet he would not harm a fox, +for on another occasion, when I was out walking, accompanied by this +hound and a fox-terrier, the latter bolted a large dog fox out of a +drain. When the fox appeared the deerhound made after him, and, in his +attempt to dodge, reynard was bowled over on to his back. But directly +he was called, the deerhound came back to our heels, apparently not +considering the vulpine race fair game. I will not vouch for the +accuracy of the story, but our coachman asserts that he saw this +deerhound at play with a fox in our kitchen garden,--not a tame fox, but +a wild one. I believe, myself, that this actually did happen, as the man +who witnessed the occurrence is thoroughly reliable. + +There is no dog more knowing and sagacious in his own particular way +than a well-trained retriever. What an immense addition to the pleasure +of a day's partridge-shooting in September is the working of one of +these delightful dogs! Only the other day, when I was sitting on the +lawn, a retriever puppy came running up with something in his mouth, +with which he seemed very pleased. He laid it at my feet with great care +and tenderness, and I saw that it was a young pheasant about a +fortnight old. It ran into the house, and was rescued unharmed a few +hours afterwards by the keeper, who restored it to the hencoop from +whence it came. One could not be angry with a dog that was unable to +resist the temptation to retrieve, but yet would not harm the bird in +the smallest degree. + +One does not often see teams of oxen ploughing in the fields nowadays. +Within a radius of a hundred miles of London town this is becoming a +rare spectacle. They are still used sometimes in the Cotswolds, however, +though the practice of using them must soon die out. Great, slow, +lumbering animals they are, but very handsome and delightful beasts to +look upon. A team of brown oxen adds a pleasing feature to the +landscape. + +As we come down the steep ascent which leads to our little hamlet, we +often wonder why some of the cottage front doors are painted bright red +and some a lovely deep blue. These different colours add a great deal of +picturesqueness to the cottages; but is it possible that the owners have +painted their doors red and blue for the sake of the charming distant +effect it gives? These people have wonderfully good taste as a rule. The +other day we noticed that some of the dreadful iron sheeting which is +creeping into use in country places had been painted by a farmer a +beautiful rich brown. It gave quite a pretty effect to the barn it +adjoined. Every bit of colour is an improvement in the rather +cold-looking upland scenery of the Cotswolds. + +Cray-fishing is a very popular amusement among the villagers. These +fresh-water lobsters abound in the gravelly reaches of the Coln. They +are caught at night in small round nets, which are baited and let down +to the bottom of the pools. The crayfish crawl into the nets to feed, +and are hauled up by the dozen. Two men can take a couple of bucketfuls +of them on any evening in September. Though much esteemed in Paris, +where they fetch a high price as _écrevisse_, we must confess they are +rather disappointing when served up. The village people, however, are +very fond of them; and Tom Peregrine, the keeper, in his quaint way +describes them as "very good pickings for dessert." As they eat a large +number of very small trout, as well as ova, on the gravel spawning-beds, +crayfish should not be allowed to become too numerous in a trout stream. + +It is difficult to understand in what the great attraction of +rook-shooting consists. Up to yesterday I had never shot a rook in my +life. The accuracy with which some people can kill rooks with a rifle is +very remarkable. I have seen my brother knock down five or six dozen +without missing more than one or two birds the whole time. One would be +thankful to die such an instantaneous death as these young rooks. They +seem to drop to the shot without a flutter; down they come, as straight +as a big stone dropped from a high wall. Like a lump of lead they fall +into the nettles. They hardly ever move again. It is difficult work +finding them in the thick undergrowth. + +About eleven o'clock the evening after shooting the young rooks I was +returning home from a neighbouring farmhouse when I heard the most +lamentable sounds coming from the rookery. There seemed to be a funeral +service going on in the big ash trees. Muffled cawings and piteous cries +told me that the poor old rooks were mourning for their children. I +cannot remember ever hearing rooks cawing at that time of night before. +Saving the lark, "that scorner of the ground," which rises and sings in +the skies an hour before sunrise, the rooks are the first birds to +strike up at early dawn. One often notices this fact on sleepless +nights. About 2.30 o'clock on a May morning a rook begins the grand +concert with a solo in G flat; then a cock pheasant crows, or an owl +hoots; moorhens begin to stir, and gradually the woodland orchestra +works up to a tremendous burst of song, such as is never heard at any +hour but that of sunrise. + + "Now the rich stream of music winds along, + Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong, + Through verdant vales." + +How often one has heard this grand thanksgiving chorus of the birds at +early dawn! + +I wonder if the poor rooks caw all night long after the "slaughter of +the innocents?" They were still at it when I went to bed at 12.30, and +this was within two hours of their time of getting up. + + "Some say that e'en against that season cornea + In which our Saviour's birth is celebrated, + The bird of dawning singeth all night long." + +Thus wrote Shakespeare of bold chanticleer; and perhaps the rooks when +they are grieving for their lost ones, hold solemn requiem until the +morning light and the cheering rays of the sun make them forget +their woes. + +It is difficult to understand what pleasure the farmers find in shooting +young rooks with twelve-bore guns. Ours are always allowed a grand +_battue_ in the garden every year. They ask their friends out from +Cirencester to assist. For an hour or so the shots have been rattling +all round the house and on the sheds in the stable-yard. The horses are +frightened out of their wits. Grown-up men ought to know better than to +keep firing continually towards a house not two hundred yards away. A +stray pellet might easily blind a man or a horse. + +Farmers are sometimes very careless with their guns. Out +partridge-shooting one is in mortal terror of the man on one's right, +who invariably carries his gun at such a level that if it went off it +would "rake" the whole line. If you tell one of these gentry that he is +holding his gun in a dangerous way, he will only laugh, remarking +possibly that you are getting very nervous. The best plan is not to ask +these well-meaning, but highly dangerous fellows to shoot with you. +Unfortunately it is probably the eldest son of the principal tenant on +the manor who is the culprit. The best plan in such cases is to speak to +the old man firmly, but courteously, asking him to try to dissuade his +son from his dangerous practices. + +It is amusing to watch the jackdaws when they come from the ivy-mantled +fir trees to steal the food we throw every morning on to the lawn in +front of the house for the pheasants, the pigeons, and other birds. +They are the funniest rascals and the biggest thieves in Christendom. +Alighting suddenly behind a cock pheasant, they snatch the food from him +just as he imagines he has got it safely; and terribly astonished he +always looks. Then these greedy daws will chase the smaller birds as +they fly away with any dainty morsel, and compel them to give it up. A +curiously mixed group assembles on the lawn each morning at eight +o'clock in the winter. First of all there are the pheasants crowing +loudly for their breakfast, then come the stately swans, several +pinioned wild ducks, tame pigeons and wild and timid stock doves, four +or five moorhens, any number of daws, as well as thrushes, blackbirds, +starlings, house-sparrows, and finches. One day, having forgotten to +feed them, I was astonished at hearing loud quacks proceeding from the +dining-room, and was horrified to find that the ducks had come into the +house to look for me and demand their grub. + +Foxes give one a good deal of anxiety in May and June, when the cubs are +about half grown. On arriving home to-day the first news I hear is that +two dead cubs have been picked up: "one looks as if his head had been +battered in, and the other appears to have been worried by a dog." This +is the only information I can get from the keeper. It is really a +serious blow; for if two have been found dead, how many others may not +have died in their earth or in the woods? + +Two seasons ago six dead cubs were picked up here; they had died from +eating rooks which had been poisoned by some farmers. It took us a long +time to get to the bottom of this affair, for no information is to be +got out of Gloucestershire folk; you must ferret such matters +out yourself. + +There are still live cubs in the breeding-earth, for I heard them there +this afternoon; so there is yet hope. But twenty acres of covert will +not stand this sort of thing, considering that the hounds are "through" +them once in three weeks, on an average, throughout the winter. Only one +vixen survived at the end of last season, though another one has turned +up since. We have two litters, fortunately. Where you have coverts handy +to a stream of any kind, there will foxes congregate. They love +water-rats and moorhens more than any other food. + +A strange prejudice exists among hunting men against cleaning out +artificial earths. There was never a greater fallacy. Fox-earths want +looking to from time to time, say every ten years, for rabbits will +render them practically useless by burrowing out in different places. A +block is often formed in the drain by this burrowing, and the earth will +have to be opened and the channel freed. + +The best possible preventive measure against mange is to clear out your +artificial earths every ten years. As for driving the foxes away by this +practice, we cannot believe it. You cannot keep foxes from using a good +artificial drain so long as it lies dry and secluded and the entrance is +not too large. They prefer a small entrance, as they imagine dogs cannot +follow them into a small hole. + +A farmer made an earth in a hedgerow last year right away from any +coverts, and, one would have thought, out of the beaten track of +reynard's nightly prowls; yet the foxes took to this earth at the +beginning of the hunting season, and they were soon quite +established there. + +There is no mystery about building a fox-drain. Reynard will take to any +dry underground place that lies in a secluded spot. If it faces +south--that is to say, if your earth runs in a half circle, with both +entrances facing towards the south or south-west--so much the better. +The entrance should not be more than about six inches square. Such a +hole looks uncommonly small, no doubt, but a fox prefers it to a larger +one. About half way through the passage a little chamber should be made, +to tempt a vixen to lay up her cubs there. When there are lots of foxes +and not too many earths, they will very soon begin to work a new drain, +so long as it lies in a secluded spot and within easy distance of Master +Reynard's skirmishing grounds. + +We have lately made such an earth in a small covert, because the +original earth is the wrong side of the River Coln. All the good country +is on the opposite side of the river to that on which the old earth is +situated. Foxes will seldom cross the stream when they are first found. +It is hoped, therefore, that when they take to the new earth they will +lie in the wood on the right side of the stream. We shall then close the +old earth, and thus endeavour to get the foxes to run the good country. +Much may be done to show sport by using a little strategy of this kind. +Many a good stretch of grass country is lost to the hunt because the +earths are badly distributed. It must be remembered that a fox when +first found will usually go straight to his earth; finding that closed, +he will make for the next earths he is in the habit of using. + +The other day, while ferreting in the coverts previous to +rabbit-shooting, the keeper bolted a huge fox out of one burrow and a +cat out of the other. He also tells me that he once found a hare and a +fox lying in their forms, within three yards of one another, in a small +disused quarry. There is no doubt that, like jack among fish, the fox is +friendly enough on some days, when his belly is full. He then "makes up +to" rabbits and other animals, with the intent of "turning on them" when +they least expect it. Without this treacherous sort of cunning, reynard +would often have to go supperless to bed. + +In those drains and earths where foxes are known to lie you will often +see traces of rabbits. These little conies are wonderfully confiding in +the way they use a fox-earth. It is difficult to believe that they live +in the drain with the foxes, but they are exceedingly fond of making +burrows with an entrance to an earth. They are a great nuisance in +spoiling earths by this practice. Rabbits invariably establish +themselves in fox-drains which have been temporarily deserted. + +Foxes become very "cute" towards the end of the hunting season. They can +hear hounds running at a distance of four or five miles on windy days. +Knowing that the earths are stopped, they leave the bigger woods and +hide themselves in out-of-the-way fields and hedgerows. Last season a +fox was seen to leave our coverts, trot along the high-road, and +ensconce himself among some laurels near the manor house. He was so +easily seen where he lay in the shrubbery that a crowd of villagers +stood watching him from the road. He knew the hounds would not draw this +place, as it is quite small and bare, so here he stayed until dusk; +then, having assured himself that the hounds had gone home, he jumped up +and trotted back to the woods again. + +A flock of sheep are not always frightened at a fox. The other day an +old dog fox, the hero of many a good run in recent years from these +coverts (an "old customer," in fact), was observed by the keeper and two +other men trying to cross the river by means of a footbridge. A flock of +sheep, doubtless taking him for a dog, were frustrating his endeavours +to get across; directly he set foot on dry land they would bowl him over +on to his back in the most unceremonious way. This game of romps went on +for about ten minutes. Finally the fox, getting tired of trying to pass +the sheep, trotted back over the footbridge. Fifty yards up stream a +narrow fir pole is set across the water. The cunning old rascal made for +this, and attempted to get to the other side; but the fates were against +him. There was a strong wind blowing at the time, so that when he was +half way across the pool, he was actually blown off sideways into the +water. And a rare ducking he got! He gave the job up after this, and +trotted back into the wood. This is a very curious occurrence, because +the fox was perfectly healthy and strong. He is well known throughout +the country, not only for his tremendous cheek, but also for the +wonderful runs he has given from time to time. He will climb over a +six-foot wire fence to gain entrance to a fowl-run belonging to an +excellent sportsman, who, though not a hunting man, would never allow a +fox to be killed. He is reported to have had fifty, fowls out of this +place during the last few months. When caught in the act in broad +daylight, the fox had to be hunted round and round the enclosure before +he would leave, finally climbing up the wire fencing like a cat, instead +of departing by the open door. + +It is very rare that a mischievous fox, given to the destruction of +poultry, is also a straight-necked one. Too often these gentry know no +extent of country; they take refuge in the nearest farmyard when pressed +by the hounds. At the end of a run we have seen them on the roof of +houses and outbuildings time after time. On one occasion last season a +hunted fox was discovered among the rafters in the roof of a very high +barn. The "whipper-in" was sent up by means of a long ladder, eventually +pulling him out of his hiding-place by his brush. Poor brute! perhaps he +might have been spared after showing such marvellous strategy. + +It speaks wonders for the good-nature and unselfishness of the farmer +who owns the fowl-run above alluded to that he never would send in the +vestige of a claim to the hunt secretary for the poultry he has lost +from time to time. But he is one of the old-fashioned yeomen of +Gloucestershire--a gentleman, if ever there was one--a type of the best +sort of Englishman. Alas! that hard times have thinned the ranks of the +old yeoman farmers of the Cotswolds! They are the very backbone of the +country; we can ill afford to lose them, with their cheery, bluff +manners and good-hearted natures. + +Some of the people round about are not so scrupulous in the way of +poultry claims. We have had to investigate a large number in, recent +years. It is a difficult matter to distinguish _bonâ-fide_ from "bogus" +claims; they vary in amount from one to twenty pounds. Once only have we +been foolish enough to rear a litter of cubs by hand, having obtained +them from the big woods at Cirencester. Before the hunting season had +commenced we had received claims of nineteen and fourteen pounds from +neighbouring farmers for poultry and turkeys destroyed. One bailiff +declared that the foxes were so bold they had fetched a young heifer +that had died from the "bowssen" into the fox-covert. Whether the +bailiff put it there or the foxes "fetched" it I know not, but the +white, bleached skull may be seen hard by the earth to this day. + +One of the claimants above named farms three hundred acres on strictly +economical principles. He has allowed the land to go back to grass, and +the only labour he employs on it is a one-legged boy, whom he pays "in +kind." This boy arrived the other day with another poultry claim, when +the following dialogue occurred:-- + +"I see you have got down sixteen young ducklings on the list?" + +"Yaas, the jackdars fetched they." + +"How do you know the jackdaws took them?" "'Cos maister said so." + +"Do you shut up your fowls at night?" + +"Yaas, we shuts the daar, but the farxes gets in. It be all weared out. +There be great holes in the bowssen where they gets through and +fetches them." + +How can one pay poultry claims of this kind? It being absolutely +impossible to verify these accounts properly, the only way is to take +the general character of the claimant, paying according as you think him +straightforward or the reverse. It is an insult to an honest man to +offer him anything less than the amount he asks for; therefore claims +which have every appearance of being _bonâ fide_ should be settled in +full. But the hunt can't afford it, one is told. In that case people +ought to subscribe more. If men paid ten pounds for every hunter they +owned, the income of most establishments would be more than doubled. + +The farmers are wonderfully long-suffering on the whole, but they cannot +be expected to welcome a whole multitude of strangers; nor can they +allow large fields to ride over their land in these bad times without +compensation of some sort. Slowly, but surely, a change is coming over +our ideas of hunting rights and hunting courtesy; and the sooner we +realise that we ought to pay for our hunting on the same scale as we do +for shooting and fishing, the better will it be for all concerned. + +Talking of hunting and foxes reminds me that a short time ago I went to +investigate an earth to see if a vixen was laid down there. Finding no +signs of any cubs, I was just going away when I saw a feather sticking +out of the ground a few yards from the fox-earth. I pulled four young +thrushes, a tiny rabbit, and two young water-rats out of this hole, and +re-buried them. The cubs, it afterwards appeared, were laid up in a +rabbit burrow some distance away. But the old vixen kept her larder near +her old quarters, instead of burying her supplies for a rainy day close +to the hole where she had her cubs. Perhaps she was meditating moving +the litter to this earth on some future occasion. + +I shall never forget discovering this litter. When looking down a +rabbit-hole I heard a scuffle. A young cub came up to the mouth of the +hole, saw me, and dashed back again into the earth. This was the +smallest place I ever saw cubs laid up in. The vixen happened to be a +very little one. + +It is amusing to watch the cubs playing in the corn on a summer's +evening. If you go up wind you can approach within ten yards of them. +Round and round they gambol, tumbling each other over for all the world +like young puppies. They take little notice of you at first; but after a +time they suddenly stop playing, stare hard at you for half a minute, +then bolt off helter-skelter into the forest of waving green wheat. + +One word more about the scent of foxes. Not long ago a man wrote to the +_Field_ saying that he had proved by experiment that on the saturation +or relative humidity of the air the hunter's hopes depend: in fact, he +announced that he had solved the riddle of scent. It so happened that +for some years the present writer had also been amusing himself with +experiments of the same nature, and at one time entertained the hope +that by means of the hygrometer he would arrive at a solution of the +mystery. But alas! it was not to be. On several occasions when the air +was well-nigh saturated, scent proved abominable. That the relative +humidity of the air is not the all-important factor was often proved by +the bad scent experienced just before rain and storms, when the +hygrometer showed a saturation of considerably over ninety per cent. But +there are undoubtedly other complications besides the evaporations from +the soil and the relative humidity of the air to be considered in making +an enquiry into the causes of good and bad scent. The amount of moisture +in the ground, the state of the soil in reference to the all-important +question of whether it carries or not, the temperature of the air, and +last, but not by any means least, the condition of the quarry, be it +fox, stag, or hare, are all questions of vital importance, complicating +matters and preventing a solution of the mysteries of scent. + +As the atmosphere is variable, so also must scent be variable. The two +things are inseparably bound up with one another. For this reason, if +after a period of rainy weather we have an anti-cyclone in the winter +without severe frost, and an absence of bright sunny days, we can +usually depend on a scent. Instead of the air rising, there is during an +anti-cyclone, as we all know, a tendency towards a gentle down-flow of +air or at all events a steady pressure, and this causes smoke, whether +from a railway engine or a tobacco pipe, to hang in the air and scent to +lie breast high. + +Unfortunately the normal state of the atmospheric fluid is a rushing in +of cold air and a rushing out or upwards of warmer air, causing +unsettled variable equilibrium and unsettled variable scent. The +barometer would be an absolutely reliable guide for the hunting man were +it not for the complications already named above, complications which +prevent either barometer or hygrometer from offering infallible +indications of good or bad scenting days. However, scent often improves +at night when the dew begins to form; and it may also suddenly improve +at any time of day should the dew point be reached, owing to the +temperature cooling to the point of saturation. This is always liable to +occur at some time, on days on which the hygrometer shows us that there +is over ninety per cent of moisture in the air. But here again radiation +comes in to complicate matters; for clouds may check the formation of +dew. It may safely be said, however, that other conditions being +favourable, a fast run is likely to occur at any time of day should the +dew point be reached. Thus the hygrometer is worthy to be studied on a +hunting morning. + +In May there is a good deal of weed-cutting to be done on a trout +stream. Our plan is to have a couple of big field days about May 12th. +The weeds on over two miles of water are all cut during that time. As +they are not allowed to be sent down the stream, we get them out in +several different places; they are then piled in heaps, and left to rot. +The operation is repeated at the end of the fishing season. About a +dozen scythes tied together are used. Two men hold the ends and walk up +the stream, one on each side of the river, mowing as they go. + +There is a certain amount of management required in weed-cutting. If +much weed is left uncut, the millers grumble; if you cut them bare, +there are no homes left for the fish. The last is the worse evil of the +two. The millers are usually kind-hearted men, whilst poachers can +commit fearful depredations in a small stream that has been cut +too bare. + +The way these limestone streams are netted is as follows: About two in +the morning, when there is enough light to commence operations, a net is +laid across the stream and pegged down at each end; the water is then +beaten with long sticks both above and below the net. Nor is it +difficult to drive the trout into the trap; they rush down +helter-skelter, and, failing to see any net, they soon become hopelessly +entangled in its meshes. The bobbing corks intimate to the poachers that +there are some good trout in the net; one end is then unpegged, and the +haul is made. + +About ten trout would be a good catch. The operation is repeated four or +five times, until some fifty fish have been bagged. The poachers then +depart, taking care to remove all signs of their night's work, such as +scales of fish, stray weeds, and bits of stick. + +In weed-cutting by hand, instead of with the long knives, it is +wonderful how many trout get cut by the scythes. There used to be +several good fish killed this way at each annual cutting, when the men +used to walk up the stream mowing as they went. One would have thought +trout would have been able to avoid the scythes, being such quick, +slippery animals. + +Until the present season otters have seldom visited our parts of the +Coln. Unfortunately, however, they have turned up, and are committing +sad havoc among the fish. It is such a terribly easy stream for them to +work. The water is very shallow, and the current is a slow one. + +We are not well up in otter-hunting in these parts, there being no +hounds within fifty miles. I have never seen an otter on the Coln. But +one day, at a spot near which we have noticed the billet of an otter and +some fishes' heads, I heard a noise in the water, and a huge wave seemed +to indicate that something bigger than a Coln trout was proceeding up +stream close to the bank all the way. On running up, of course I saw +nothing. But half an hour afterwards I saw another big wave of the same +kind. It was so close to me that if it had been a fish or a rat I must +have seen him. I had a terrier with me, but of course he was unable to +find an otter. A dog unbroken to the scent is worse than useless. + +On another occasion I saw a water-vole running away from some larger +animal under the opposite bank of the river. Some bushes prevented my +seeing very well, but I am almost certain it was an otter. "A Son of the +Marshes" mentions in one of his charming books that otters do kill +water-rats. I was not aware of this fact until I read it in the book +called "From Spring to Fall." + +The broad shallow reach of the Coln in front of the manor house seems +to be a favourite hunting-ground of the otter during his nocturnal +rambles; for sometimes one is awakened at night by a tremendous tumult +among the wild duck and moorhens that haunt the pool. They rush up and +down, screaming and flapping their wings as if they were "daft." + +A few weeks after writing the above we caught a beautiful female otter +in a trap, weighing some seventeen pounds. I have regretted its capture +ever since. Great as the number of trout they eat undoubtedly is, I do +not intend to allow another otter to be trapped, unless they become too +numerous. Such lovely, mysterious creatures are becoming far too scarce +nowadays, and ought to be rigidly preserved. Last October we were +shooting a withybed of two acres on the river bank, when the beaters +suddenly began shouting, "An otter! An otter!" And sure enough a large +dog otter ran straight down the line. This small withybed also contained +three fine foxes and a good sprinkling of pheasants. + +The number of water-voles in the banks of this stream seems to increase +year by year. The damage they do is not great; but the millers and the +farmers do not like them, because with their numerous holes they +undermine the banks of the millpound, and the water finds its way +through them on to the meadows. Country folk are very fond of an +occasional rat hunt: they do lay themselves out to be hunted so +tremendously. A rat will bolt out of his hole, dive half way across the +stream, then, taking advantage of the tiniest bit of weed, he will come +up to the surface, poke his nose out of the water and watch you +intently. An inexperienced eye would never detect him. But if a stone is +thrown at him, finding his subterfuge detected, he is apt to lose his +head--either coming back towards you, and being obliged to come up for +air before he reaches his hole, or else swimming boldly across to the +opposite bank. In the latter case he is safe. + +Tom Peregrine is a great hand at catching water-voles in a landing-net. +He holds the net over the hole which leads to the water, and pokes his +stick into the bank above. The rat bolts out into the net and is +immediately landed. House-rats--great black brutes--live in the banks of +the stream as well as water-voles. They are very much larger and less +fascinating than the voles. To see one of the latter species crossing +the stream with a long piece of grass in his mouth is a very pretty +sight They are rodents, and somewhat resemble squirrels. + +[Illustration: In Bibury Village 358.png] + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PROMISE OF MAY. + + "Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus + Tam cari capitis?" + + HORACE. + +About the middle of May the lovely, sweet-scenting lilac comes into +bloom. It brightens up the old, time-worn barns, and relieves the +monotony of grey stone walls and mossy roofs in the Cotswold village. + +The prevailing colour of the Cotswold landscape may be said to be that +of gold. The richest gold is that of the flaming marsh-marigolds in the +water meadows during May; goldilocks and buttercups of all kinds are +golden too, but of a slightly different and paler hue. Yellow charlock, +beautiful to look upon, but hated by the farmers, takes possession of +the wheat "grounds" in May, and holds the fields against all comers +throughout the summer. In some parts it clothes the whole landscape like +a sheet of saffron. Primroses and cowslips are of course paler still. +The ubiquitous dandelion is likewise golden; then we have birdsfoot +trefoil, ragwort, agrimony, silver-weed, celandine, tormentil, yellow +iris, St. John's wort, and a host of other flowers of the same hue. In +autumn comes the golden corn; and later on in mid winter we have pale +jessamine and lichen thriving on the cottage walls. So throughout the +year the Cotswolds are never without this colour of saffron or gold. +Only the pockets of the natives lack it, I regret to say. + +Every cottager takes a pride in his garden, for the flower shows which +are held every year result in keen competition. A prize is always given +for the prettiest garden among all the cottagers. This is an excellent +plan; it brightens and beautifies the village street for eight months in +the year. In May the rich brown and gold of the gillyflower is seen on +every side, and their fragrance is wafted far and wide by every breeze +that blows. + +Then there is a very pretty plant that covers some of the cottage walls +at this time of year. It is the wistaria; in the distance you might take +it for lilac, for the colours are almost identical. + +Then come the roses--the beautiful June roses--the _nimium breves +flores_ of Horace. But the roses of the Cotswolds are not so short lived +for all that Horace has sung: you may see them in the cottage gardens +from the end of May until Christmas. + +How cool an old house is in summer! The thick walls and the stone floors +give them an almost icy feeling in the early morning. Even as I write my +thermometer stands at 58° within, whilst the one out of doors registers +65° in the shade. This is the ideal temperature, neither too hot nor too +cold. But it is not summer yet, only the fickle month of May. + +Tom Peregrine is getting very anxious. He meets me every evening with +the same story of trout rising all the way up the stream and nobody +trying to catch them. I can see by his manner that he disapproves of my +"muddling" over books and papers instead of trying to catch trout. He +cannot understand it all. Meanwhile one sometimes asks oneself the +question which Peregrine would also like to propound, only he dare not, +Why and wherefore do we tread the perilous paths of literature instead +of those pleasant paths by the river and through the wood? The only +answer is this: The _daemon_ prompts us to do these things, even as it +prompted the men of old time. + + "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough hew them how we will." + +If there is such a thing as a "call" to any profession, there is a call +to that of letters. So with an enthusiasm born of inexperience and +delusive hope we embark as in a leaky and untrustworthy sailing ship, +built, for ought we know, "in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark," +and at the mercy of every chance breeze are wafted by the winds of +heaven through chaos and darkness into the boundless ocean of words and +of books. When the waves run high they resemble nothing so much as lions +with arched crests and flowing manes going to and fro seeking whom they +may devour, or savage dogs rushing hither and thither foaming at the +mouth; and when old Father Neptune lets loose his hungry sea-dogs of +criticism, then look out for squalls! + +But again the _daemon_, that still small voice echoing from the far-off +shores of the ocean of time, whispers in our ear, "In the morning sow +thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest +not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both +shall be alike good." + +So we sow in weakness and in fear and trembling, "line upon line, line +upon line; here a little and there a little," sometimes in mirth and +laughter, sometimes in tears. Let us not ask to be raised in power. Let +us resign all glory and honour and power to the Ancient of Days, prime +source of the strength of wavering, weak mankind. Rather let us be +thankful that by turning aside from "the clamour of the passing day" to +tread the narrow paths of literature, however humble, however obscure +our lot may have been, we gained an insight into the nobler destinies of +the human soul, and learnt a lesson which might otherwise have been +postponed until we were hovering on the threshold of Eternity. + +In spite of complaints of east winds and night frosts, May is the nicest +month in the year take it all in all. In London this is the case even +more than in the country. The trees in the parks have then the real +vivid green foliage of the country. There is a freshness about +everything in London which only lasts through May. By June the smoke and +dirt are beginning to spoil the tender, fresh greenery of the young +leaves. In the early morning of May 12th, 1897, more than an inch of +snow fell in the Cotswolds, but it was all gone by eight o'clock. In +spite of the weather, May is "the brightest, merriest month of all the +glad New Year." Everything is at its best. Man cannot be morose and +ill-tempered in May. The "happy hills and pleasing shade" must needs "a +momentary bliss bestow" on the saddest of us all. Look at yonder +thoroughbred colt grazing peacefully in the paddock: if you had turned +him out a month ago he would have galloped and fretted himself to death; +but now that the grass is sweet and health-giving, he is content to +nibble the young shoots all day long. What a lovely, satin-like coat he +has, now that his winter garments are put off! There is a picture of +health and symmetry! He has just reached the interesting age of four +years, is dark chestnut in colour, and sixteen hands two and a half +inches in height; grazing out there, he does not look anything like that +size. Well-bred horses always look so much smaller than they really are, +especially if they are of good shape and well proportioned. Alas! how +few of them, even thoroughbreds, have the real make and shape necessary +to carry weight across country, or to win races! You do not see many +horses in a lifetime in whose shape the critical eye cannot detect a +fault. We know the good points as well as the bad of this colt, for we +have had him two years. Deep, sloping shoulders are his speciality; and +they cover a multitude of sins. Legs of iron, with large, broad knees; +plenty of flat bone below the knee, and pasterns neither too long nor +too upright. Well ribbed up, he is at the same time rather +"ragged-hipped," indicative of strength and weight-carrying power. How +broad are his gaskins! how "well let down" he is! What great hocks he +has! But, alas I as you view him from behind, you cannot help noticing +that his hindlegs incline a little outwards, even as a cow's do--they +are not absolutely straight, as they should be. Then as to his golden, +un-docked tail: he carries it well--a fact which adds twenty pounds to +his value; but, strange to say, it is not "well set on," as a +thoroughbred's ought to be. He does not show the quality he ought in his +hindquarters. Still his head, neck and crest are good, though his eye is +not a large one. How much is he worth--twenty, fifty, a hundred, or two +hundred pounds? Who can tell? Will he be a charger, a fourteen-stone +hunter, or a London carriage horse? All depends how he takes to jumping. +His height is against him,--sixteen hands two and a half inches is at +least two inches too big for a hunter. Nevertheless, there are always +the brilliant exceptions. Let us hope he will be the trump card in +the pack. + +Talking of horses, how admirable was that answer of Dr. Johnson's, when +a lady asked him how on earth he allowed himself to describe the word +_pastern_ in his dictionary as the _knee_ of a horse. "Ignorance, +madam, pure ignorance," was his laconic reply. So great a man could well +afford to confess utter ignorance of matters outside his own sphere. But +how few of mankind are ever willing to own themselves mistaken about any +subject under the sun, unless it be bimetallism or some equally +unfashionable and abstruse (though not unimportant) problem of the day! + +What beautiful shades of colour are noticeable in the trees in the early +part of May! The ash, being so much later than the other trees, remains +a pale light green, and shows up against the dark green chestnuts and +the still darker firs. But what shall I say of the great spreading +walnut whose branches hang right across the stream in our garden in the +Cotswold Valley? + +About the middle of May the walnut leaves resemble nothing so much as a +mass of Virginia creeper when it is at its best in September. Beautiful, +transparent leaves of gold, intermingled with red, glisten in the warm +May sunshine,--the russet beauties of autumn combined with the fresh, +bright loveliness of early spring! + +Not till the very end of May will this walnut tree be in full leaf. He +is the latest of all the trees. The young, tender leaves scent almost as +sweetly as the verbena in the greenhouse. It is curious that ash trees, +when they are close to a river, hang their branches down towards the +water like the "weeping willows." Is this connected, I wonder, with the +strange attraction water has for certain kinds of wood, by which the +water-finder, armed with a hazel wand, is able to divine the presence +of _aqua pura_ hundreds of feet below the surface of the earth? What +this strange art of rhabdomancy is I know not, but the "weeping" ash in +our garden by the Coln is one of the most beautiful and shapely trees I +ever saw. It will be an evil day when some cruel hurricane hurls it to +the ground. We have lost many a fine tree in recent years, some through +gales, but others, alas I by the hand of man. + +A few years ago I discovered a spot about a quarter of a mile from my +home which reminded me of the beautiful Eton playing-fields, + + "Where once my careless childhood stray'd, + A stranger yet to pain." + +It consisted of a few grass fields shut off by high hedges, and +completely encircled by a number of fine elm trees of great age and +lovely foliage. At one end a broad and shallow reach of the Coln +completed the scene. + +Having obtained a long lease of the place, I grubbed up the hedges, +turned three small fields into one, and made a cricket ground in the +midst. My object was to imitate as far as possible the "Upper Club" of +the Eton playing-fields. + +I had barely accomplished the work, the cricket ground had just been +levelled, when the landlord's agent--or more probably his +"mortgagee"--arrived on the scene, accompanied by a hard-headed, +blustering timber merchant from Cheltenham. To my horror and dismay I +was informed that, money being very scarce, they contemplated making a +clean sweep of these grand old elms. On my expostulating, they merely +suggested that cutting down the trees would be a great improvement, as +the place would be opened up thereby and made healthier. + +In the hope of warding off the evil day we offered to pay the price of +some of the finest trees, although they could only legally be bought for +the present proprietor's lifetime. + +The contractor, however, rather than leave his work of destruction +incomplete, put a ridiculous price on them. He refused to accept a +larger sum than he could ever have cleared by cutting them down. This is +what Cowper would have stigmatised as + + "disclaiming all regard + For mercy and the common rights of man," + +and "conducting trade at the sword's point." + +We then resolved to buy the farm. But the stars in their courses fought +against us; we were unsuccessful in our attempt to purchase +the freehold. + +And so the contractor's men came with axes and saws and horses and +carts. For days and weeks I was haunted by that hideous nightmare, the +crash of groaning trees as they fell all around, soon to be stripped of +all their glorious beauty. The cruel, blasphemous shouts of the men, as +they made their long-suffering horses drag the huge, dismembered trunks +across the beautifully levelled greensward of the cricket ground, were +positively heart-rending. Ninety great elms did they strike down. A few +were left, but of these the two finest came down in the great gale of +March 1896. + + "Sic transit gloria mundi." + +Trees are like old familiar friends, we cannot bear to lose them; every +one that falls reminds us of "the days that are no more." Struck down in +all the pride and beauty of their days, they remind us that + + "Those who once gave promise + Of fruit for manhood's prime + Have passed from us for ever, + Gone home before their time." + +They remind me that four of my greatest friends at school, ten short +years ago, are long since dead. Like the trees felled by the woodman's +axe, they were struck down by the sickle of the silent Reaper, even as +the golden sheaves that are gathered into the beautiful barns. Other +trees will spring up and shade the naked earth in the woods with their +mantle of green: so, also, + + "Others will fill our places + Dressed in the old light blue." + +And just as in the woods fresh young saplings are daily springing up, so +also the merry voices of happy, generous boys are ringing, as I write, +in the old, old courts and cloisters by the silvery Thames; their merry +laughter is echoed by the bare grey walls, whereon the names of those +who have long been dust are chiselled in rude handwriting on the +mouldering stone. + +Hundreds we knew have gone down. The fatal bullet, the ravaging fever, +the roaring torrent, and the sad sea waves; the slow, sure grip of +consumption, the fall at polo, and the iron hoofs of the favourite +hunter;--all claimed their victims. + +Perhaps this is why we love to linger in the woods watching the rays of +golden light reflected upon the warm, red earth, listening to the +heavenly voices of the birds and the hopeful babbling of the brook. +Those purple hills and distant bars of gold in the western sky at the +soft twilight hour are rendered ever so much more beautiful when we +dimly view them through a mist of tears. + +And now your thoughts are taken back five short years; you are once more +staying with your old Eton friend and Oxford comrade in his beautiful +home in far-off Wales. All is joy and happiness in that lovely, romantic +home, for in six weeks' time the young squire, the best and most popular +fellow in the world, is to be married to the fair daughter of a +neighbouring house. Is it possible that aught can happen in that short +time to mar the heavenly happiness of those two twin souls? Alas for the +gallant, chivalrous nature I Well might he have cried with his knightly +ancestor of the "Round Table," "Me forethinketh this shall betide, but +God may well foredoe destiny." He had gone down to the lake in the most +beautiful and romantic part of his lovely home, taking with him, as was +his wont, his fishing-rod and his gun. One shot was heard, and one only, +on that ill-fated afternoon, and then all, save for the songs of the +birds and the rippling of the deep waters of the lake, was wrapped in +silence. Then followed the report--whispered through the party assembled +to do honour to the future bride and bridegroom--that "Bill" was +missing. Then came the agonising suspense and the eight hours' search +throughout the long summer evening. + +Late that night the father found the fair young form of his boy in a +thick and tangled copse,--there it lay under the silent stars, the face +upturned in its last appeal to heaven; and close by lay the deadly +twelve-bore which had been the cause of all the misery and grief +that followed. + + "Solemn before us + Veiled the dark portal-- + Goal of all mortal. + Stars silent rest o'er us; + Graves under us silent." + +He had evidently pursued game or vermin of some sort into the dense +undergrowth of the wood, and in his haste had slipped and fallen over +his gun, for the shot had just grazed his heart + +Who that knew him will ever forget Bill Llewelyn, prince of good +fellows, "truest of men in everything"? In all relations of life, as in +the hunting field, he went as straight as a die. + +The accidental discharge of a gun shortly after he came of age, and +within a few weeks of his wedding day, has made the England of to-day +the poorer by one of her most promising sons. Infinite charity! Infinite +courage! Infinite truth! Infinite humility! Who could do justice in +prose to those rare and godlike qualities? No: miserable, weak, and +ineffectual though my gift of poesy may be, yet I will not let those +qualities pass away from the minds of all, save the few that knew him +well, without following in the footsteps (though at an immeasurable +distance) of the divine author of "Lycidas," by endeavouring to render +to his cherished memory "the meed of some melodious tear." For as time +goes on, and the future unfolds to our view things we would have given +worlds to have known long before, when the events that influenced our +past actions and shaped our future destinies are seen through the dim +vista of the shadowy, half-forgotten past, we must all learn the hard +lesson which experience alone can teach, exclaiming with the "Preacher" +the old, old words, "I returned, and saw under the sun that the race is +not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.... but time and chance +happeneth to them all" + + LINES IN MEMORY OF + + WILLIAM DILLWYN LLEWELYN. + + It may be chance,--I hold it truth,-- + That of the friends I loved on earth + The ones who died in early youth + Were those of best and truest worth. + + The swift, alas! the race must lose; + The battle goes against the strong,-- + God wills it 'Tis for us to choose, + Whilst life is given, 'twixt right and wrong + + 'Tis not for us to count the cost + Of losing those we most do love; + He grudgeth not life's battle lost + Who wins a golden crown above. + + And oft beneath the shades of night, + When tempests howl around these walls, + A vision steals upon my sight, + A footstep on the threshold falls. + + I see once more that graceful form, + Once more that honest hand grasps mine. + Once more I hear above the storm + The voice I know so well is thine. + + I see again an Eton boy, + A gentle boy, divinely taught, + And call to mind bow full of joy + In friendly rivalry we sought + + The "playing-fields." Then, as I yield + To fancy's dreams, I see once more + The hero of the cricket field, + The oft-tried, trusty friend of yore. + + What tender yearnings, fond regret, + These thoughts of early friendship bring! + None but the heartless can forget + 'Mid summer days the friends of spring. + + Now thoughts of Oxford fill my mind: + My Eton friend is with me still, + But changed--from boy to man; yet kind + And large of heart, and strong of will, + + And blythe and gay. I recognise + The athletic form, the comely face, + The mild expression of the eyes, + The high-bred courtesy and grace. + + Once more with patient skill we lure + The mighty salmon from the deep; + Once more we tread the boundless moor, + And wander up the mountain steep. + + With gun in hand we scour the plain, + Together climb the rocky ways; + Regardless he of wind and rain + Who loved to "live laborious days." + + * * * * * + + I see again fair Penllergare, + Those woods and lakes you loved so well; + It seems but yesterday that there + I parted from you! Who can tell + + The reason thou art gone before? + It is not given to us to know, + But doubtless thou wert needed more + Than we who mourn thee here below. + + Life's noblest lesson day by day + Thy fair example nobly taught-- + Self-sacrifice--to point the way + By which the hearts of men are brought + + Nearer to God. This was thy task, + Humbly, unknowingly fulfilled; + And it were vain for us to ask + Why now thy voice is hushed and stilled. + + O gallant spirit, generous heart! + If thou had'st lived in days gone by, + Thou would'st have loved to bear thy part + In glorious deeds of chivalry. + +I make no apology for this digression, nor for unearthing from the +bottom of my drawer lines that, written years ago, were never penned +with any idea of publication. For was not the subject of those verses +himself half a Cotswold man? + +But now to return once more to the trees, the loss of which caused me +to digress some pages back; there are compensations in all things. Not +every one who becomes a sojourner among the Cotswold Hills is fated to +undergo such a trial as the loss of these ninety elms. And, +notwithstanding this severe lesson, I am still glad that I alighted on +the spot from which I am now writing. + +I have learnt to find pleasure in other directions now that my "Eton +playing-fields" have passed away for ever. I have become infected by the +spirit of the downs. I love the pure, bracing air and the boundless +sense of space in the open hills as much as I ever loved the more +concentrated charms of the valley. And even in the valley I have +possessions of which no living man is able to deprive me. From my window +I can see the silvery trout stream, which, after thousands of years of +restless activity, is still slowly gliding down towards the sea; I can +listen on summer nights to the murmuring waterfall at the bottom of the +garden, the hooting of the owls, and the other sounds which break the +awful silence of the night. + +Nor can the hand of man disturb the glorious timber round the house; for +it is "ornamental," and therefore safe from the hands of the despoiler. +Storms are gradually levelling the ancient beech and ash trees in the +woods, but it will be many a long day before the hand of nature has +marred the beauty of what has always seemed to me to be one of the +fairest spots on earth. + +[Illustration: Bilbury Mill 374.png] + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SUMMER DAYS ON THE COTSWOLDS + + "What more felicitie can fall to creature + Than to enjoy delight with libertie, + And to be lord of all the workes of Nature?" + + E. SPENSER. + +The finest days, when the trees are greenest, the sky bluest, and the +clouds most snowy white are the days that come in the midst of bad +weather. And just as there is no rest without toil, no peace without +war, no true joy in life without grief, no enjoyment for the _blasé_, so +there can be no lovely summer days without previous storms and rain, no +sunshine till the tearful mists have passed away. + +There had been a week's incessant rain; every wild flower and every +blade of green grass was soaked with moisture, until it could no longer +bear its load, and drooped to earth in sheer dismay. But last night +there came a change: the sun went down beyond the purple hills like a +ball of fire; eastwards the woods were painted with a reddish glow, and +life and colour returned to everything that grows on the face of this +beautiful earth. + + "It seems a day + (I speak of one from many singled out), + One of those heavenly days which cannot die." + WORDSWORTH. + +So it is pleasant to-day to wander over the fields; across the crisp +stubbles, where the thistledown is crowding in the "stooks" of black +oats; past stretches of uncut corn looking red and ripe under a burning +sun. White oxeye daisies in masses and groups, lilac-tinted thistles, +and bright scarlet poppies grow in profusion among the tall wheat +stalks. A covey of partridges, about three parts grown, rise almost at +our feet; for it is early August, and the deadly twelve-bore has not yet +wrought havoc among the birds. On the right is a field of green turnips, +well grown after the recent rains, and promising plenty of "cover" for +sportsmen in September. In the hedgerow the lovely harebells have +recovered from the soaking they endured, and their bell-shaped flowers +of perfect blue peep out everywhere. The sweetest flower that grows up +the hedgeside is the blue geranium, or meadow crane's-bill. The humble +yarrow, purple knapweed, field scabious, thistles with bright purple +heads, and St. John's wort with its clean-cut stars of burnished gold +and its pellucid veins, form a natural border along the hedge, where +wild clematis or traveller's joy entwines its rough leaf stalks round +the young hazel branches and among the pink roses of the bramble. + +By the roadside, where the dust blew before the rain and covered every +green leaf with a coating of rich lime, there grow small shrubs of +mallow with large flowers of pale purple or mauve; here, too, yellow +bedstraw and bird's-foot lotus add their tinge of gold to the lush green +grass, and the smaller bindweed, the lovely convolvulus, springs up on +the barrenest spots, even creeping over the stone heaps that were left +over from last winter's road mending. + +Many another species of wild flower which, "born to blush unseen and +waste its sweetness on the desert air," grows in the quiet Cotswold +lanes might here be named; but even though at times one may feel, with +Wordsworth, + + "To me the meanest flower that blows can give + Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." + +I will leave the humble wayside plants and descend into the vale. For it +is along the back brook that the tallest and stateliest wild flowers may +best be seen. The scythes mowed them all down in May, and again in July, +in the broad "millpound," so that they do not grow so tall by the main +stream; but the back brook, the natural course of the river before the +mills were made, was left unmolested by the mowers, and is a mass of +life and colour. + +Here grows the graceful meadow-sweet, fair and tall, and white and +fragrant; here the willow-herb, glorious with pink blossoms, rears its +head high above your shoulders among the sword-flags and the green +rushes and "segs"; the whole bank is a medley of white meadow-sweet, +scorpion-grasses, forget-me-nots, pink willow-herbs, and lilac heads of +mint all jumbled up together. Never was such a delightful confusion of +colour! Great dock leaves two feet wide clothe the path by the +water-side with all the splendour of malachite. + +The breeze blows up stream, and the trout are rising incessantly, taking +something small. They will not look at any artificial fly, even in the +rippling breeze; there is nothing small enough in any fly-book to catch +them this afternoon. But when the sun gets low, and the great brown +moths come out and flutter over the water, the red palmer will catch a +dish of fish. Willow trees--"withies" they call them hereabouts--grow +along the brook-side. So white are the backs of their oval leaves that +when the breeze turns them back, the woods by the river look bright and +silvery. To-morrow, when the breeze has almost died away, only the tops +of the willows will be silvered; the next day, if all be calm and still, +all will be green as emerald. Such infinite variety is there in the +woods! Not only do the tints change month by month, but day by day the +colour varies; so that there is always something new, some fresh effect +of light and shade to delight the eye of man in the quiet English +country. Dotted about in the midst of the stream are little islands of +forget-me-nots. The lovely light blue is reflected everywhere in the +water. Very beautiful are the scorpion-grasses both on the banks among +the rushes and scattered about in mid stream. + +The meadows are full of life. There are sounds sweet to the ear and +sights pleasing to the eye. In the new-mown water-meadow +grasshoppers--such hosts of them that they could never be numbered for +multitude--are chirping and dancing merrily. "They make the field ring +with their importunate chink, whilst the great cattle chew the cud and +are silent. How like the great and little of mankind!" as Edmund Burke +said years ago. By catching one of these "meagre, hopping insects of the +hour," you will see that their backs are green as emerald and their +bellies gold: some have a touch of purple over the eyes; their thighs, +which are enormously developed for jumping purposes, have likewise a +delicate tinge of purple. + +Contrary to the saying of Izaak Walton, the trout do not seem to care +much for grasshoppers nowadays, although perhaps they may relish them in +streams where food is less plentiful. Our trout even prefer the tiny +yellow frogs that are to be found in scores by the brook-side in early +August. We have often offered them both in the deep "pill" below the +garden; and though they would come with a dart and take the little frog, +they merely looked at the grasshopper in astonishment, and seldom +took one. + +As we stand on the rustic bridge above the "pill" gazing down into the +smooth flowing water, dark trout glide out of sight into their homes in +the stonework under the hatch. These are the fish that rise not to the +fly, but prey on their grandchildren, growing darker and lankier and +bigger-headed every year. Wherever you find a deep hole and an ancient +hatchway there you will also find these great black trout, always lying +in a spot more or less inaccessible to the angler, and living for years +until they die a natural death. + +Was ever a place so full of fish as this "pill"? Looking down into the +deeper water, where the great iron hooks are set to catch the poachers' +nets, I could see dozens of trout of all sizes, but mostly small. At the +tail of the pool are lots of small ones, rising with a gentle dimple. As +the days became hotter and the stream ran down lower and lower, the +trout left the long shallow reaches, and assembled here, where there is +plenty of water and plenty of food. + +Standing on the bridge by the ancient spiked gate bristling with sharp +barbs of iron, like rusty spear and arrow-heads (our ancestors loved to +protect their privacy with these terrible barriers), I listened to the +waterfall three hundred yards higher up, with its ceaseless music; the +afternoon sun was sparkling on the dimpling water, which runs swiftly +here over a shallow reach of gravel--the favourite spawning-ground of +the trout. There is no peep of river scenery I like so much as this. +Thirty yards up stream a shapely ash tree hangs its branches, clothed +with narrow sprays, right across the brook, the fantastic foliage +almost touching the water. A little higher up some willows and an elm +overhang from the other side. + +There is something unspeakably striking about a country lane or a +shallow, rippling brook overarched with a tracery of fretted foliage +like the roof of an old Gothic building. + +Who that has ever visited the village of Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire +will forget the lane by which he approached the home and last +resting-place of the poet Gray? Perhaps you came from Eton, and after +passing along a lane that is completely overhung with an avenue of +splendid trees, where the thrushes sing among the branches as they sing +nowhere else in that neighbourhood, you turned in at a little rustic +gate. Straight in front of your eyes were very legibly written on grey +stone three of the finest verses of the "Elegy." The monument itself is +plain, not to say hideous, but the simple words inscribed thereon are +unspeakably grand when read amongst the surroundings of "wood" and +"rugged elm" and "yew-tree's shade," unchanged as they are after the +lapse of a century and a half. The place, and more especially the lane, +is a fitting abode for the spirit of the poet. One could almost hear the +song of him who, "being dead, yet speaketh": + + "And the birds in the sunshine above + Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits departed." + + LONGFELLOW. + +Gray is a poet for whom, in common with most Englishmen, the present +writer has a sincere respect. It has been said, however, of the "Elegy" +by one critic that the subject of the poem gives it an unmerited +popularity, and by another--and that quite recently--that it is the +"high-water mark of mediocrity." Although Gray's own modest dictum was +the foundation of the first of these harsh criticisms, we are unable to +allow the truth of the one and must strongly protest against the other. +It has been reported that Wolfe, the celebrated general, after reciting +the "Elegy" on the eve of the assault on Quebec, declared that he would +sooner have written such a poem than win a victory over the French. This +was nearly a century and a half ago. Yet after so long a lapse of time +the verses still retain their hold on the minds of all classes. In spite +of the fact that Matthew Arnold and other admirers have declared that +the "Elegy" was not Gray's masterpiece, yet it was this poem that +brought a man who accomplished but a small amount of work into such +lasting fame. From beginning to end, as Professor Raleigh says of +Milton's work, the "Elegy" "is crowded with examples of felicitous and +exquisite meaning given to the infallible word." Was ever a poem more +frequently quoted or so universally plagiarised? In writing or speaking +about the country and its inhabitants, if we would express ourselves as +concisely as we possibly can, we are bound to quote the "Elegy"; it is +invariably the shortest road to a terse expression of our meaning. Who +can improve on "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," or "The +short and simple annals of the poor"? If Gray's "Elegy" is but "a mosaic +of the felicities" of those who went before, let it be remembered that +had he not laboriously pieced together that mosaic, these "felicities" +would have been a sealed book to the majority of Englishmen. Not one man +in a hundred now reads some of the authors from which they were culled. +And as Landor said of Shakespeare, "He is more original than his +originals." Even that strange individual, Samuel Johnson, who was +accustomed whenever Gray's poetry was mentioned either to "crab" it +directly or "damn it with faint praise," towards the end of his career +admitted in his "Lives of the Poets" that "the churchyard abounds with +images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which +every bosom returns an echo." But the chief value of the work seems +really to lie in this: it has dignified the rural scenes and the honest +rustics of England. It has invested every hoary-headed swain, every busy +housewife, and every little churchyard in the country with a special +dignity and a lasting charm. The traveller cannot look upon these scenes +and faces without unconsciously connecting them with the lines he knows +so well. Gray's "Elegy" will never be forgotten; for it has struck its +roots deep in the national language and far down into the +national heart. + +Very similar to the quiet and leafy lane at Stoke Poges is the brook +below the waterfall at A---- in the Cotswolds. On your left as you look +up stream from the bridge of the "pill," a moss-grown gravel path runs +alongside the water under a hanging wood of leafy elms and +smooth-trunked beech trees, where the ringdoves coo all day. A tangled +hedge filled with tall timber trees runs up the right-hand bank. Here +the great convolvulus, queen of wild flowers, twists her bines among the +hedge; the bell-shaped flowers are conspicuous everywhere, large and +lily-white as the arum, so luxuriant is the growth of wild flowers by +the brook-side. + +A silver stream is the Coln hereabouts, the abode of fairies and fawns, +and nymphs and dryads. But when the afternoon sun shines upon it, it +becomes a stream of diamonds set in banks of emeralds, with an arched +and groined roof of jasper, carved with foliations of graceful ash and +willow, and over all a sky of sapphire sprinkled with clouds of pearl +and opal. Later on towards evening there will be floods of golden light +on the grass and on the beech trees up the eastern slope of the valley +and on the bare red earth under the trees, red with fifty years' beech +nuts. And later still, when the distant hills are dyed as if with +archil, the sapphire sky will be striped with bars of gold and dotted +with coals of fire; rubies and garnets, sardonyx and chrysolite will all +be there, and the bluish green of beryl, the western sky as varied as +felspar and changing colour as quickly as the chameleon. And as the day +declines the last beams of the setting sun will find their way through +the tracery of foliage that overhangs the brook, and the waters will be +tinged with a rosy glow, even as in some ancestral hall or Gothic +cathedral the sun at eventide pours through the blazoned windows and +floods the interior with rays of soft, mysterious, coloured light. + +I have been trying to describe one of the loveliest bits of miniature +scenery on earth; yet how commonplace it all reads! Not a thousandth +part of the beauty of this spot at sunset is here set down, yet little +more can be said. How bitter to think that the true beauty of the trees, +the path by the brook, and the sunlight on the water cannot be passed on +for others to enjoy, cannot be stamped on paper, but must be seen to be +realised! Truly, as Richard Jefferies says somewhere, there is a layer +of thought in the human brain for which there are no words in any +language. We cannot express a thousandth part of the beauty of the woods +and the stream; we can but dimly feel it when we see it with our eyes. + +Below the "pill"--for we have been gazing up stream--some sheep are +lying under a gnarled willow on the left bank; some are nibbling at the +lichen and moss on the trunk, others are standing about in pretty groups +of three and four. One of them has just had a ducking. Trying to get a +drink of water, he overbalanced himself and fell in. He walks about +shaking himself, and doubtless feels very uncomfortable. Sheep do not +care much for bathing in cold water. You have only to see the +sheep-washing in the spring to realise how they dislike it. There is a +place higher up the stream called the Washpool, where every day in May +you can watch the men bundling the poor old sheep into the water, one +after the other, and dipping them well, to free the wool from insects of +all kinds. And how the trout enjoy the ticks that come from their +thickly matted coats! One poor sheep is hopping about on the cricket +field dead lame. Perhaps that leg he drags behind is broken! Why does +not the farmer kill the poor brute? There is much misery of this kind +caused in country places by the thoughtlessness of farmers. How much has +yet to be learnt by the very men who love to describe the labourers as +"them 'ere ignorant lower classes"! Alas! that these things can happen +among the green fields and spreading elms and the heavenly sunshine of +summer days! We should have more moral courage, and do as Carlyle bids +us in his old solemn way: "But above all, where thou findest Ignorance, +Stupidity, Brute-mindedness, attack it, I say; smite it, wisely, +unwearily, and rest not while thou livest and it lives; but smite, smite +in the name of God. The Highest God, as I understand it, does audibly so +command thee, still audibly if thou hast ears to hear." + +On the cricket pitch, a bare hundred yards away from the river bank, is +a plentiful crop of dandelions, crow's-foot, clover, and, worst of all, +enormous plantains. A gravel soil is very favourable to plantains, for +stones work up and the grass dies. The dreadful plantain seems to thrive +anywhere and everywhere, and on bare spots where grass cannot live he +immediately appears. Rabbits have been making holes all over the pitch, +and red spikes of sorrel, wonderfully rich and varied in colour, rise +everywhere at the lower end of the field towards the river. The cricket +ground has been somewhat neglected of late. + +There is a great elm tree down close to the ground--the only tree that +the winter gales had left to shade us on hot summer days. It came down +suddenly, without the slightest warning; and underneath it that most +careless of all keepers, Tom Peregrine, had left the large +mowing-machine and the roller. So careless are some of these +Gloucestershire folk that sooner than do as I had ordered and put the +mowing-machine in the barn hard by, they must leave it in the open air +and under this ill-fated tree. Down came my last beloved elm, smashing +the mowing-machine and putting an end to all thoughts of cricket here +this summer. It will be ages before the village carpenter will come with +his timber cart and draw the tree away. A Gloucestershire man cannot do +a job like this in under two years; they are always so busy, you see, in +Gloucestershire--never a moment to spare to get anything done! + +There was a time when the chief delight of summer lay in playing +cricket. What ecstasy it was to be well set and scoring fast on the +hard-baked ground (the harder the better), cutting to the boundary when +the ball pitched short on the off, and driving her hard along the ground +when they pitched one up! What could surpass the joy of scoring a +century in those long summer days? Now we would as soon spend the +holidays in the woods and by the busy trout stream, reading and taking +note of the trees and the birds and the rippling of the waters as they +flow onwards, ever onwards, towards the sea. There comes a time to all +men, sooner or later, when we say to ourselves, _Cui bono?_ In a few +short years I shall no longer be able to hit the ball so hard, and in +the "field" I am already becoming a trifle slow. Then do we take to +ourselves pursuits that we can follow until the limbs are stiffened with +age and the hair is white as snow. + +Having spent the best years of life in the pursuit of pleasures that, +however engrossing, nevertheless bore no real and lasting fruit, we +finally fall back on interests that will last a lifetime, perhaps an +eternity--for who knows how much of knowledge we shall take with us to +another world? Aristotle was not far wrong when he described earthly +happiness as a life of contemplation, with a moderate equipment of +external good fortune and prosperity. There is no book so well worthy to +be studied as the book of nature, no melodies like those of the field +and fallow, wood and wold, and the still small voice of the busy streams +labouring patiently onwards day by day. + +In the fields beyond the river haymakers are busy with the second crop. +Down to the ford comes a great yellow hay-cart, drawn by two strong +horses, tandem fashion. One small boy alone is leading the big horses. +Arriving at the ford, he jumps on to the leader's back and rides him +through. The horses strain and "scaut," and the cart bumps over the deep +ruts, nearly upsetting. Luckily there is no accident. So much is +entrusted to these little farm lads of scarce fifteen years of age it is +a wonder they do the work so well. From the tops of the firs comes the +sound of pigeons winging their way from the "grove" to the "conygers" +(the latter word means the "place of rabbits"; there are lots of woods +so called in Gloucestershire). It is a curious piping sound that +wood-pigeons make, and, not seeing the birds, you might think it came +from the throat instead of the wings. One day two of us were looking at +a wood-pigeon flying over, when we observed something drop from the +skies and fall into the stream. On going up we saw that it was an egg +she had dropped. There it lay at the bottom of the brook, apparently +unbroken by the fall. Floating on the soft south wind, a heron flies +over so quietly that unless he had given one of his characteristic +croaks it was a hundred to one you did not see him pass. Many a heron +and wild duck must pass over us unobserved on windy days. It is so +difficult to observe when you are thinking. A man absorbed in reverie +cannot see half the things that many country folk with less active +brains never fail to observe. When we find people who live in the +country unversed in the ways of birds, the knowledge of flowers and +trees, and the habits of the simple country folk, we need not +necessarily conclude that they are dull and empty-headed; the reverse is +often the case. A man absorbed in business or serious affairs may love +the country and yet know little of its real life. A good deal of time +must be spent in acquiring this kind of knowledge, and it is not +everybody who has the time or the opportunity to do it. If we come +across a man with plenty of leisure, yet knowing nothing of what is +going on around him, we may then perhaps have cause to complain of +his dulness. + +Mr. Aubrey De Vere relates an amusing story about Sir William Rowan +Hamilton which exactly illustrates my meaning: "When he had soared into +a high region of speculative thought he took no note of objects close +by. A few days after our first meeting we walked together on a road, a +part of which was overflowed by a river at its side. Our theme was the +transcendental philosophy, of which he was a great admirer. I felt sure +that he would not observe the flood, and made no remark on it. We walked +straight on till the water was half way up to our knees. At last he +exclaimed, 'What's this? We seem to be walking through a river. Had we +not better return to the dry land?'" + +There is a spot in the woods by the River Coln that is almost untrodden +by man. It is the favourite resort of foxes. Nobody but myself and the +earth-stopper has been there for years and years, save that when the +hounds come the huntsman rides through and cheers the pack. It is in the +conyger wood. No path leads through its quiet recesses, where ash and +elm and larch and spruce, mostly self-sown, are mingled together, with a +thick growth of elder spread beneath them. It was here, in an ancient, +disused quarry, that the keeper pointed out not long since the secret +dwelling-house of the kingfishers. A small crevice in the limestone +rock, from which a disagreeable smell of dried fish bones issued forth, +formed the outer entrance to the nest. One could not see the delicate +structure itself, for it appeared to be several feet within the rock. A +mass of powdered fish bones and the pungent odour from within were all +the outward signs of the inner nest. By standing on a jutting ledge of +the soft cretaceous rock, and holding on by another ledge, which +appeared not unlikely to come down and crush you, one could peep into +the hole and comfort oneself with the thought that one was nearer a +kingfisher's nest than is usually vouchsafed to mortal man. It would be +easy to get ladder and pickaxe and break open the rock until the nest +was reached, but why disturb these lovely birds? They have built here +year by year for centuries; even now some of this year's brood may be +seen among the willows by the back brook. + +From this quarry was dug in the year 1590 the stone to build the old +manor house yonder. A few miles away toward Burford is the quarry from +which men say Christopher Wren brought some of the stone to raise St. +Paul's Cathedral. Yet the local people do not care a bit for this +beautiful freestone of the Cotswold Hills. They want to bring granite +from afar for their village crosses, and ugly blue slates for the roofs +of the houses. At a parish council meeting the other day it was +seriously proposed to erect a "Jubilee Hall" of _red_ brick in our +village. Anything for a change, you see; these people would not be +mortal if they did not love a change. The pure grey limestone is +commonplace hereabouts; I have actually heard it said that it will not +last. Yet in every village stand the old Norman churches, built entirely +of local stone, walls and roof; and many an old manor house as well lies +in our midst, as good as it was three hundred years ago. To me, this +limestone of the hills is one of the most beautiful features of the +Cotswold country. I love to stand in a limestone quarry and mark the +layers and ponderous blocks of clean white virgin rock--a tiny cleft in +"the great stone floor which stretches over the face of the earth and +under the limitless expanse of the sea." That solid cretaceous mass is +but the remnants of the countless inhabitants of the old seas,--life +changed into solid, hard rock; and even now, as the green grass and the +sweet sainfoin spring up on the surface, feeding the flocks and herds +that will soon in their turn feed mankind, earth is turning back again +into life. Thus onwards in an endless cycle, even as the earth goes +round, and the waters return to the place from whence they came, does +nature's work go on; and when we consider these things, eternity and +infinity lose part of their strangeness. Does it seem strange when we +look upon this glorious country?--in May a sea of golden buttercups, in +summer a sea of waving grass, and in the autumn a sea of golden corn; +once it was a sea of salt water. And these great rounded banks, these +hills and valleys, these billowy wolds,--could they but speak to us +might tell strange things of the passing of the waters and of the +inhabitants of the old ocean ages and ages ago; the mystery of the sea +would be sung in every vale and echoed back by every rolling down. + +A very wonderful matter it certainly is that the stone in which the +whole history of the country-side is writ, not only in rolling downs and +limestone streams, but even in church, tithe-barn, farm, and cottage, as +well as in the walls and the roads and the very dust that blows upon +them, should be nothing more nor less than a mass of dead animals that +lived generation after generation, thousands of years ago, at the bottom +of the sea. + +There is silence in the woods--the drowsy silence of summer. Most of +the birds have gone to the cornfields. An ash copse is never so full of +birds as the denser woodlands, where the oaks grow stronger on a stiff +clay soil. Here are no laughing yaffels, no cruel, murderous shrikes, +and very few song-birds. Still, there are always the pigeons and the +cushats, the wicked magpies and the screaming "jaypies," as the local +people call the jays. Then, too, there are the birds down among the +watercress and the brooklime in the clear pool below the spring, +moorhens occasionally awakening the echoes by running down a weird +chromatic scale or calling with their loud and mellow note to their +friends and relations over at the brook; here, too, the softer croak of +the mallard and the wild duck is also heard. A hawk, chasing some +smaller bird, is darting and hovering over the tops of the firs, but, +catching a glimpse of me, disappears from sight. Presently a little +bird, with an eye keener even than the cruel hawk's, comes out from the +hazels and perches on a post some ten yards away. It is a fly-catcher. +As he sits he turns his eyes in every direction, on the look-out for +dainty insects. He seems to have eyes at the back of his head, for +instantly he sees a fly in the air right behind him, makes a dash, +catches it, and flies on to the next post. He repeats the performance +there, then once more changes his ground. When he has made another +successful raid, he returns to his first post, always hunting in a +chosen circuit, and always catching flies. He was here yesterday, and +will be here again to-morrow. When you try to approach him, however, he +flies away and hides himself in the firs. + +If there are not many birds in the woods just now, still, there is +always the beauty of the trees. How marvellous is the symmetry of form +and colouring in the trunk and branches of a big ash tree! If you put +mercury into a solution of nitrate of silver, and leave them for a few +days to combine, the result will be a precipitation of silver in a +lovely arborescent form, the _arbor Dianae_, beautiful beyond +description. Such are my favourite ash trees when the summer sunshine +sparkles on them. It is their bare, silvered trunks that give the +special charm to these hanging woods. They stand out from dark recesses +filled with alder and beech and ivy-mantled firs, rising in bold but +graceful outline; columns of silver, touched here and there with the sad +gold and green shades of lichen and moss. The moss that mingles with +golden lichens is of a soft, velvety hue, like a mantle of half drapery +on a beautiful white statue. And, oddly enough, though ferns do not grow +on the limestone soil of the Cotswolds, yet on the first story so to +speak of every big ash tree by the river, as well as on the pollard +willows, there is a beautiful little fernery springing up out of the +moss and lichen, which seems to thrive most when the lichen thrives--in +the winter rather than in the summer. Then, too, the foliage of all +kinds of trees and shrubs is not only different in form, but the +minutest serrations vary; so that the leaves of two kinds of trees are +no more alike than any two human faces are alike. The elm leaves are +rough to the touch, like sandpaper, and their edges are clearly +serrated; those of the beeches are smooth as parchment, and though the +edges appear at first sight to be almost clean cut, they have very +slight serrations, as if nature had rounded them with a blunt knife. The +lobed ivy leaves are likewise highly polished, and they have sharp, +pointed tips. The leaves of the common stinging-nettle ("'ettles" the +labourers call them) have deep indents all round them. A great dock +leaf, in which the chives have a strange resemblance to the arteries in +the human frame, has small shallow indents all round it. Hazels are +rough and almost round in form, save for a pointed tip at the end; they +have ragged edges and ill-defined serrations. Everybody knows the +sycamore from its five lobed leaves; and the chestnuts and oaks are, +again, as different as possible. These are only a few instances; one +might go on for a long time showing the endless variations of form +in foliage. + +Then there is the remarkable difference in colour and shade; not only +are there a dozen different greens in one wood, but in one and the same +beech you may see a marked contrast in the tone of its leaves. For about +midsummer some trees put forth a second growth of foliage, so that there +is the vivid yellow tint of the fresh shoots and the dark olive of the +older leaves on one and the same branch. Of the rich autumnal shades I +am not speaking; they would require a chapter to themselves. + +There are other things to be noted in the woods besides the trees and +the birds: lots of rabbits and squirrels, not to mention an occasional +hedgehog. Squirrels are the most delightful of all the furred denizens +of the woods. Running up the trees, with their long brushes straight out +behind, they are not unlike miniature foxes. The slenderness of the +twigs on which they manage to find support is one of the greatest +wonders of the woods. The harmless hedgehog, as everybody is aware, +rolls himself up into a lifeless ball of bristles on being disturbed. By +staying quietly by him and addressing him in an encouraging tone, I +lately induced a very large hedgehog to unroll himself and creep slowly +along close to my feet. + +It is very extraordinary how all wild animals, especially when young, +can be won by kindness. I once came across a young hedgehog about +three-parts grown; he was running about on the grass in front of the +house in broad daylight, and kept poking his little nose into the earth +searching for emmets and grubs. I made friends with him, dug him up some +worms, and in less than half an hour he became as tame as possible. Tom +Peregrine, the keeper, stood by and roared with laughter at his antics, +saying he had never seen such a "comical job" in all his life. And it +really was a curious sight. The hedgehog, with the merriest twinkle in +his eyes, would take the worms out of my hand; and when I dangled them +five or six inches off the ground, he would rear up on his hindlegs and +snatch and grab until he secured them. Then he would sit up and scratch +himself like a dog. He would allow me to take him up in my hands and +stroke him, and yet not retire into his bristly shell. He ate a dozen +worms and a bumble-bee straight off the reel, and then with all the +gluttony of the pig tribe he went searching about for more food. I +noticed that he ate the grass, in the same way as dogs do, for medicinal +purposes. We put him into a large box with some hay in it, and as he +still seemed hungry that evening, we gave him a couple of cockchafers +from the kitchen, which he appeared to relish mightily. The little +fellow was as happy as a king, crying and squeaking whenever we went to +look at him, and hunting round the box for food. But, alas! we had +overfed him. To our intense regret he died the next day from acute +indigestion. + +There are but few snakes or vipers in the district of which I am +writing. But quite recently a man found a large trout about eighteen +inches in length lying dead in the Coln, and protruding from the mouth +of the fish was a large snake, also dead. The snake must have been +swimming in the water (as they are known to do occasionally), and the +trout being in a backwater, where food was scarce, must have seized the +snake and choked himself in his efforts to bolt it This was a remarkable +occurrence, because a Coln trout is most particular as to his bill of +fare, and snakes are certainly not usually included in the list. There +is such a plentiful supply of larvae, caddis, "stone-loach," fresh-water +shrimps, crayfish, and other crustaceans, to say nothing of flies, +minnows, and small fry, that a trout would very seldom attack a snake. A +large lobworm, however, as every one knows, is a very attractive bait +for any kind of fresh-water fish except pike. + +Stoats with reddish-brown backs and yellow bellies may often be seen +hunting the rabbits, and the little weasels may sometimes be drawn out +of their holes in the walls if one makes a squeaking noise with the +lips. Stoats usually hunt singly, weasels in packs and pairs. + +But we must leave the woods, for the evening shadows are lengthening and +the "golden evening brightens in the west." It is time to go up to the +cornfields on the hill and see the sun set. I have said that there is no +path through this wood; it is sacred to foxes. They are not here now, +however; they will not be back till all the corn is cut. The wheatfields +are their summer quarters. + +It is no easy matter to get out of a tangled wood in August. The +stinging-nettles are seven feet high in places; we must hold our hands +high above our heads and plough our way through them. When we finally +emerge we are covered from head to foot with large prickly burrs from +the seeding burdocks, as well as with the small round burrs of the +goose-grass. Then + + "On and up where nature's heart + Beats strong amid the hills." + +As we pass onwards over the cornfields towards a piece of high ground +from which it is our wont to watch the sun set, a silvery half-moon +peeps out between the clouds. In the north-west the range of limestone +hills is already tinged with purple. In the highest heaven are bars of +distant cloud, so motionless that they appear to be sailing slowly +against the wind. Lower down, dusky, smoke-like clouds, tinged here and +there with a rosy hue, are flying rapidly onwards, ever onwards, in the +sky. Later on the higher clouds will turn deep red, whilst brighter and +brighter will glow the moon. + +Yonder, twenty-five miles away, the old White Horse is just visible upon +the distant chalk downs. Overhead the sky has the deep blue of mazarine, +but westwards and south-west the colour is light olive green, gradually +changing to an intensely bright yellow. Heavy banks of clouds are slowly +rising in the south-west; the bleating of sheep at the ancient homestead +half a mile away is the only sound to be heard. As the sun goes down +to-night it resembles a great ship on fire amidst the breakers on a +rockbound coast; for the western sky is dashed with fleecy clouds, like +the spray that beats against the chalk cliffs on the shore of the mighty +Atlantic; and amid the last plunges of the doomed vessel the spray is +tinged redder and redder, ere with her human cargo she disappears amid +the surf. But no sooner has she sunk into the abyss than the foam and +the fierce breakers die away, and a wondrous calm broods over all +things. In twenty minutes' time nothing is left in the western sky but a +tiny bar of golden cloud that cannot yet quite die away, reminding me, +as I still thought about the burning ship and her ill-fated crew, of + + "the golden key + Which opes the palace of Eternity." + +But eastwards, above the old legendary White Horse, the "Empress of the +Night," serene and proudly pale, is driving her car across the +darkening skies. + +[Illustration: Ablington Manor 399.png] + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +AUTUMN. + +I. + +It is in the autumn that life in an old manor house on the Cotswolds has +its greatest charm; for one of the chief characteristics of a house in +the depths of the country surrounded by a broad manor is the game. The +whole atmosphere of such a place savours of rabbits and hares and +partridges. There may be no pheasant-rearing and comparatively little +game of any kind, yet the place is, nevertheless, associated with sport +with the gun. Ten to one there are guns, old and new, hanging up in the +hall or the smoking-room, and perhaps fishing-rods too. There is a bond +between the house and the fields around, and the connecting link is the +game. Time was when the squire in these English villages lived on the +produce of the estate: game, fish, and fowl, and the stock at the farm +supplied his simple wants throughout the year. Huge game larders are yet +to be seen in the lower regions of the manor house; you must pass +through them to reach the still more ample wine cellars. Nearer London +there is not much connection nowadays between the house and the +land--you must walk on the roads; but away in the country it is over the +broad fields that you roam. Even on a small manor of two thousand acres +you may walk a dozen miles in an afternoon and not pass the +boundary fence. + +It is very surprising that there is not more demand for country houses +in England when one considers that an extensive demesne may be rented at +a price which is paid for a small flat in unfashionable Kensington. The +local term in Gloucestershire for renting a manor is "holding the +liberty"--the old Saxon word. The term is singularly expressive of the +freedom possessed by the man who exchanges the life of the town or the +villa for a manor in one of the remote counties. He who enjoys the +sporting rights, with license (as the leases run) to hunt, fish, course, +hawk, or sport without the labour and loss of farming the land, +possesses all the pleasures of the squire's existence with few of its +drawbacks and responsibilities. Yet many a fine old house in the country +remains unlet because the life is considered a dull one by those who +have not been brought up to it. With nature's book spread so amply +before our eyes, the country is never dull. At no time of life is it too +late to commence the study of this book of nature. The faculty of +observation is one that is easily acquired. It is not a case of +_nascitur non fit_. With tolerably good eyesight and a determination to +learn, a man soon + + "Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, + Sermons in stones, and good in everything." + +And the habit of observing once acquired, we can never lose it till we +die. + +Of course those who rent a place in preference to purchasing it miss one +of the greatest and most useful privileges the country can confer--that +of following in the footsteps of him who + + "Strove for sixty widow'd years to help his homelier brother + man, + Served the poor and built the cottage, rais'd the school + and drained the fen." + +These are the true delights of a country existence; and it is, I think, +incumbent on the really rich men of England, if they have the welfare of +the nation at heart, to hold a stake, however small, in the land, even +at a sacrifice of income. I refer to men with incomes ranging from ten +to a hundred thousand pounds per annum, who would not feel the loss of +interest that would possibly accrue on an exchange of investment from +"the elegant simplicity of the three per cents." to an agricultural +estate in the country. They may be giving gold for silver in the +transaction, but will be amply repaid in a thousand different ways. How +infinitely preferable the existence of the poor countryman, even though +times be hard, to that of the misguided being of whom it may be said: + + "Through life's dark road his sordid way he wends-- + An incarnation of fat dividends "! + + C. SPRAGUE. + +It is probable that the bicycle will cause a larger demand for remote +country houses. To the writer, who, previous to this summer, had never +experienced the poetry of motion which a bicycle coasting downhill, with +a smooth road and a favourable wind, undoubtedly constitutes, the +invention seems of the greatest utility. It brings places sixty miles +apart within our immediate neighbourhood. Let the south wind blow, and +we can be at quaint old Tewkesbury, thirty miles away, in less than +three hours. A northerly gale will land us at the "Blowing-stone" and +the old White House of Berkshire with less labour than it takes to walk +a mile. Yet in the old days these twenty miles were a great gulf fixed +between the Gloucestershire natives and the "chaw-bacons" over the +boundary. Their very language is as different as possible. To this day +the villagers who went to the last "scouring of the horse" and saw the +old-fashioned backsword play, talk of the expedition with as much pride +as if they had made a pilgrimage to the Antipodes. + +As September draws nigh and the days rapidly shorten, the merry hum of +the thrashing machine is heard all day long. The sound comes from the +homestead across the road, and buzzes in my ears as I sit and write by +the open window. How wonderful the evolution of the thrashing machine! +How rough-and-ready the primitive methods of our forefathers! First of +all there was the Eastern method of spreading the sheaves on a floor of +clay, and allowing horses and oxen to trample on the wheat and tread out +the corn. Not less ancient was the use of the old-fashioned flail--an +instrument only discarded within the memory of living man. Yet what a +wonderful difference there is between the work accomplished in a day +with the flails and the daily output of the modern thrashing machine! + +In the porch of the manor house, amid an accumulation of old traps and +other curious odds and ends there hangs an ancient and much-worn flail. +Two stout sticks, the handstaff and the swingle, attached to each other +by a strong band of gut, constitute its simple mechanism. The wheat +having been strewn on the barn floor, the labourer held the handstaff in +both hands, swung it over his head, and brought the swingle down +horizontally on to the heads of ripe corn. Contrast this fearfully +laborious process with the bustling, hurrying machine of to-day. And yet +with all this improvement the corn can scarcely be thrashed out at a +profit. So out of joint are the times and seasons that the foreigner is +allowed to cut out the home producer. Half the life of the country-side +has gone, and no man dare whisper "Protection." + +Even in these bad times the man with a head on his shoulders above the +average of his neighbours comes forth to show what can be done with +energy and pluck. Twenty years ago a labouring man, who "by crook or by +hook" had saved a hundred pounds, bought a thrashing machine (probably +second-hand) He took it round to the various farms, and did the +thrashing at so much per day. By and by he had saved enough money to +take a farm. A few years later he had two thrashing machines travelling +the country, and in this poor district is now esteemed a wealthy man. I +always found him an excellent game-preserver and a most straightforward +fellow. Another farming neighbour of mine, however, was always talking +about his ignorance and lack of caste. All classes, from the peer to the +peasant, seem to resent a man's pushing his way from what they are +pleased to consider a lower station into their own. + +In the autumn gipsies are to be seen travelling the roads, or sitting +round the camp fire, on their way to the various "feasts" or harvest +festivals. "Have you got the old gipsy blood in your veins?" I asked the +other day of a gang I met on their way to Quenington feast "Always +gipsies, ever since we can remember," was the reply. Fathers, +grandfathers were just the same,--always living in the open air, winter +and summer, and always moving about with the vans. In the winter hawking +is their occupation. "Oh no! they never felt the cold in winter; they +could light the fire in the van if they wanted it." + +Although many of the farmers here have given up treating their men to a +spread after the harvest is gathered in, there is still a certain amount +of rejoicing. The villagers have a little money over from extra pay +during the harvest, so that the gipsies do not do badly by going the +round of the villages at this time. The village churches are decorated +in a very delightful manner for these feasts: such huge apples, carrots, +and turnips in the windows and strewn about in odd places; lots of +golden barley all round the pulpit and the font; and perhaps there will +be bunches of grapes, such as grow wild on the cottage walls, hung round +the pulpit. Then what could look prettier against the white carved stone +than the russet and gold leaves of the Virginia creeper? and these they +freely use in the decorations. If one wants to see good taste displayed +in these days, one must go to simple country places to find it. At +Christmas the old Gothic fane is hung with festoons of ivy and of yew in +the old fashion of our forefathers. + +I paid a visit to my old friend John Brown the other day, as I thought +he would be able to tell me something about the harvest feasts of bygone +days. He is a dear old man of some seventy-eight summers, though +somewhat of the _laudator temporis acti_ school; but what good-nature +and sense of humour there is in the good, honest face! + +"Fifty year ago 'twere all mirth and jollity," he replied to our enquiry +as to the old times. "There was four feasts in the year for us folk. +First of all there was the sower's feast,--that would be about the end +of April; then came the sheep-shearer's feast,--there'd be about fifteen +of us as would sit down after sheep-shearing, and we'd be singing best +part of the night, and plenty to eat and drink; next came the feast for +the reapers, when the corn was cut about August; and, last of all, the +harvest home in September. Ah! those were good times fifty years ago. My +father and I have rented this cottage eighty-six years come Michaelmas; +and my father's grandfather lived in that 'ere housen, up that 'tuer' +there, nigh on a hundred years afore that. I planted them ash trees in +the grove, and I mind when those firs was put in, near seventy years +ago. Ah! there _was_ some foxes about in those days; trout, too, in the +'bruk'--it were full of them. You'll have very few 'lets' for hunting +this season; 'twill be a mild time again. Last night were Hollandtide +eve, and where the wind is at Hollandtide there it will stick best part +of the winter. I've minded it every year, and never was wrong yet The +wind is south-west to-day, and you'll have no 'lets' for hunting +this time." + +"Lets" appear to be hindrances to hunting in the shape of frosts. It is +an Anglo-Saxon word, seldom used nowadays, though it is found in the +dictionary; and our English Prayer Book has the words "we are sore let +and hindered in running the race," etc. Shakespeare too employs it to +signify a "check" with the hounds. + +As I left, and thanked John Brown for his information, he handed me a +little bit of paper, whereon was written: "to John Brown 1 day minding +the edge at the picked cloos 2s three days doto," etc. I found that this +was his little account for mending the hedge at the "picket close." + +A fine stamp of humanity is the Cotswold labourer; and may his shadow +never grow less. + + "Princes and lords may flourish or may fade, + A breath can make them, as a breath has made; + But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, + When once destroyed can never be supplied." + +Fresh and health-giving is the breeze on the wolds in autumn, like the +driest and oldest iced champagne. In the rough grass fields tough, wiry +bents, thistles with purple flowers, and the remnants of oxeye daisies +on brittle stalks rise almost to the height of your knees. Lovely blue +bell-flowers grow in patches; golden ragwort, two sorts of field +scabious, yellow toad-flax, and occasionally some white campion remain +almost into winter. Where the grass is shorter masses of shrivelled wild +thyme may be seen. The charlock brightens the landscape with its mass of +colour among the turnips until the end of November, if the season be +fairly mild. But the hedges and trees are the glory of "the happy autumn +fields." The traveller's joy gleams in the September sunlight as the +feathery awns lengthen on its seed vessels. What could be more +beautiful! Later on it becomes the "old man's beard," and the hedges +will be white with the snowy down right up to Christmas, until the +winter frosts have once more scattered the seeds along the hedgerow. Of +a rich russet tint are the maple leaves in every copse and fence. On the +blackthorn hang the purple sloeberries, like small damsons, luscious and +covered with bloom. Tart are they to the taste, like the crab-apples +which abound in the hedges. These fruits are picked by the poor people +and made into wine. Crab-apples may be seen on the trees as late as +January. Blackberries are found in extraordinary numbers on this +limestone soil, and the hedges are full of elder-berries, as well as the +little black fruit of the privet. Add to these the red berries of the +hawthorn or the may, the hips and haws, the brown nuts and the succulent +berries of the yew, and we have an extraordinary variety of fruits and +bird food. Woodbine or wild honeysuckle may often be picked during +October as well as in the spring. By the river the trout grow darker and +more lanky day by day as the nights lengthen. The water is very, very +clear. "You might as well throw your 'at in as try to catch them," says +Tom Peregrine. The willows are gold as well as silver now, for some of +the leaves have turned; while others still show white downy backs when +the breeze ruffles them. In the garden by the brook-side the tall +willow-herbs are seeding; the pods are bursting, and the gossamer-like, +grey down--the "silver mist" of Tennyson--is conspicuous all along the +brook. The water-mint and scorpion-grasses remain far into November, and +the former scents more sweetly as the season wanes. But + + "Heavily hangs the broad sunflower, + Over its grave in the earth so chilly; + Heavily hangs the hollyhock; + Heavily hangs the tiger lily." + +An old wild duck that left the garden last spring to rear her progeny in +a more secluded spot half a mile up stream has returned to us. Every +morning her ten young ones pitch down into the water in front of the +house, and remain until they are disturbed; then, with loud quacks and +tumultuous flappings, they rise in a long string and fly right away for +several miles, often returning at nightfall. Such wild birds are far +more interesting as occasional visitors to your garden than the fancy +fowl of strange shape and colouring often to be seen on ornamental +water. A teal came during the autumn of 1897 to the sanctuary in front +of the house, attracted by the decoys; she stayed six weeks with us, +taking daily exercise in the skies at an immense height, and circling +round and round. Unfortunately, when the weeds were cut, she left us, +never to return. + +By the end of October almost all our summer birds have left us. First of +all, in August, went the cuckoo, seeking a winter resort in the north of +Africa. The swifts were the next to go. After a brief stay of scarce +three months they disappeared as suddenly in August as they came in May. +The long-tailed swallows and the white-throated martins were with us for +six months, but about the middle of October they were no more seen. All +have gone southwards towards the Afric shore, seeking warmth and days of +endless sunshine. Gone, too, the blackcap, the redstart, and the little +fly-catcher; vanishing in the dark night, they gathered in legions and +sped across the seas. One night towards the end of September, whilst +walking in the road, I heard such a loud, rushing sound in front, beyond +a turning of the lane, that I imagined a thrashing machine was coming +round the corner among the big elm trees. But on approaching the spot, I +found the noise was nothing more nor less than the chattering and +clattering of an immense concourse of starlings. The roar of their wings +when they were disturbed in the trees could be heard half a mile away. +Although a few starlings remain round the eaves of the houses throughout +the winter, vast flocks of them assemble at this time in the fields, and +some doubtless travel southwards and westwards in search of warmer +quarters. The other evening a large flock of lapwings, or common plover, +gave a very fine display--a sort of serpentine dance to the tune of the +setting sun, all for my edification. They could not quite make up their +minds to settle on a brown ploughed field. No sooner had they touched +the ground than they would rise again with shrill cries, flash here and +flash there, faster and faster, but all in perfect time and all in +perfect order--now flying in long drawn out lines, now in battalions; +bowing here, bowing there; now they would "right about turn" and curtsey +to the sun. A thousand trained ballet dancer; could not have been in +better time. It was as if all joined hands, dressed in green and white; +for at every turn a thousand white breasts gleamed in the purple sunset. +The restless call of the birds added a peculiar charm to the scene in +the darkening twilight. + +Of our winter visitants that come to take the place of the summer +migrants the fieldfare is the commonest and most familiar. Ere the leaf +is off the ash and the beeches are tinged with russet and gold, flocks +of these handsome birds leave their homes in the ice-bound north, and +fly southwards to England and the sunny shores of France. Such a +_rara avis_ as the grey phalarope--a wading bird like the +sandpiper--occasionally finds its way to the Cotswolds. Wild geese, +curlews, and wimbrels with sharp, snipe-like beaks, are shot +occasionally by the farmers. A few woodcocks, snipe, and wildfowl also +visit us. In the winter the short-eared owls come; they are rarer than +their long-eared relatives, who stay with us all the year. The common +barn owl, of a white, creamy colour, is the screech owl that we hear on +summer nights. Brown owls are the ones that hoot; they do not screech. + +Curiously enough I missed the corncrake's well-known call in the meadows +by the river in the springtime of 1897; and not one was bagged in +September by the partridge-shooters. This is the first year they have +been absent. I always looked for their pleasing croak in May by the +trout stream, and invariably shot several while partridge-shooting in +former years. + +The earthquake of 1895 was very severely felt in the Cotswolds. Next to +an earthquake a bad thunderstorm is the most awe inspiring of all things +to mortals. During last autumn the Cotswold district was visited by a +thunderstorm of short duration, but great severity. A gale was blowing +from the south; thunder and lightning came up from the same direction, +and, travelling at an immense speed, passed rapidly over our house about +ten p.m. The shocks became louder and louder; and whilst five or six of +us were watching the lightning from a large window in the hall, there +was a deafening report as of a dozen canons exploding simultaneously at +close quarters. At the same time a flame of blue fire of intense +brilliancy seemed to fall like a meteor a few yards in front of our +eyes. At first we were sure the house had been struck, so that the first +impulse was to rush out of doors; but the succeeding report being much +less severe, confidence was restored. The general conclusion was that a +thunderbolt had fallen, and, missing the house by a few yards, had +disappeared in the earth. A search next morning on the lawn did not +throw any light on the matter. Probably, if there was a thunderbolt, it +fell into the river; for it is well known that water is a great +conductor of the electric fluid, and thunderstorms often seem to follow +the course of a stream. The summer lightning, which kept the sky in a +blaze of light for two hours after the storm had passed away, was the +finest I remember. + +It is a pity mankind is so little addicted to being out of doors after +sunset. Some of the most beautiful drives and walks I have ever enjoyed +have been those taken at night. Driving out one evening from +Cirencester, the road on either side was illuminated with the fairy +lights of countless glow-worms. It is the female insect that is usually +responsible for this wonderful green signal taper; the males seldom use +it. Whereas the former is merely an apterous creeping grub, the latter +is an insect provided with wings. Flying about at night, he is guided to +his mate by the light she puts forth; and it is a peculiar +characteristic of the male glow-worm, that his eyes are so placed that +he is unable to view any object that is not immediately beneath him. + +It is early in summer that these wonderful lights are to be seen; June +is the best month for observing them. During July and August glow-worms +seem to migrate to warmer quarters in sheltered banks and holes, nor is +their light visible to the eye after June is out, save on very warm +evenings, and then only in a lesser degree. + +The glow-worms on this particular night were so numerous as to remind +one of the fireflies in the tropics. At no place are these lovely +insects more numerous and resplendent than at Kandy in Ceylon. Myriads +of them flit about in the cool evening atmosphere, giving the appearance +of countless meteors darting in different directions across the sky. + +In the clear Cotswold atmosphere very brilliant meteors are observable +at certain seasons of the year. Never shall I forget the strange variety +of phenomena witnessed whilst driving homewards one evening in autumn +from the railway station seven miles away. There had been a time of +stormy, unsettled weather for some weeks previously, and the +meteorological conditions were in a very disturbed state. But as I +started homewards the stars were shining brightly, whilst far away in +the western sky, beyond the rolling downs and bleak plains of the +Cotswold Hills, shone forth the strange, mysterious, zodiacal light, +towering upwards into a point among the stars, and shaped in the form of +a cone. It was the first occasion this curious, unexplained phenomenon +had ever come under my notice, and it was awe inspiring enough in +itself. But before I had gone more than two miles of my solitary +journey, great black clouds came up behind me from the south, and I knew +I was racing with the storm. Then, as "the great organ of eternity +began to play" and the ominous murmurs of distant thunder broke the +silence of the night, a stiff breeze from the south seemed to come from +behind and pass me, as if travelling quicker than my fast-trotting nag. +Like a whisper from the grave it rustled in the brown, lifeless leaves +that still lingered on the trees, making me wish I was nearer the old +house that I knew was ready to welcome me five miles on in the little +valley, nestling under the sheltering hill. And soon more clouds seemed +to spring up suddenly, north, south, east, and west, where ten minutes +before the sky had been clear and starry. And the sheet lightning began +to play over them with a continuous flow of silvery radiance, north +answering south, and east giving back to west the reflected glory of the +mighty electric fluid. But the centre of the heavens was still clear and +free from cloud, so that there yet remained a large open space in +front of me, wherein the stars shone brighter than ever. And as I +gazed forward and upward, and urged the willing horse into a +twelve-mile-an-hour trot, the open space in the heavens revealed the +glories of the finest display of fireworks I have ever seen. First of +all two or three smaller stars shot across the hemisphere and +disappeared into eternal space. But suddenly a brilliant light, like an +enormous rocket, appeared in the western sky, far above the clouds. +First it moved in a steady flight, hovering like a kestrel above us; +then, with a flash which startled me out of my wits and brought my horse +to a standstill, it rushed apparently towards us, and finally +disappeared behind the clouds. It was some time before either horse or +driver regained the nerve which had for a time forsaken them; and even +then I was inclined to attribute this wonderful meteoric shower to a +display of fireworks in a neighbouring village, so close to us had this +last rocket-like shooting star appeared to be. A meteor which is +sufficiently brilliant to frighten a horse and make him stop dead is of +rare occurrence. I was thankful when I reached home in safety that I had +not only won my race against the storm, but that I had seen no more +atmospheric phenomena of so startling a nature. + +In addition to the wonders of the heaven there are many other +interesting features connected with a drive or walk by the light of the +stars or the moon. A Cotswold village seen by moonlight is even more +picturesque than it is by day. The old, gabled manor houses are a +delightful picture on a cold, frosty night in winter; if most of the +rooms are lit up, they give one the idea of endless hospitality and +cheerfulness when viewed from without. To walk by a stream such as the +Coln on such a night is for the time like being in fairyland. Every eddy +and ripple is transformed into a crystal stream, sparkling with a +thousand diamonds. The sound of the waters as they gurgle and bubble +over the stones on the shallows seems for all the world like children's +voices plaintively repeating over and over again the old strain: + + "I chatter, chatter as I flow + To join the brimming river, + For men may come and men may go, + But I go on for ever." + +Now is the time to discover the haunts of wild duck and other shy birds +like the teal and the heron. In frosty weather many of these visitors +come and go without our being any the wiser, unless we are out at night. +Before sunrise they will be far, far away, and will probably never +return any more. Time after time we have been startled by a flight of +duck rising abruptly from the stream, in places where by day one would +never dream of looking for them. Foxes, too, may be seen within a +stone's throw of the house on a moonlight evening. They love to prowl +around on the chance of a dainty morsel, such as a fat duck or a +semi-domestic moorhen. Nor will they take any notice of you at such +a time. + +I made a midnight expedition once last hunting season to see that the +"earths" were properly stopped in some small coverts situated on a bleak +and lonely spot on the Cotswold Hills. On the way I had to pass close to +a large barrow. Weird indeed looked the old time-worn stone that has +stood for thousands of years at the end of this old burial mound. A +small wood close by rejoices in the name of "Deadman's Acre." The moon +was casting a ghastly light over the great moss-grown stone and the +deserted wolds. The words of Ossian rose to my lips as I wondered what +manner of men lay buried here. "We shall pass away like a dream. Our +tombs will be lost on the heath. The hunter shall not know the place of +our rest. Give us the song of other years. Let the night pass away on +the sound, and morning return with joy." Then, as the rustling wind +spoke in the lifeless leaves of the beeches, the plain seemed to be +peopled with strange phantasies--the ghosts of the heroes of old. And a +voice came back to me on the whispering breeze: + + "Thou, too, must share our fate; for human life is short. + Soon will thy tomb be hid, and the grass grow rank on thy grave." + + MACPHERSON'S _Ossian_. + +And sometimes when I have been up on the hills by night, and, looking +away over the broad vale stretched out below, have seen in the distance +the gliding lights of some Great Western express--a trusty +weight-carrier bearing through the darkness its precious burden of +humanity--I thought of the time when the old seas ran here. And then +there seemed to come from the direction of the old White Horse and +Wayland Smith's cave the faint murmuring sound of the "Blowing-stone" +("King Alfred's bugle-horn")--that summoner of men to arms a thousand +years ago, like the beacons of later days that "shone on Beachy Head"; +and I felt like a man standing at the prow of a mighty liner, "homeward +bound," on some fine though dark and starless evening, when no sound +breaks upon his ear but the monotonous beating of the screw and the +ceaseless flow of unfathomed waters, save that ever and anon in the far +distance the moaning foghorn sounds its note of warning; whilst as he +stands "forward" and inhales the pure health-giving salt distilled from +balmy vapours that rise everlastingly from the surface of the deep, +nothing is visible to the eye--straining westward for a glimpse of +white chalk cliffs, or eastward, perhaps, for the first peep of +dawn--save the intermittent flash from the lighthouse tower, and the +signals glowing weird and fiery that reveal in the misty darkness those +softly gliding phantasies, the ships that pass in the night. + + + +II. + +In nine years out of ten autumn lingers on until the death of the old +year; then, with the advent of the new, our English winter begins +in earnest. + +It is Christmas Day, and so lovely is the weather that I am sitting on +the terrace watching the warm, grateful sun gradually disappearing +through the grey ash trunks in the hanging wood beyond the river. The +birds are singing with all the promise of an early spring. There is +scarcely a breath of wind stirring, and one might almost imagine it to +be April. Tom Peregrine, clad in his best Sunday homespun, passes along +his well-worn track through the rough grass beyond the water, intent on +visiting his vermin traps, or bent on some form of destruction,--for he +is never happy unless he is killing. My old friend, the one-legged cock +pheasant, who for the third year in succession has contrived to escape +our annual battue, comes up to my feet to take the bread I offer. When +he was flushed by the beaten there was no need to call "Spare him," for +with all the cunning of a veteran he towered straight into the skies +and passed over the guns out of shot. Two fantail pigeons of purest +white, sitting in a dark yew tree that overhangs the stream a hundred +yards away, make the prettiest picture in the world against the +dusky foliage. + +Splash!--a great brown trout rolls in the shallow water like a porpoise +in the sea. A two-pounder in this little stream makes as much fuss as a +twenty-pound salmon in the mighty Tweed. + +Hark! was that a lamb bleating down in old Mr. Peregrine's meadow? It +was: the first lamb, herald of the spring that is to be. May its little +life be as peaceful as this its first birthday: less stormy than the +life of that Lamb whose birth all people celebrate to-day. + +The rooks are cawing, and a faint cry of plover comes from the hill. + +Soft and grey is the winter sky, but behold! round the sun in the west +there arises a perfect solar halo, very similar to an ordinary rainbow, +but smaller in its arc and fainter in its hues of yellow and rose--a +very beautiful phenomenon, and one seldom to be seen in England. Halos +of this nature are supposed to arise from the double refraction of the +rays from the sun as the light passes through thin clouds, or from the +transmission of light through particles of ice. It lingers a full +quarter of an hour, and then dies away. Does this bode rough weather? +Surely the cruel Boreas and the frost will not come suddenly on us after +this lovely, mild Christmas! Listen to the Christmas bells ringing two +miles away at Barnsley village I we can never tire of the sound here, +for it is only on very still days that it reaches us across the wolds. + + "Hark! In the air, around, above, + The Angelic Music soars and swells, + And, in the Garden that I love + I hear the sound of Christmas Bells. + + "From hamlet, hollow, village, height, + The silvery Message seems to start, + And far away its notes to-night + Are surging through the city's heart. + + "Assurance clear to those who fret + O'er vanished Faith and feelings fled, + That not in English homes is yet + Tradition dumb, or Reverence dead. + + "Now onward floats the sacred tale, + Past leafless woodlands, freezing rills; + It wakes from sleep the silent vale, + It skims the mere, it scales the hills; + + "And rippling on up rings of space, + Sounds faint and fainter as more high, + Till mortal ear no more may trace + The music homeward to the sky. + + "To courtly roof and rustic cot + Old comrades wend from far and wide; + Now is the ancient feud forgot, + The growing grudge is laid aside. + + "Peace and goodwill 'twixt rich and poor! + Goodwill and peace 'twixt class and class! + Let old with new, let Prince with boor + Send round the bowl, and drain the glass!" + + ALFRED AUSTIN. + +I have culled these lines from the poet laureate's charming "Christmas +Carol," as they are both singularly beautiful and singularly appropriate +to our Cotswold village. + +I take the liberty of saying that in our little hamlet there _is_ peace +and goodwill 'twixt rich and poor at Christmas-time. + + "Now is the ancient feud forgot, + The growing grudge is laid aside." + +Our humble rejoicings during this last Christmas were very similar to +those of a hundred years ago. They included a grand smoking concert at +the club, during which the mummers gave an admirable performance of +their old play, of which more anon; then a big feed for every man, +woman, and child of the hamlet (about a hundred souls) was held in the +manor house; added to which we received visits from carol singers and +musicians of all kinds to the number of seventy-two, reckoning up the +total aggregate of the different bands, all of whom were welcomed, for +Christmas comes but once a year, after all, and "the more the merrier" +should be our motto at this time. So from villages three and four miles +away came bands of children to sing the old, old songs. The brass band, +including old grey-haired men who fifty years ago with strings and +wood-wind led the psalmody at Chedworth Church, come too, and play +inside the hall. We do not brew at home nowadays. Even such +old-fashioned Conservatives as old Mr. Peregrine, senior, have at length +given up the custom, so we cannot, like Sir Roger, allow a greater +quantity of malt to our small beer at Christmas; but we take good care +to order in some four or five eighteen-gallon casks at this time. Let it +be added that we never saw any man the worse for drink in consequence +of this apparent indiscretion. But then, we have a butler of the +old school. + +When we held our Yuletide revels in the manor house, and the old walls +rang with the laughter and merriment of the whole hamlet (for farmers as +well as labourers honoured us), it occurred to me that the bigotphones, +which had been lying by in a cupboard for about a twelvemonth, might +amuse the company. Bigotphones, I must explain to those readers who are +uninitiated, are delightfully simple contrivances fitted with reed +mouthpieces--exact representations in mockery of the various instruments +that make up a brass band--but composed of strong cardboard, and +dependent solely on the judicious application of the human lips and the +skilful modulation of the human voice for their effect. These being +produced, an impromptu band was formed: young Peregrine seized the +bassoon, the carter took the clarionet, the shepherd the French horn, +the cowman the trombone, and, seated at the piano, I myself conducted +the orchestra. Never before have I been so astonished as I was by the +unexpected musical ability displayed. No matter what tune I struck up, +that heterogeneous orchestra played it as if they had been doing nothing +else all their lives. "The British Grenadiers," "The Eton Boating Song," +"Two Lovely Black Eyes" (solo, young Peregrine on the bassoon), "A Fine +Hunting Day,"--all and sundry were performed in perfect time and without +a false note. Singularly enough, it is very difficult for the voice to +"go flat" on the bigotphone. Then, not content with these popular songs +we inaugurated a dance. Now could be seen the beautiful and +accomplished Miss Peregrine doing the light fantastic round the stone +floor of the hall to the tune of "See me dance the polka"; then, too, +the stately Mrs. Peregrine insisted on our playing "Sir Roger de +Coverley," and it was danced with that pomp and ceremony which such +occasions alone are wont to show. None of your "kitchen lancers" for us +hamlet folk; we leave that kind of thing to the swells and nobs. Tom +Peregrine alone was baffled. Whilst his family in general were bowing +there, curtseying here, clapping hands and "passing under to the right" +in the usual "Sir Roger" style, he stood in grey homespun of the best +material (I never yet saw a Cotswold man in a vulgar chessboard suit), +and as he stood he marvelled greatly, exclaiming now and then, "Well, I +never; this is something new to be sure!" "I never saw such things in +all my life, never!" He would not dance; but, seizing one of the +bigotphones, he blew into it until I was in some anxiety lest he should +have an apoplectic fit I need scarcely say he failed to produce a +single note. + +Thus our Yuletide festivities passed away, all enjoying themselves +immensely, and thus was sealed the bond of fellowship and of goodwill +'twixt class and class for the coming year. + +Whilst the younger folks danced, the fathers of the hamlet walked on +tiptoe with fearful tread around the house, looking at the faded family +portraits. I was pleased to find that what they liked best was the +ancient armour; for said they, "Doubtless squire wore that in the old +battles hereabouts, when Oliver Cromwell was round these parts." On my +pointing out the picture of the man who built the house three hundred +years ago, they surrounded it, and gazed at the features for a great +length of time; indeed, I feared that they would never come away, so +fascinated were they by this relic of antiquity, illustrating the +ancient though simple annals of their village. + +I persuaded the head of our mummer troop to write out their play as it +was handed down to him by his predecessors. This he did in a fine bold +hand on four sides of foolscap. Unfortunately the literary quality of +the lines is so poor that they are hardly worth reproducing, except as a +specimen of the poetry of very early times handed down by oral +tradition. Suffice it to say that the _dramatis personae_ are five in +number--viz., Father Christmas, Saint George, a Turkish Knight, the +Doctor, and an Old Woman. All are dressed in paper flimsies of various +shapes and colours. First of all enters Father Christmas. + + "In comes I old Father Christmas, + Welcome in or welcome not, + Sometimes cold and sometimes hot. + I hope Father Christmas will never be forgot," etc. + +Then Saint George comes in, and after a great deal of bragging he fights +the "most dreadful battle that ever was known," his adversary being the +knight "just come from Turkey-land," with the inevitable result that the +Turkish knight falls. This brings in the Doctor, who suggests the +following remedies:-- + + "Give him a bucket of dry hot ashes to eat, + Groom him down with a bezom stick, + And give him a yard and a half of pump water to drink." + +For these offices he mentions that his fee is fifty guineas, but he +will take ten pounds, adding: + + "I can cure the itchy pitchy, + Palsy, and the gout; + Pains within or pains without; + A broken leg or a broken arm, + Or a broken limb of any sort. + I cured old Mother Roundabout," etc. + +He declares that he is not one of those "quack doctors who go about from +house to house telling you more lies in one half-hour than what you can +find true in seven years." + +So the knight just come from Turkey-land is resuscitated and sent back +to his own country. + +Last of all the old woman speaks: + + "In comes I old Betsy Bub; + On my shoulder I carry my tub, + And in my hand a dripping-pan. + Don't you think I'm a jolly old man? + + Now last Christmas my father killed a fat hog, + And my mother made black-puddings enough to choke a dog, + And they hung them up with a pudden string + Till the fat dropped out and the maggots crawled in," etc. + +The mummers' play, of which the above is a very brief _résumé_, lasts +about half an hour, and includes many songs of a topical nature. + +Yes, Christmas is Christmas still in the heart of old England. We are +apt to talk of the good old days that are no more, lamenting the customs +and country sports that have passed away; but let us not forget that two +hundred years hence, when we who are living now will have long passed +"that bourne from which no traveller returns," our descendants, as they +sit round their hearths at Yuletide, may in the same way regret the +grand old times when good Victoria--the greatest monarch of all +ages--was Queen of England; those times when during the London season +fair ladies and gallant men might be seen on Drawing-room days driving +down St James's Street in grand carriages, drawn by magnificent horses, +with servants in cocked hats and wigs and gold lace; when the rural +villages of merrie England were cheered throughout the dreary winter +months by the sound of horse and hound, and by the sight of beautiful +ladies and red-coated sportsmen, mounted on blood horses, careering over +the country, clearing hedges and ditches of fabulous height and width; +when every man, woman, and child in the village turned out to see the +"meet," and the peer and the peasant were for the day on an equal +footing, bound together by an extraordinary devotion to the chase of +"that little red rover" which men called the fox--now, alas! extinct, as +the mammoth or the bear, owing to barbed wire and the abolition of the +horse; when to such an extent were games and sports a part of our +national life that half London flocked to see two elevens of cricketers +(including a champion "nine" feet high called Grace) fighting their +mimic battle arrayed in white flannels and curiously coloured caps, at a +place called Lords, the exact site of which is now, alas I lost in the +sea of houses; when as an absolute fact the first news men turned to on +opening their daily papers in the morning was the column devoted to +cricket, football, or horse-racing; when in the good old days, before +electricity and the motor-car caused the finest specimen of the brute +creation to become virtually extinct (although a few may still be seen +at the Zoological Gardens), horse-racing for a cup and a small fortune +in gold was only second to cricket and football in the estimation of all +merrie Englanders--the only races now indulged in being those of flying +machines to Mars and back twice a day. Two hundred years hence, I say, +the Victorian era--time of blessed peace and unexampled prosperity--will +be pronounced by all unprejudiced judges as the true days of merrie +England. Let us, then, though not unmindful of the past, pin our faith +firmly on the present and the future. _Carpe diem_ should be our motto +in these fleeting times, and, above all, progress, not retrogression. +Let us, as the old, old sound of the village bells comes to us over the +rolling downs this New Year's eve, recall to mind + + ".... the primal sympathy + Which having been must ever be." + +Let our hearts warm to the battle cry of advancing civilisation and the +attainment of the ideal humanity, soaring upwards step by step, +re-echoing the prayer contained in those lilting stanzas with which +Tennyson greets the New Year: + + "Ring out the old, ring in the new; + Ring happy bells across the snow: + The year is going, let him go; + Ring out the false, ring in the true. + + "Ring out the grief that saps the mind, + For those that here we see no more + Ring out the feud of rich and poor, + Ring in redress to all mankind. + + "Ring out false pride in place and blood, + The civic slander and the spite; + Ring in the love of truth and right; + Ring in the common love of good. + + "Ring out old shapes of foul disease; + Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; + Ring out the thousand wars of old, + Ring in the thousand years of peace. + + "Ring in the valiant man and free, + The larger heart, the kindlier hand; + Ring out the darkness of the land. + Ring in the Christ that is to be." + +[Illustration: Coln S' Aldwyns 429.png] + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN. + + "I saw Eternity the other night + Like a great ring of pure and endless light, + All calm, as it was bright:-- + And round beneath it, time in hours, days, years, + Driven by the spheres, + Like a vast shadow moved, in which the world + And all her train were hurl'd." + + HENRY VAUGHAN. + +It is the end of May; a bright, rainless, and at times bitterly cold +month it has been. But now the chill east wind has almost died away. +Summer has come at last. Once more I am making for the Downs. Very +seldom am I there at this period of the year; but before going away for +several months, I bethought me that I would go and inspect the +improvements at the fox-covert, stopping on my way at the "Jubilee" +gorse covert we lately planted, to see if there is a litter of cubs +there this year. Across the fields we go, ankle deep in buttercups and +clover at one moment, then up the hedge to avoid treading the half-grown +barley. We are so accustomed to take a bee-line across these shooting +grounds of ours that we quite forget that the farmer would not thank us +for trampling down his crops at the end of May. But soon we are on the +Downs, well out of harm's way and far removed from highroads and +footpaths. What a glorious panorama lies all around! Why do we not come +here oftener in summer?--the country is ten times more lovely then than +it is in the shooting season. A field of sainfoin in June, with its +glorious blossoms of pink, is one of the prettiest sights in all +creation. Seen in the distance, amid a setting of green wheatfields and +verdant pastures, it ripples in the garish light of the summer sun like +a lake of rubies. + + "Land and sea + Give themselves up to jollity; + And with the heart of May + Doth every beast keep holiday." + +Ah! there will be lots of foxes when the hounds come to the fox-covert +next October. The unpleasant smell at the mouth of the earth tells us +that there are cubs there; and as we stand over it we can hear them +playing down below in the bowels of mother earth. Very distinct, too, +are the tracks--_traffic_, the keeper calls them--leading by sundry +well-trodden paths to the dell below--a nice sunny dell, facing +south-west, where in spring the violets and primroses grow among the +spreading elder. These cubs were not born here. Their mother brought +them from an old hollow stump of a tree by the river, half a mile away. +When she found her lair discovered by an angler who happened to pass +that way, she brought them across the river by the narrow footbridge +right up here on to the hill. The cubs from the tree have disappeared, +so no doubt these are the ones. Well, there are lots of rabbits for +them; the little fellows are popping about all over the place. + +How tame all wild animals become in the summer!--all except the ones we +want to circumvent--magpies, jays, stoats, and such small deer. Lapwings +fly round us, crying restlessly, "Go away, go away!" Their shrill treble +accents remind one of a baby's squall. Pigeons and ringdoves, partridges +and hares seem to be plentiful "as blackberries in September." A +gorgeous cock pheasant crows and jumps up close to us, followed by his +mate. This is a pleasing sight up here, for they are wild birds. There +has been no rearing done in these copses on the hills within the +memory of man. + +Tom Peregrine suddenly appears out of a hedge, where he has been +watching the antics of the cubs at the mouth of the fox-earth. He has +grown very serious of late, and tells you repeatedly that there is going +to be another big European war shortly. Let us hope his gloomy +forebodings are doomed to disappointment. Surely, surely at the end of +this marvellous nineteenth century, when there are so many men in the +world who have learnt the difficult lessons of life in a way that they +have never been learnt before, nations are no longer obliged to behave +like children, or worse still, with their petty jealousies and +bickerings and growlings, "like dogs that delight to bark and bite." + +Tom Peregrine, having done but little work for many months, is now +making himself really useful, for a change, by copying out parts of this +great work; and, to do him justice, he writes a capital, clear hand. He +is very anxious to become secretary to "some great gentleman," he says. +If any of my readers require a sporting secretary, I can confidently +recommend him as a man of "plain sense rather than of much learning, of +a sociable temper, and one that understands a little of backgammon." +There is no fear of his "insulting you with Latin and Greek at your own +table." He would have suited Sir Roger capitally for a chaplain, I often +tell him; and though he hasn't a notion who Sir Roger may be, he +thoroughly enjoys the joke. + +The fox-covert presents a strange appearance. It is full of young spruce +trees, and the lower branches have been lopped down, but not cut through +or killed. Under each tree there is now a grand hiding-place for foxes +and rabbits--a sort of big umbrella turned topsy-turvy. The rabbits +appreciate the pains we have been at; but I fear the foxes, for whom it +was intended, at present look on the shelter with suspicion. They +dislike the gum which oozes continually from the gashes in the bark; it +sticks to their coats, and gives an unpleasant sensation when they +roll. They cannot keep their beautiful coats sleek and glossy, as is +their invariable rule, as long as their is any gum sticking to them. + +How clearly we can see the Swindon Hills in the bright evening +atmosphere! They must be more than twenty miles away. The grand old +White Horse, making the spot where long, long ago the Danes were +vanquished in fight, is not visible; but he is scarcely to be seen at +all now, as the lazy Berkshire people have neglected their duty. He +really must be scoured again this summer; he is a national institution. +Londoners take a much greater interest in him than do the honest folk +who live bang under his nose. + +We must continue our excavations at Ladbarrow copse yonder. Men say it +is the largest barrow in the county, full of "golden coffins" and all +sorts of priceless antiquities! At present all we have discovered are +some bones, with which we stuffed our pockets. When we arrived home, +however, they were found to have belonged to a poor old sheep-dog that +was buried there. But see! the setting sun is tinging the tops of the +slender, shapely ash trees in yonder emerald copse. The whole plain is +changing from a vast arena of golden splendour to a mysterious shadowy +land of dreams. A fierce light still reveals every object on the hill +towards the east; but westwards beneath yon purple ridge all is wrapped +in dim, ambiguous shade. + +It is sad to think that I alone of mortal men should be here to see this +glorious panorama. It seems such a waste of nature's bounteous store +that night after night this wondrous spectacle should be solemnly +displayed, with no better gallery than a stray shepherd, who, as he +"homeward plods his weary way," cares little for the grand drama that is +being performed entirely for his benefit. Nature is indeed prodigal of +her charms in out-of-the-way country places. + +Sometimes whilst walking over these remote fields on summer evenings, I +have stopped to ask myself this question: Is it possible that these +exquisite wild flowers, these groves and dells of verdant tracery, these +birds with their priceless music, and these wondrous, ineffable effects +of light and shade which form part of the everyday pageant of English +rural scenery are doomed "to waste their sweetness on the desert air"? +Is it possible (to go further afield) that those lovely scenes in +Wales--the fairy glens near Bettws-y-Coed, or the luxuriant valleys of +Carmarthen, further south, where silvery Towey flows below the stately +ruins of Dynevor Castle; those romantic reaches on the Wye, from +Chepstow to the frowning hills of Brecon; those solitary, but +unspeakably grand, mountains and passes of the Highlands, such as +Glencoe, Ben Nevis, or those of the scarcely explored Hebrides; those +smiling waters of the lovely Trossachs; those countless spots in the +"Emerald Isle" that the tourist has never seen, whether in fertile +Wicklow or among the whispering woods and weird waters of the west; +those gorgeous forests of Ceylon; those interminable jungles of the +beautiful East, with their unknown depths of tropical splendour;--is it +possible that these scenes of wondrous beauty are inhabited and enjoyed +by nothing more than is visible to our limited mortal gaze? + +I believed, as a boy, and with a romance still unsubdued by time I would +yet fain believe, that when the soul of man escapes from the poor +tenement of clay in which it has been pent up for some threescore years +and ten, it has not far to go. I would fain believe that heaven is not +only above us, but, in some form or other entirely beyond our mortal +ken, all around us, in every beautiful thing we see; that these hills +and vales, these woods of delicately wrought fan-tracery groining, these +mazes of golden light when the sun goes down, are peopled not alone by +human flesh and blood. "There are also terrestrial bodies, and bodies +celestial. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the +terrestrial is another." + +Who can imagine the shape or form of the immortal soul? As I walked over +those golden fields to-night it seemed as if there were spirits all +around me--glorious, bright spirits of the dead--invisible, intangible, +like rays of pure light, in the clear atmosphere of those Elysian +fields. I cannot but believe that there arise from the secret parts of +this beautiful earth, at dawn of day and at eventide, other voices +besides the ineffable songs of birds, the rustling murmurs that whisper +in the woods, and the plaintive babbling of the brooks--hymns of unknown +depths of harmony, impossible to describe, because impossible to +imagine--crying night and day: "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and +power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for +ever and ever." + +Yes, dear reader, + + "Though inland far we be, + Our souls have sight of that immortal sea + Which brought us hither." + +When the sun goes down, if you will turn for a little while from the +noise and clamour of the busy world, you shall list to those voices +ringing, ringing in your ears. Words of comfort shall you hear at +eventide, "and sorrow and sadness shall be no more,"--even though, as +the years roll on, perforce you cry, with Wordsworth: + + "What though the radiance which was once so bright + Be now for ever taken from my sight, + Though nothing can bring back the hour + Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower, + We will grieve not, rather find + Strength in what remains behind; + In the primal sympathy + Which having been must ever be; + In the soothing thoughts that spring + Out of human suffering; + In the faith that looks through death, + In years that bring the philosophic mind." + +THE END. + + + +APPENDIX. + +GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN. + +(_Note from the papers of the Gloucestershire Society_) + +It is now generally understood that the words of this song have a hidden +meaning which was only known to the members of the Gloucestershire +Society, whose foundation dates from the year 1657. This was three years +before the restoration of Charles II. and when the people were growing +weary of the rule of Oliver Cromwell. The Society consisted of +Loyalists, whose object in combining was to be prepared to aid in the +restoration of the ancient constitution of the kingdom whenever a +favourable opportunity should present itself. The Cavalier or Royalist +party were supported by the Roman Catholics of the old and influential +families of the kingdom; and some of the Dissenters, who were disgusted +with the treatment they received from Cromwell, occasionally lent them a +kind of passive aid. Taking these considerations as the keynote to the +song, attempts have been made to discover the meaning which was +originally attached to its leading words. It is difficult at the present +time to give a clear explanation of all its points. The following, +however, is consistent throughout, and is, we believe, correct:-- + + "The stwuns that built Gaarge Ridler's oven, + And thauy qeum from the Bleakeney's Quaar; + And Gaarge he wur a jolly ould mon, + And his yead it graw'd above his yare." + +By "George Ridler" was meant King Charles I. The "oven" was the Cavalier +party. The "stwuns" which built the oven, and which "came out of the +Blakeney Quaar," were the immediate followers of the Marquis of +Worcester, who held out to the last steadfastly for the royal cause at +Raglan Castle, which was not surrendered till 1646, and was, in fact, +the last stronghold retained for the king. "His head did grow above his +hair" was an allusion to the crown, the head of the State, and which the +king wore "above his hair." + + "One thing of Gaarge Ridler's I must commend, + And that wur vor a notable theng; + He mead his braags avoore he died, + Wi' any dree brothers his zons zshou'd zeng." + +This meant that the king, "before he died," boasted that notwithstanding +his present adversity, the ancient constitution of the kingdom was so +good and its vitality so great that it would surpass and outlive any +other form of government, whether republican, despotic, or protective. + + "There's Dick the treble and John the mean + (Let every mon zing in his auwn pleace); + And Gaarge he wur the elder brother, + And therevoore he would zing the beass." + +"Dick the treble, Jack the mean, and George the bass" meant the three +parts of the British constitution--King, Lords, and Commons. The +injunction to "let every man sing in his own place" was intended as a +warning to each of the three estates of the realm to preserve its proper +position and not to attempt to encroach on each other's prerogative. + + "Mine hostess's moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell), + A pretty wench, and I lov'd her well; + I lov'd her well--good reauzon why, + Because zshe lov'd my dog and I." + +"Mine hostess's moid" was an allusion to the queen, who was a Roman +Catholic; and her maid, the Church. The singer, we must suppose, was one +of the leaders of the party, and his "dog" a companion or faithful +official of the Society; and the song was sung on occasions when the +members met together socially: and thus, as the Roman Catholics were +Royalists, the allusion to the mutual attachment between the "maid" and +"my dog and I" is plain and consistent. + + "My dog has gotten zitch a trick + To visit moids when thauy be zick; + When thauy be zick and like to die, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I." + +The "dog"--that is, the official or devoted member of the Society--had +"a trick of visiting maids when they were sick." The meaning here was +that when any of the members were in distress, or desponding, or likely +to give up the royal cause in despair, the officials or active members +visited, consoled, and assisted them. + + "My dog is good to catch a hen,-- + A duck and goose is vood vor men; + And where good company I spy, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I." + +The "dog," the official or agent of the Society, was "good to catch a +hen," a "duck," or a "goose"--that is, any who were well affected to the +royal cause of whatever party; wherever "good company I spy, Oh, thither +go my dog and I"--to enlist members into the Society. + + "My mwother told I when I wur young, + If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot, + That drenk would pruv my auverdrow, + And meauk me wear a thzreadbare cwoat." + +"The good ale-tap" was an allusion, under cover of a similarity in the +sound of the words "ale" and "aisle," to the Church, of which it was +dangerous at that time to be an avowed follower, and so the members were +cautioned that indiscretion would lead to their discovery and +"overthrow." + + "When I hev dree zixpences under my thumb, + Oh, then I be welcome wherever I qeum + But when I have none, oh, then I pass by,-- + 'Tis poverty pearts good company." + +The allusion here is to those unfaithful supporters of the royal cause +who "welcomed" the members of the Society when it appeared to be +prospering, but "parted" from them in adversity, probably referring +ironically to those lukewarm and changeable Dissenters who veered about, +for and against, as Cromwell favoured or contemned them. Such could +always be had wherever there were "three sixpence-under the thumb"; but +"poverty" easily parted such "good company." + + "When I gwoes dead, as it may hap, + My greauve shall be under the good yeal tap; + In vouled earmes there wool us lie, + Cheek by jowl, my dog and I." + +"If I should die," etc.--an expression of the singer's wish that if he +should die he may be buried with his faithful companion (as representing +the principles of the Society) under the good aisles of the church, thus +evincing his loyalty and attachment to the good old constitution and to +Church and king even in death. + + + + +INDEX + +Abbey, Edwin +Ablington Manor +Acman Street +Aethelhum, the Saxon +Agriculture +Alder tree +Aldsworth and Oliver Cromwell +Alfred, King +Amphitheatre, Roman +Ampney Park +Angelus, the +Antiquity, charm of +_Arbor Diana_ +Architecture, Elizabethan +Aristotle +Arlington Row +Artificial fox-earths +Austin, Alfred + +Badgers +Bampton-in-the-Bush +Barnby, Joseph +Barns, tithe +Barometer +Barrows, ancient +Bathurst family +Bathurst, Lord +Battues +Bazley, Sir Thomas +Bettws-y-Coed +Bibury Races +Bibury village +Bigotphones +Blowing-stone, the +Bourton-on-the-Water +Bowly, Mrs. Christopher +Brassey, Albert, M.F.H. +Braydon Forest +Bromley-Davenport, W. +Buckland, Frank +Bull-ring, Roman +Burford +Burton on the Cotswolds + +Cadge for hawks +Caesar, Julius +Camps, ancient British +Carlyle, Thomas +Cassey-Compton Manor House +Caves, prehistoric +Characters, village +Charles I. +Charles II. +Charlock +Chaucer +Chavenage +Chedworth +Chepstow, the Wye at +Chiltern Hills +Chivalry, ancient +Choirs, village +"Christmas Carol," Austin's +Christmas festivities +Church ales +Churchwardens +Cirencester +Civil Wars +Clarendon on Falkland +Climate of the Cotswolds +Coats-of-arms +Coffins, old stone +Coln, River +Coln-St.-Aldwyns +Coln-St.-Dennis +Conyger wood +Corinium Museum +Corncrakes, disappearance of +Coulson, Colonel, his trap +County cricket +Coursing on the Cotswolds +Cray-fish +Creswell family +Cricket pitch, how to improve +Cricket, prehistoric +Cricket, the game of +Cripps, Wilfred, C.B. +Crosses, wayside +Cub-hunting +Cubs, fox +Cudgel-playing, old-fashioned +Curlews +Cushats + +Deadman's Acre +Deerhounds, Scotch +De Quincey +Derby Day on the Coln +De Vere, Aubrey +Dew +Dew-point +Dialect, Cotswold +Dickens, Charles, on cricket +Dogs +Downs, the mystery of the +Dream, Shakespeare's +Dress, simplicity in +Drayton, Michael +Dry-fly fishing +Ducks, wild +Duleep Singh at Hatherop +Dun, olive +Dürer, Albert + +Earthquake of 1895 +Earths for foxes +_Écrevisse_ +Eel, curious capture of +Elder tree +Eldon, Lord +"Elegy," Gray's +Elizabeth, Queen, at Burford +Elms +"England, Merrie" +Escutcheons +Evening fishing +Excursion, Roger Plowman's + +Fairwood +Falconry, the art of +Falkland, Lord, at Burford +Farmers, Cotswold +Feasts, ancient +Ferns growing on ash tree +Fieldfare, return of the +Field names +Firr, Tom +Flails, old-fashioned +Flanders mares +Flies, artificial +Flocks of lapwings +Flowers, wild +Fly-catcher, the +"Flying Dutchman" +Forest, Braydon +Forest, Savernake +Fossbridge +Fosseway +Fox-earths +Foxes +Fozbrooke +Free Foresters' Cricket Club + +Galway nags +Gamekeeper, the +Gannet +Garden, an old +Garne of Aldsworth +Geese, wild +"George Ridler's Oven" +Gilbert White +Gilpin, John +Gipsies +Gloucestershire dialect +Glow-worms +Goethe (quoted) +Golf greens, treatment of +Gothic architecture +Grace, W.G. +Grasshoppers, Burke on +Gray's "Elegy" +Green-drake +Greyhound fox +Grounds, treatment of cricket +Gwynne, Nell, at Bibury Races + +Hall, King Alfred's +Hallam, Arthur +Halo, solar +Hamilton, Sir William Rowan +Hangman's Stone, origin of +Hard riders +Hares +Harvest home +Hawking described +Hawks +Hedgehogs +Henry VIII. +Heraldry +Herbs +Herons +Hicks-Beach, Right Hon. Sir Michael +Hic-wall or heckle +Hill, White Horse +Hills, Jem +Hobbs of Maiseyhampton +Horse, description of +Horse for the Cotswolds +Hounds, Badminton +Hounds, Bombay +Hounds, Heythrop +Hounds, Lord Bathurst's +Hounds, Mr. T.B. Miller's +Hounds, Shakespeare on +Hunting, fox- +Hunting poem +Hunting, stag-, in olden times +Huntsman, a good +Hygrometer +Hymns +Hypocaust, Roman + +Icknield Street +Implements, old stone +Inscribed stones (Roman) +Inscription on porch of manor house +Irmin Way +Irving, Washington (quoted) +Isaac Walton + +Jansen, Cornelius, painter +Jefferies, Richard +Johnson, Dr. +Joyce on Fairford windows + +Keble, John, at Fairford +Kelmscott +Kemble +Kestrel +Kingfishers +Kingmaker, the +Kipling, Rudyard +Kite, artificial +Knights Templar + +Labourers, Cotswold +Lapwings +Larder, vixen's +Leland +Lenthall, Speaker +Leslie, G. +Limestone quarries, +Llewelyn, W. Dillwyn +Loam, use of clay or + +Macomber Falls +Macpherson and Ossian +Madden, Right Hon. D.H. +Magpies +Mallard, a pugnacious +Manor parchments +Manuscript, an ancient +Marsh-harrier +Marsh-marigold +Master, Chester, family of +Maxwell, Sir Herbert +May flies +May-fly season +"Merrie England" +Meteor, a large +Miller, T.B., M.F.H. +Miller, the village +Monk, W.J., on Burford +Moorhens, habits of +Mop, Cirencester +Moreton-in-the-Marsh +Morris, William +Mounds, ancient burial +Mummers' play +Museums, Roman +Musicians, old village + +Natal, scenery of +Nest, kingfisher's +Netting trout +Newton, Isaac +Nightjar or goatsucker +Night on the hills +Nimrod on Bibury Races +_Noblesse oblige_ +Northleach + +Oak, old +Oliver Cromwell +Oman's discovery +Ossian +"Oven, George Ridler's" +Owls +Oxen, ploughing with + +Partridges +"Parvise," the +Pavements, Roman +Penance at Burford +Peregrine falcons +Peregrine, Thomas, keeper +Pheasants +Pigeon-shooting +Playing-fields, Eton +Pliny +"Plestor," the +Ploughing with oxen +Plover, common +Plover, golden +Plowman, Roger, goes to London +Poachers, scarcity of +Poges, Stoke +Political meetings +Politicians, village +Pope at Cirencester +Pottery, Roman +Prehistoric cricket +Prehistoric relics +Prescription, an excellent +Proverbs, Gloucestershire +Puffin + +Quack, the village +Quails +Quarries, limestone +Quenington +Querns, the + +Races, Bibury +Ramparts, ancient +Ready Token +Retrievers +Riders, good +Riding, hard +Roads, limestone +Roger de Coverley, Sir +Roman remains +Rookery, the +Rupert, Prince +Ruskin, John + +Sainfoin +Sargent, J. +Savernake +Scent of foxes +Scotch deerhound +Scott, Lady Margaret +Scouring the White Horse +Shakespeare on the Cotswolds +Sheep, Cotswold +Sheep-washing +Sherborne House +Sherborne, Lord +Shooting, covert- +Sly, Isaac +Snake eaten by trout +Snipe +Solan goose +Solar halo +Songs, Gloucestershire +South Africa, wolds of +Sparrow-club +Spawn-beds of trout +_Spectator_, the +Sportsman, definition of a good +Spring flowers +Springs, Cotswold +Squirrels +Stag-hunting, wild +Stage-coach +Stoats +Stone age, relics of +Stowell +Stow-on-the-Wold +Sunsets described +Swans + +Tame, John +Tanfield family +Teal +Tennyson +Terrier, fox- +Tesselated pavements +Thames +Thrashing +Thrush, song of +Tiercel-gentle +Tithe +Tithe barns +"Tolsey," the +Traps, vermin +Travess, Charles +Trees, beauty of ash +Trossachs, the +Trout eating snake +Trout, habits of +"Tuer," a +Turnip hower, the + +Umpires, village +Uncertainty, charm of +Urns, sepulchral + +Vale, Berkshire +Vale of White Horse Hounds +Valley, Coln +Valley, Thames +Victorian Era +Voles, water + +Waller's pictures +Walnut tree in spring +Warwick, the kingmaker +Wasps, a plague of +Watercress +Wayside crosses +Weasels +Westbury White Horse +Wharfe, River +White Horse Hill +Whitsun ale +Whitsuntide sports +Whyte-Melville +Wildfowl +Williamstrip +Wimbrels, +Windrush, River +Wines, home-made +Winson village +Woodpeckers +Wood-pigeons +Wordsworth +Wren, Christopher + +Yaffel +Yuletide + +Zingari Cricket Club +Zodiacal light + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Cotswold Village, by J. 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Arthur Gibbs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Cotswold Village + +Author: J. Arthur Gibbs + +Release Date: February 19, 2004 [EBook #11160] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COTSWOLD VILLAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Morgan, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fronts.jpg"> +<img src="fronts.jpg" width = "35%" alt="<i>Frontispiece</i>. J. ARTHUR GIBBS."> +</a><br><b>"<i>Frontispiece</i>. J. ARTHUR GIBBS."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h1>A COTSWOLD VILLAGE</h1> +<br> +<h3>OR COUNTRY LIFE AND PURSUITS IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE</h3> +<br> +<h2>BY J. ARTHUR GIBBS</h2> +<br> +<center> +"Go, little booke; God send thee good passage,<br> +And specially let this be thy prayere<br> +Unto them all that thee will read or hear,<br> +Where thou art wrong after their help to call,<br> +Thee to correct in any part or all."<br><br> + +GEOFFREY CHAUCER.<br> +</center><br><br> + +<h4>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</h4> +<br> + +<h3>1918</h3> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="PREFACE_TO_THE_THIRD_EDITION."></a>PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>Before the third edition of this work had been published the author +passed away, from sudden failure of the heart, at the early age of +thirty-one. Two or three biographical notices, written by those who +highly appreciated him and who deeply mourn his loss, have already +appeared in the newspapers; and I therefore wish to add only a few words +about one whose kind smile of welcome will greet us no more in +this life.</p> + +<p>Joseph Arthur Gibbs was one of those rare natures who combine a love of +outdoor life, cricket and sport of every kind, with a refined and +scholarly taste for literature. He had, like his father, a keen +observation for every detail in nature; and from a habit of patient +watchfulness he acquired great knowledge of natural history. From his +grandfather, the late Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, he inherited his taste +for literary work and the deep poetical feeling which are revealed so +clearly in his book. On leaving Eton, he wrote a <i>Vale</i>, of which his +tutor, Mr. Luxmoore, expressed his high appreciation; and later on, +when, after leaving Oxford, he was living a quiet country life, he +devoted himself to literary pursuits.</p> + +<p>He was not, however, so engrossed in his work as to ignore other duties; +and he was especially interested in the villagers round his home, and +ever ready to give what is of greater value than money, personal trouble +and time in finding out their wants and in relieving them. His unvarying +kindness and sympathy will never be forgotten at Ablington; for, as one +of the villagers wrote in a letter of condolence on hearing of his +death, "he went in and out as a friend among them." With all his +tenderness of heart, he had a strict sense of justice and a clear +judgment, and weighed carefully both sides of any question before he +gave his verdict.</p> + +<p>Arthur Gibbs went abroad at the end of March 1899 for a month's trip to +Italy, and in his Journal he wrote many good descriptions of scenery and +of the old towns; and the way in which he describes his last glimpse of +Florence during a glorious sunset shows how greatly he appreciated its +beauty. In his Journal in April he dwells on the shortness of life, and +in the following solemn words he sounds a warning note:--</p> + +<p>"Do not neglect the creeping hours of time: 'the night cometh when no +man can work.' All time is wasted unless spent in work for God. The best +secular way of spending the precious thing that men call time is by +making always for some grand end--a great book, to show forth the +wonders of creation and the infinite goodness of the Creator. You must +influence for <i>good</i> if you write, and write nothing that you will +regret some day or think trivial."</p> + +<p>These words, written a month before the end came, tell their own tale. +The writer of them had a deep love for all things that are "lovely, +pure, and of good report"; and in his book one sees clearly the +adoration he felt for that God whom he so faithfully served. There are +many different kinds of work in this world, and diversities of gifts; to +him was given the spirit to discern the work of God in Nature's glory, +and the power to win others to see it also. He had a remarkable +influence for good at Oxford, and the letters from his numerous friends +and from his former tutor at Christ Church show that this influence has +never been forgotten, but has left its mark not only on his college, but +on the university.</p> + +<p>Like his namesake and relative, Arthur Hallam, of immortal memory, +Arthur Gibbs had attained to a purity of soul and a wisdom which were +not of this world, at an earlier age than is given to many men; and so +in love and faith and hope--</p> + +<blockquote> +"I would the great world grew like thee,<br> + Who grewest not alone in power<br> + And knowledge; but by year and hour<br> + In reverence and charity."<br> + + LAURA BEATRICE GIBBS.<br> +</blockquote> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="PREFACE_TO_THE_FIRST_EDITION."></a>PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.</h2> + +<p>To those of my readers who have ever lived beside a stream, or in an +ancient house or time-honoured college, there will always be a peculiar +charm in silvery waters sparkling beneath the summer sun. To you the +Gothic building, with its carved pinnacles, its warped gables, its +mullioned casements and dormer windows, the old oak within, the very +inglenook by the great fireplace where the old folks used to sit at +home, the ivy trailing round the grey walls, the jessamine, roses, and +clematis that in their proper seasons clustered round the porch,--to you +all these things will have their charm as long as you live. Therefore, +if these pages appeal not to some such, it will not be the subject that +is wanting, but the ability of the writer.</p> + +<p>It is not claimed for my Cotswold village that it is one whit prettier +or pleasanter or better in any way than hundreds of other villages in +England; I seek only to record the simple annals of a quiet, +old-fashioned Gloucestershire hamlet and the country within walking +distance of it. Nor do I doubt that there are manor houses far more +beautiful and far richer in history even within a twenty-mile radius of +my own home. For instance, the ancient house of Chavenage by Tetbury, or +in the opposite direction, where the northern escarpments of the +Cotswolds rise out of the beautiful Evesham Vale, those historic +mediaeval houses of Southam and Postlip.</p> + +<p>It is often said that in books like these we paint arcadias that never +did and never could exist on earth. To this I would answer that there +are many such abodes in country places, if only our minds are such as to +realise them. And, above all, let us be optimists in literature even +though we may be pessimists in life. Let us have all that is joyous and +bright in our books, and leave the trials and failures for the realities +of life. Let us in our literature avoid as much as possible the painful +side of human nature and the pains and penalties of human weakness; let +us endeavour to depict a state of existence as far as possible +approaching the Utopian ideal, though not necessarily the Nirvana of the +Buddhists nor the paradise of fools; let us look not downwards into the +depths of black despair, but upwards into the starry heavens; let us +gaze at the golden evening brightening in the west. Richard Jefferies +has taught us that such a literature is possible; and if we read his +best books, we may some day be granted that fuller soul he prayed for +and at length obtained. Would that we could all hear, as he heard, the +still small voice that whispers in the woods and among the wild flowers +and the spreading foliage by the brook!</p> + +<p>To any one who might be thinking of becoming for the time being "a +tourist," and in that capacity visiting the Cotswolds, my advice is, +"Don't." There is really nothing to see. There is nothing, that is to +say, which may not be seen much nearer London. And I freely confess that +most of the subjects included in this book are usually deemed unworthy +of consideration even in the district itself. Still, there are a few who +realise that every county in England is more or less a mine of interest, +and for such I have written. Realising my limitations, I have not gone +deeply into any single subject; my endeavour has been to touch on every +branch of country life with as light a hand as possible--to amuse rather +than to instruct. For, as Washington Irving delightfully sums up the +matter: "It is so much pleasanter to please than to instruct, to play +the companion rather than the preceptor. What, after all, is the mite of +wisdom that I could throw into the mass of knowledge? or how am I sure +that my sagest deductions may be safe guides for the opinions of others? +But in writing to amuse, if I fail, the only evil is in my own +disappointment. If, however, I can by any lucky chance rub out one +wrinkle from the brow of care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment +of sorrow; if I can now and then penetrate through the gathering film of +misanthropy, prompt a benevolent view of human nature, and make my +reader more in good humour with his fellow beings and himself, surely, +surely, I shall not then have written in vain."</p> + +<p>The first half of Chapter II. originally appeared in the <i>Pall Mall +Magazine</i>. Portions of Chapters VII. and VIII., and "The Thruster's +Song," have also been published in <i>Baily's Magazine</i>. My thanks are due +to the editors for permission to reproduce them. Chapter XII. owes its +inspiration to Mr. Madden's excellent work on Shakespeare's connection +with sport and the Cotswolds, the "Diary of Master William Silence." We +have no local tradition of any kind about Shakespeare.</p> + +<p>I am indebted to Miss E.F. Brickdale for the pen-and-ink sketches, and +to Colonel Mordaunt for his beautiful photographs. Three of the +photographs, however, are by H. Taunt, of Oxford, and a similar number +are by Mr. Gardner, of Fairford.</p> + +<p><i>September 1898</i>.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2><br><br> + +<center> +<a href="#PREFACE_TO_THE_THIRD_EDITION.">PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.</a><br><br> +<a href="#PREFACE_TO_THE_FIRST_EDITION.">PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.</a><br><br> +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_I.">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> + +<h3>FLYING WESTWARDS</h3> + +The Thames Valley--The Old White Horse--Entering the Cotswolds.<br><br><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_II.">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<h3>A COTSWOLD VILLAGE</h3> + +<blockquote> +Far from the Madding Crowd--An Old Farmhouse and Its Occupants--The +Manor House--Inscription on Porch--Interior of the House--The Garden--A +Fairy Spring--The Village Club--Labouring Folk--Village Politics--The +Trout Stream--Flowing Seawards--Village Architecture--The Charm of +Antiquity--The Spirit of Sacrifice--Wayside Crosses--Tithe Barns. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_III.">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<h3>VILLAGE CHARACTERS</h3> + +<blockquote> +Quaint Hamlet Folk--The Village Impostor--Rural Economy--Stories of the +People--A Curious Analogy--Tom Peregrine, the Keeper--A Standing +Dish--A Great Character--Peregrine's Accomplishments and +Proclivities--Farmers and Foxes--Concerning Churchwardens--The Village +Quack--An Excellent Prescription--His Lecture--How the Old Fox was +Found--A Good Sort--Heroes of the Hamlet--Political Meetings--Humours of +the Poll--Gloucestershire Farmers. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE LANGUAGE OF THE COTSWOLDS, WITH SOME ANCIENT SONGS AND LEGENDS</h3> + +<blockquote> +Strange Travellers--Smoking Concerts--The Carter's Song--Village +Choirs--The Chedworth Band--Sense of Humour of the Natives--Their +Geography "a Bit Mixed"--A Large Family--<i>Noblesse Oblige</i>--Rustic +Legends--Names of Fields--The Cotswold Dialect--How to Talk It--An +Ancient Ballad--Tom Peregrine Recites--Roger Plowman's Excursion--An +Expensive Luncheon--Oxtail Soup--"The Turmut Hower." +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_V.">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<h3>ON THE WOLDS</h3> + +<blockquote> +Varied Amusements--Nature on the Hills--The Mysteries of +Scent--Partridge-Shooting--A Mixed Bag--Plover--Pigeon-Shooting with +Decoys--Bird Life--Sunset on the Downs--A Wild, Deserted Country--An +Old Dog Fox. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<h3>A GALLOP OVER THE WALLS</h3> + +<blockquote> +An October Meet--Cub-Hunting--The Old Fox Again! A Fast Gallop over the +Walls--The Charm of Uncertainty--Fliers of the Hunt--A Narrow Escape--A +Check--A Reliable Hound--Failure of Scent--An Excellent Tonic. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<h3>A COTSWOLD TROUT STREAM</h3> + +<blockquote> +Loch Leven Trout--Curious Capture of an Eel--The Author Catches a +Red-Herring--Macomber Falls--A Sad Episode--South Country +Streams--Course of the Coln--Charles Kingsley on Fishing--A May-Fly +Stream--Evening Fishing--Dry-Fly Dogmas--Flies for the Coln--Scarcity of +Poachers--An Evening Walk by the River--Spring's Delights. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE MAY-FLY IS UP</h3> + +<blockquote> +Derby Day on the Coln--A Good Sportsman--The Right Fly--Pleasures of the +Country--Peregrine's Quaint Expressions--Sport with the Olive Dun--A +Fine Trout--Effects of Sheep-Washing--A Good Basket--Life by the +Brook--A Summer's Night--In the Heart of England. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_IX.">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<h3>BURFORD, A COTSWOLD TOWN</h3> + +<blockquote> +Curious Names--The Windrush--Burford Priory--An Empty Shell--The +Kingmaker--Lord Falkland--Speaker Lenthall--Bibury Races--An Old +Tradition--Valued Relics--Burford Church--Mr. Oman's Discovery--Burford +during the Civil Wars. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_X.">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<h3>STROLL THROUGH THE COTSWOLDS</h3> + +<blockquote> +The Old Coaching Days--Fairford--Anglo-Saxon +Relics--Hatherop--Coln-St.-Aldwyns--The "Knights Templar" of +Quenington--A Haunt of Ancient Peace--Bibury Village--Ancient +Barrows--The Prehistoric Age--Deserted Villages--The Philosopher's +Stone--True Nobleness--On Battues--Roman Remains--Chedworth Woods--An +Old Manor House. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XI.">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + +<h3>COTSWOLD PASTIMES</h3> + +<blockquote> +Whitsun Ale--Sports of Various Kinds--The Peregrine Family at +Cricket--<i>Prehistoric</i> Cricket--A Bad Ground--A "Pretty" Ball--Charles +Dickens on Cricket--Dumkins and Podder, Limited--How Dumkins Hit a +"Sixer"--Downfall of "Podder"--Bourton-on-the-Water C.C.--A +Plague of Wasps--The Treatment of Cricket Grounds--The Author's +Recipe--Reflections on Modern Cricket. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XII.">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE COTSWOLDS THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.</h3> + +<blockquote> +The Centre of Elizabethan Sport--A Digression on South Africa--The Halo +of Association--A Day's Stag-Hunting in 1592--A Benighted Sportsman--"A +Goodly Dwelling and a Rich"--An Old English Gentleman--Shakespeare on +Hounds--He Describes the Run--The Death of the Stag--The Ancestral +Peregrine--Bacon not Wanted--A "Black Ousel"--The Charm of +Music--Shakespeare's Dream--A Hawking Expedition--Peregrine, the Parson, +and the Poet--Methods and Language of Falconry--A Flight at a +Heron--Peregrine Views a Fox. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>CIRENCESTER</h3> + +<blockquote> +Roman Remains--The Corinium Museum--The Church--Cirencester House--The +Park--The Abbey--The "Mop" or Hiring Fair--A Great Hunting Centre--A +Varied Country--The Badminton Hounds--Lord Bathurst's Hounds--The +Cotswold Hounds--Charles Travess--A Born Genius--The Cricklade +Hounds--The Right Sort of Horse--The Oaksey District--The Heythrop +Hounds--A Defence of Hard Riding--A Day in the Vale--A Hunting Poem. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV.">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> + +<h3>SPRING IN THE COTSWOLDS</h3> + +<blockquote> +Habits of Moorhens--Mallard and Swan--Nuthatches--Woodpeckers--Humane +Traps--Badgers--Fox-terriers--Scotch +Deerhounds--Retrievers--Cray-fish--The +Rookery--Jackdaws--Foxes--Artificial Earths--Fox among Sheep--Foxes and +Fowls--Poultry Claims--Observations on Scent--The Hygrometer--How Trout +are Netted--Scarcity of Otters--Water-Voles. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XV.">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE PROMISE OF MAY</h3> + +<blockquote> +Wild Flowers--Cottage Gardens--The Paths of Literature--Description of a +Horse--Beauty of Trees--Their Loss Irreparable as the Loss of Friends--A +Fine Type of Englishman--Lines in Memory of W.D. Llewelyn. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI.">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2> + +<h3>SUMMER DAYS ON THE COTSWOLDS</h3> + +<blockquote> +A Walk in the Fields--Hedgerow Flowers--The Brookside--By "the +Pill"--Remarks on Gray--A Fine Piece of Miniature Scenery--The Cricket +Ground--The Book of Nature--At the Ford--Habits of Observation--In the +Conyger Wood--The Home of the Kingfisher--A Limestone Quarry--The Great +Stone Floor of the Earth--Nature's Endless Cycle--Beauty of the +Ash--Hedgehogs--Trout and Snake--Sunset on the Hills. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII.">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h2> + +<h3>AUTUMN</h3> + +<blockquote> +Remarks on Country Life--Thrashing--The Flail--Gipsies--Harvest +Feasts--Fifty Years Ago--The Wolds in Autumn--By the +Stream--Wildfowl--Migration of Birds--Lapwings--Winter +Visitants--Thunderstorms--Glow-Worms--A Brilliant Meteor--Night on the +Hills--The "Blowing-Stone"--Christmas Day on the Cotswolds--A Solar +Halo--Hamlet Festivities--Tom Peregrine Baffled--The Mummers Play--The +Victorian Era--The True Days of "Merrie England"--<i>Carpe Diem</i>. +</blockquote><br> + +<h2><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII.">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN</h3> + +<center> +A Glorious Panorama--Peregrine as Secretary--The Light of Setting +Suns--Conclusion. +</center><br><br> + +<h2><a href="#APPENDIX.">APPENDIX.</a></h2> + +<h3>GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN</h3> + +<a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a> +</center> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + +<ul> +<li><a href="fronts.jpg">PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MESSRS. SHAWCROSS.</a></li> +<li>STOKE POGES CHURCH.</li> +<li>THE OLD MANOR HOUSE.</li> +<li><a href="fp-014-032.jpg">INSCRIPTION ON PORCH OF MANOR HOUSE.</a></li> +<li><a href="fp-016-034.jpg">INTERIOR OF MANOR HOUSE.</a></li> +<li><a href="fp-026-044.jpg">IN THE GARDEN.</a></li> +<li><a href="fp-032-050.jpg">A COTSWOLD MANOR HOUSE.</a></li> +<li>COTSWOLD COTTAGES.</li> +<li><a href="fp-042-060.jpg">A FARMHOUSE BY THE COLN.</a></li> +<li>AN OLD COTTAGE.</li> +<li><a href="fp-078-096.jpg">THE HAMLET.</a></li> +<li>ON THE WOLDS.</li> +<li><a href="fp-106-124.jpg">OXEN PLOUGHING.</a></li> +<li>THE OLD CUSTOMER.</li> +<li>THE OLD MILL, ABLINGTON.</li> +<li><a href="fp-140-158.jpg">THE COLN NEAR BIBURY.</a></li> +<li>A BRIDGE OVER THE COLN.</li> +<li><a href="fp-172-190.jpg">A DISH OF FISH.</a></li> +<li>BURFORD PRIORY.</li> +<li><a href="fp-186-204.jpg">BURFORD PRIORY.</a></li> +<li>THE MANOR HOUSE, COLN-ST.-ALDWYNS.</li> +<li><a href="fp-206-224.jpg">BIBURY STREET.</a></li> +<li><a href="fp-212-230.jpg">ARLINGTON ROW.</a></li> +<li>VILLAGE CRICKETERS.</li> +<li>HAWKING.</li> +<li><a href="fp-258-276.jpg">BIBURY COURT.</a></li> +<li>THE ABBEY GATEWAY, CIRENCESTER.</li> +<li><a href="fp-282-300.jpg">MARKET-PLACE, CIRENCESTER.</a></li> +<li>AN OLD BARN.</li> +<li><a href="fp-314-332.jpg">THE "PILL" BRIDGE.</a></li> +<li>IN BIBURY VILLAGE.</li> +<li><a href="fp-342-360.jpg">SIDE VIEW OF MANOR HOUSE.</a></li> +<li>BIBURY MILL.</li> +<li><a href="fp-366-384.jpg">BELOW THE "PILL".</a></li> +<li>ABLINGTON MANOR.</li> +<li><a href="fp-388-406.jpg">AN OLD-FASHIONED LABOURING COUPLE.</a></li> +<li>COLN-ST.-ALDWYNS.</li> +</ul> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h1>A COTSWOLD VILLAGE.</h1> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>FLYING WESTWARDS.</h3> + +<p>London is becoming miserably hot and dusty; everybody who can get away +is rushing off, north, south, east, and west, some to the seaside, +others to pleasant country houses. Who will fly with me westwards to the +land of golden sunshine and silvery trout streams, the land of breezy +uplands and valleys nestling under limestone hills, where the scream of +the railway whistle is seldom heard and the smoke of the factory +darkens not the long summer days? Away, in the smooth "Flying Dutchman"; +past Windsor's glorious towers and Eton's playing-fields; past the +little village and churchyard where a century and a half ago the famous +"Elegy" was written, and where, hard by "those rugged elms, that +yew-tree's shade," yet rests the body of the mighty poet, Gray. How +those lines run in one's head this bright summer evening, as from our +railway carriage we note the great white dome of Stoke House peeping out +amid the elms! whilst every field reminds us of him who wrote those +lilting stanzas long, long ago.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade!<br> + Ah, fields, beloved in vain!<br> +Where once my careless childhood strayed,<br> + A stranger yet to pain:<br> +I feel the gales that from ye blow<br> +A momentary bliss bestow;<br> +As waving fresh their gladsome wing<br> +My weary soul they seem to soothe,<br> +And redolent of joy and youth,<br> +To breathe a second spring."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>But soon we are flashing past Reading, where Sutton's nursery gardens +are bright with scarlet and gold, and blue and white; every flower that +can be made to grow in our climate grows there, we may be sure. But +there is no need of garden flowers now, when the fields and hedges, even +the railway banks, are painted with the lovely blue of wild geraniums +and harebells, the gold of birdsfoot trefoil and Saint John's wort, and +the white and pink of convolvulus or bindweed. We are passing through +some of the richest scenery in the Thames valley. There, on the right, +is Mapledurham, a grand mediaeval building, surrounded by such a wealth +of stately trees as you will see nowhere else. The Thames runs +practically through the grounds. What a glorious carpet of gold is +spread over these meadows when the buttercups are in full bloom! Now +comes Pangbourne, with its lovely weir, where the big Thames trout love +to lie. Pangbourne used to be one of the prettiest villages on the +river; but its popularity has spoilt it.</p> + +<p>As we pass onwards, many other country houses--Purley, Basildon, and +Hardwick--with their parks and clustering cottages, add their charm to +the view. There are the beautiful woods of Streatley: hanging copses +clothe the sides of the hills, and pretty villages nestle amid the +trees. But soon the scene changes: the glorious valley Father Thames has +scooped out for himself is left behind; we are crossing the chalk +uplands. On all sides are vast stretches of unfenced arable land, though +here and there a tiny village with its square-towered Norman church +peeps out from an oasis of green fields and stately elm trees. On the +right the Chiltern Hills are seen in the background, and Wittenham Clump +stands forth--a conspicuous object for miles. The country round Didcot +reminds one very much of the north of France: between Calais and Paris +one notices the same chalk soil, the same flat arable fields, and the +same old-fashioned farmhouses and gabled cottages.</p> + +<p>But now we have entered the grand old Berkshire vale. "Fields and +hedges, hedges and fields; peace and plenty, plenty and peace. I should +like to take a foreigner down the vale of Berkshire in the end of May, +and ask him what he thought of old England." Thus wrote Charles Kingsley +forty years ago, when times were better for Berkshire farmers. But the +same old fields and the same old hedges still remain--only we do not +appreciate them as much as did the author of "Westward Ho!"</p> + +<p>Steventon, that lovely village with its gables and thatched roofs, its +white cottage walls set with beams of blackest oak, its Norman church in +the midst of spreading chestnuts and leafy elms, appears from the +railway to be one of the most old-fashioned spots on earth. This vale is +full of fine old trees; but in many places the farmers have spoilt their +beauty by lopping off the lower branches because the grass will not grow +under their wide-spreading foliage. It is only in the parks and +woodlands that the real glory of the timber remains.</p> + +<p>And now we may notice what a splendid hunting country is this Berkshire +vale. The fields are large and entirely grass; the fences, though +strong, are all "flying" ones--posts and rails, too, are frequent in the +hedges. Many a fine scamper have the old Berkshire hounds enjoyed over +these grassy pastures, where the Rosy Brook winds its sluggish course; +and we trust they will continue to do so for many years to come. Long +may that day be in coming when the sound of the horn is no longer heard +in this delightful country!</p> + +<p>High up on the hill the old White Horse soon appears in view, cut in the +velvety turf of the rolling chalk downs. But, in the words of the +old ballad,</p> + +<blockquote> +"The ould White Horse wants zettin' to rights."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>He wants "scouring" badly. A stranger, if shown this old relic, the +centre of a hundred legends, famous the whole world over, would find it +difficult to recognise any likeness to a fiery steed in those uncertain +lines of chalk. Nevertheless, this is the monument King Alfred made to +commemorate his victory over the Danes at Ashdown. So the tradition of +the country-side has had it for a thousand years, and shall a +thousand more.</p> + +<p>The horse is drawn as galloping. Frank Buckland took the following +measurements of him: The total length is one hundred and seventy yards; +his eye is four feet across; his ear fifteen yards in length; his +hindleg is forty-three yards long. Doubtless the full proportions of the +White Horse are not kept scoured nowadays; for a few weeks ago I was up +on the hill and took some of the measurements myself. I could not make +mine agree with Frank Buckland's: for instance, the ear appeared to be +seven yards only in length, and not fifteen; so that it would seem that +the figure is gradually growing smaller. It is the head and forelegs +that want scouring worst of all. There is little sign of the trench, two +feet deep, which in Buckland's time formed the outline of the horse; the +depth of the cutting is now only a matter of a very few inches.</p> + +<p>The view from this hill is a very extensive one, embracing the vale from +Bath almost to Reading the whole length of the Cotswold Hills, as well +as the Chilterns, stretching away eastwards towards Aylesbury, and far +into Buckinghamshire. Beneath your feet lie many hundred thousand acres +of green pastures, varied in colour during summer and autumn by golden +wheatfields bright with yellow charlock and crimson poppies. It has +been said that eleven counties are visible on clear days.</p> + +<p>The White Horse at Westbury, further down the line, represents a horse +in a standing position. He reflects the utmost credit on his grooms; for +not only are his shapely limbs "beautifully and wonderfully made," but +the greatest care is taken of him. The Westbury horse is not in reality +nearly so large as this one at Uffington, but he is a very beautiful +feature of the country. I paid him a visit the other day, and was +surprised to find he was very much smaller than he appears from the +railway. Glancing over a recent edition of Tom Hughes' book, "The +Scouring of the White Horse," I found the following lines:--</p> + +<p>"In all likelihood the <i>pastime</i> of 1857 will be the last of his race; +for is not the famous Saxon (or British) horse now scheduled to an Act +of Parliament as an ancient monument which will be maintained in time to +come as a piece of prosaic business, at the cost of other than Berkshire +men reared within sight of the hill?"</p> + +<p>Alas! it is too true. There has been no <i>pastime</i> since 1857.</p> + +<p>It would have been a splendid way of commemorating the "diamond jubilee" +if a scouring had been organised in 1897. Forty years have passed since +the last pastime, with its backsword play and "climmin a greasy pole for +a leg of mutton," its race for a pig and a cheese; and, oddly enough, +the previous scouring had taken place in the year of the Queen's +accession, sixty-one years ago. It would be enough to make poor Tom +Hughes turn in his grave if he knew that the old White Horse had been +turned out to grass, and left to look after himself for the rest of +his days!</p> + +<p>Those were grand old times when the Berkshire; Gloucestershire, and +Somersetshire men amused themselves by cracking each other's heads and +cudgel-playing for a gold-laced hat and a pair of buckskin breeches; +when a flitch of bacon was run for by donkeys; and when, last, but not +least, John Morse, of Uffington, "grinned agin another chap droo hos +[horse] collars, a fine bit of spwoart, to be sure, and made the folks +laaf." I here quote from Tom Hughes' book, "The Scouring of the White +Horse," to which I must refer my readers for further interesting +particulars.</p> + +<p>There are some days during summer when the sunlight is so beautiful that +every object is invested with a glamour and a charm not usually +associated with it. Such a day was that of which we write. As we were +gliding out of Swindon the sun was beginning to descend. From a Great +Western express, running at the rate of sixty miles an hour through +picturesque country, you may watch the sun setting amidst every variety +of scenery. Now some hoary grey tower stands out against the intense +brightness of the western sky; now a tracery of fine trees shades for a +time the dazzling light; then suddenly the fiery furnace is revealed +again, reflected perhaps in the waters of some stream or amid the reeds +and sedges of a mere, where a punt is moored containing anglers in broad +wideawake hats. Gradually a dark purple shade steals over the long range +of chalk hills; white, clean-looking roads stand out clearly defined +miles away on the horizon; the smoke that rises straight up from some +ivy-covered homestead half a mile away is bluer than the evening sky--a +deep azure blue. The horizon is clear in the south, but in the +north-west dark, but not forbidding clouds are rising; fantastic +cloudlets float high up in the firmament; rooks coming home to roost are +plainly visible several miles away against the brilliant western sky.</p> + +<p>This Great Western Railway runs through some of the finest bits of old +England. Not long ago, in travelling from Chepstow to Gloucester, we +were fairly amazed at the surpassing beauty of the views. It was +May-day, and the weather was in keeping with the occasion. The sight of +the old town of Chepstow and the silvery Wye, as we left them behind us, +was fine enough; but who can describe the magnificent panorama presented +by the wide Severn at low tide? Yellow sands, glittering like gold in +the dazzling sunshine, stretched away for miles; beyond these a vista of +green meadows, with the distant Cotswold Hills rising out of dreamy +haze; waters of chrysolite, with fields of malachite beyond; the azure +sky overhead flecked with clouds of pearl and opal, and all around the +pear orchards in full bloom.</p> + +<p>While on the subject of scenery, may I enter a protest against the +change the Great Western Railway has lately made in the photographs +which adorn their carriages? They used to be as beautiful as one could +wish; lately, however, the colouring has been lavished on them with no +sparing hand. These "photo-chromes" are unnatural and impossible, +whereas the old permanent photographs were very beautiful.</p> + +<p>At Kemble, with its old manor house and stone-roofed cottages, we say +good-bye to the Vale of White Horse; for we have entered the Cotswolds. +Stretching from Broadway to Bath, and from Birdlip to Burford, and +containing about three hundred square miles, is a vast tract of hill +country, intersected by numerous narrow valleys. Probably at one period +this district was a rough, uncultivated moor. It is now cultivated for +the most part, and grows excellent barley. The highest point of this +extensive range is eleven hundred and thirty-four feet, but the average +altitude would not exceed half that height. Almost every valley has its +little brook. The district is essentially a "stone country;" for all the +houses and most of their roofs are built of the local limestone, which +lies everywhere on these hills within a few inches of the surface. There +is no difficulty in obtaining plenty of stone hereabouts. The chief +characteristics of the buildings are their antiquity and Gothic +quaintness. The air is sharp and bracing, and the climate, as is +inevitable on the shallow, porous soil of the oolite hills, wonderfully +dry and invigorating. "Lands of gold have been found, and lands of +spices and precious merchandise; but this is the land of <i>health</i>" Thus +wrote Richard Jefferies of the downs, and thus say we of the Cotswolds.</p> + +<p>And now our Great Western express is gliding into Cirencester, the +ancient capital of the Cotswold country. How fair the old place seems +after the dirt and smoke of London! Here town and country are blended +into one, and everything is clean and fresh and picturesque. The garish +church, as you view it from the top of the market-place, has a charm +unsurpassed by any other sacred building in the land. In what that charm +lies I have often wondered. Is it the marvellous symmetry of the whole +graceful pile, as the eye, glancing down the massive square tower and +along the pierced battlements and elaborate pinnacles, finally rests on +the empty niches and traceried oriel windows of the magnificent south +porch? I cannot say in what the charm exactly consists, but this stately +Gothic fane has a grandeur as impressive as it is unexpected, recalling +those wondrous words of Ruskin's:</p> + +<p>"I used to feel as much awe in gazing at the buildings as on the hills, +and could believe that God had done a greater work in breathing into the +narrowness of dust the mighty spirits by whom its haughty walls had been +raised and its burning legends written, than in lifting the rock of +granite higher than the clouds of heaven, and veiling them with their +various mantle of purple flower and shadowy pine."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II."></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>A COTSWOLD VILLAGE.</h3> + +<p>The village is not a hundred miles from London, yet "far from the +madding crowd's ignoble strife." A green, well-wooded valley, in the +midst of those far-stretching, cold-looking Cotswold Hills, it is like +an oasis in the desert.</p> + +<p>Up above on the wolds all is bleak, dull, and uninteresting. The air up +there is ever chill; walls of loose stone divide field from field, and +few houses are to be seen. But down in the valley all is fertile and +full of life. It is here that the old-fashioned villagers dwell. How +well I remember the first time I came upon it! One fine September +evening, having left all traces of railways and the ancient Roman town +of Cirencester some seven long miles behind me, with wearied limbs I +sought this quiet, sequestered spot. Suddenly, as I was wondering how +amid these never ending hills there could be such a place as I had been +told existed, I beheld it at my feet, surpassing beautiful! Below me was +a small village, nestling amid a wealth of stately trees. The hand of +man seemed in some bygone time to have done all that was necessary to +render the place habitable, but no more. There were cottages, bridges, +and farm buildings, but all were ivy clad and time worn. The very trees +themselves appeared to be laden with a mantle of ivy that was more than +they could bear. Many a tall fir, from base to topmost twig, was +completely robed with the smooth, five-pointed leaves of this rapacious +evergreen. Through the thick foliage, of elm and ash and beech, I could +just see an old manor house, and round about it, as if for protection, +were clustered some thirty cottages. A murmuring of waters filled my +ears, and on descending the hill I came upon a silvery trout stream, +which winds its way down the valley, broad and shallow, now gently +gliding over smooth gravel, now dashing over moss-grown stones and rock. +The cottages, like the manor house and farm buildings, are all built of +the native stone, and all are gabled and picturesque. Indeed, save a few +new cottages, most of the dwellings appeared to be two or three hundred +years old. One farmhouse I noted carefully, and I longed to tear away +the ivy from the old and crumbling porch, to see if I could not discern +some half-effaced inscription telling me the date of this relic of the +days of "Merrie England."</p> + +<p>This quaint old place appeared older than the rest of the buildings. On +enquiry, I learnt that long, long ago, before the present manor house +existed, this was the abode of the old squires of the place; but for the +last hundred years it had been the home of the principal tenant and his +ancestors--yeomen farmers of the old-fashioned school, with some six +hundred acres of land. The present occupants appeared to be an old man +of some seventy years of age and his three sons. Keen sportsmen these, +who dearly love to walk for hours in pursuit of game in the autumn, on +the chance of bagging an occasional brace of partridges or a wild +pheasant (for everything here is wild), or, in winter, when lake and fen +are frostbound, by the river and its withybeds after snipe and +wildfowl--for the Cotswold stream has never been known to freeze!</p> + +<p>In this small hamlet I noticed that there were no less than three huge +barns. At first I thought they were churches, so magnificent were their +proportions and so delicate and interesting their architecture. One of +these barns is four hundred years old.</p> + +<p>Fifty years ago, what with the wool from his sheep and the grain that +was stored in these barns year by year, the Cotswold farmer was a rich +man. Alas! <i>Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis!</i> One can picture +the harvest home, annually held in the barn, in old days so cheery, but +now often nothing more than a form. Here, however, in this village, I +learnt that, in spite of bad times, some of the old customs have not +been allowed to pass away, and right merry is the harvest home. And +Christmastide is kept in real old English fashion; nor do the mummers +forget to go their nightly rounds, with their strange tale of "St. +George and the dragon."</p> + +<p>As I walk down the road I come suddenly upon the manor house--the "big +house" of the village. Long and somewhat low, it stands close to the +road, and is of some size. Over the doorway of the porch is the +following inscription, engraven on stone in a recess:--</p> + +<blockquote> +"PLEAD THOU MY CAVSE; OH LORD."<br> +"BY JHON COXWEL ANO DOMENY 1590."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Underneath this inscription, and immediately over the entrance, are five +heads, elaborately carved in stone. In the centre is Queen Elizabeth; to +the right are portrayed what I take to be the features of Henry VIII.; +whilst on the left is Mary. The other two are uncertain, but they are +probably Philip of Spain and James I.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-014-032.jpg"> +<img src="fp-014-032.jpg" width = "50%" alt="INSCRIPTION ON PORCH OF MANOR HOUSE."> +</a><br><b>"INCRIPTION ON PORCH OF MANOR HOUSE."</b> +</P> + +<p>I was enchanted with the place. The quaint old Elizabethan gables and +sombre bell-tower, the old-fashioned entrance gates, the luxuriant +growth of ivy, combined together to give that air of peace, that charm +which belongs so exclusively to the buildings of the middle ages. +Knowing that the house was for the time being unoccupied, I walked +boldly into the outer porch, meaning to go no further. But another +inscription over the solid oak door encouraged me to enter:</p> + +<blockquote> +"PORTA PATENS ESTO, NULLI CLAUDARIS HONESTO."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>I therefore opened the inner door with some difficulty, for it was +heavy and cumbersome, and found myself in the hall. Although nothing +remarkable met my eye, I was delighted to find everything in keeping +with the place. The old-fashioned furniture, the old oak, the grim +portraits and quaint heraldry, all were there. I was much interested in +some carved beams of black oak, which I afterwards learnt originally +formed part of the magnificent roof of the village church. When the roof +was under repair a few years back, these beams were thrown aside as +rotten and useless, and thus found their way into the manor house. Every +atom of genuine old work of this kind is deeply interesting, +representing as it does the rude chiselling which hands that have long +been dust in the village churchyard wrought with infinite pains. That +oak roof, carved in rich tracery, resting for ages on arcades of +dog-tooth Norman and graceful Early English work, had echoed back the +songs of praise and prayer that rose Sunday after Sunday from the lips +of successive generations of simple country folk at matins and at +evensong, before the strains of the Angelus had been hushed for ever by +the Reformation. And who can tell how long before the Conquest, and by +what manner of men, were planted the trees destined to provide these +massive beams of oak?</p> + +<p>In the centre of the hall was a round table, with very ancient-looking, +high-backed chairs scattered about, of all shapes and sizes. Portraits +of various degrees of indifferent oil painting adorned the walls of the +hall and staircase. Somebody appeared to have been shooting with a +catapult at some of the pictures. One old gentleman had a shot through +his nose; and an old fellow with a hat on, over the window, had received +a pellet in the right eye!<a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> The writer, in a fit of infantile insanity, being then aged +about nine, was discovered in the very act of committing this assault on +his ancestors some twenty years ago, in Hertfordshire. +</blockquote> + +<p>A copy of the Magna Charta, a suit of mediaeval armour, several rusty +helmets (Cromwellian and otherwise), antlers of several kinds of deer, +and a variety of old swords, pistols, and guns were the objects that +chiefly attracted my attention. The walls were likewise adorned with a +large number of heraldic shields.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-016-034.jpg"> +<img src="fp-016-034.jpg" width = "35%" alt="INTERIOR OF MANOR HOUSE."> +</a><br><b>"INTERIOR OF MANOR HOUSE."</b> +</P> + +<p>I like to see coats-of-arms and escutcheons hanging up in churches and +in the halls of old country houses, for the following simple reasons. +There is meaning in them--deep, mystic meaning, such as no ordinary +picture can boast. Every quartering on that ancient shield emblazoned in +red, black, and gold has a legend attached to it Hundreds of years ago, +in those splendid mediaeval times--nay, farther back than that, in the +dim, mysterious, dark ages--each of those quarterings was a device worn +by some brave knight or squire on his heavy shield. It was his +cognizance in the field of battle and at the tournament. It was borne at +Agincourt perhaps; at Creçy, or Poitiers, or in the lists for some +"faire ladye"; and it is a token of ancient chivalry, an emblem of the +days that have been and never more will be. It was doubtless the sight +of those eighteen great hatchments which still hang in the little +church at Stoke Poges that inspired Gray to attune his harp to such +lofty strains.</p> + +<blockquote> +"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,<br> + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,<br> +Await alike the inevitable hour<br> + The paths of glory lead but to the grave."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Among other old masters was a portrait of the "John Coxwel" who built +the house, by Cornelius Jansen, dated 1613. The house did not appear +remarkable either for size or grandeur; yet there is always something +particularly pleasing to me to alight unexpectedly on buildings of this +kind, and to find that although they are obscure and unknown, they are +on a small scale as interesting to the antiquarian as Knole, Hatfield, +and other more famous mediaeval houses. Some lattice windows, evidently +at some time out of doors, but now on the inner walls, showed that in +more recent times the house had been enlarged, and the old courtyard +walled in and made part of the hall. Over one of these windows is the +inscription, "<i>Post tenebras lux</i>." The part I liked best, however, was +the old-fashioned passage, with its lattice windows and musty dungeon +savour, leading to the ancient kitchen and to a little oak-panelled +sitting-room: but, knocking my head severely against the oak beam in the +doorway, I nearly brought the whole ceiling down, a catastrophe which +they tell me has happened before now in this rather rickety old manor +house. Opening a door on the other side of the house, I passed out into +the garden. How characteristic of the place!--a broad terrace running +along the whole length of the house, and beyond that a few flower beds +with the old sundial in their midst Beyond these a lawn, and then grass +sweeping down to the edge of the river, some hundred yards away. Beyond +the river again more grass, but of a wilder description, where the +rabbits are scudding about or listening with pricked ears; and in the +background a magnificent hanging wood, crowning the side of the valley, +with a large rookery in it. I was much struck with the different tints +of the foliage; for although autumn had not yet begun to turn the +leaves, the different shades of green were most striking. A gigantic ash +tree on the far side of the river stood out in bold relief, its lighter +leaves being in striking contrast to the dark firs in the background. +Then walnut and hazel, beech and chestnut all offered infinite variety +of shape and foliage. The river here had been broadened to a width of +some ninety feet, and an island had been made. The place seemed to be a +veritable sportsman's paradise! Dearly would Isaac Walton have loved to +dwell here! From the windows of the old house he would have loved to +listen to the splash of the trout, the cawing of the rooks, and the +quack of the waterfowl, while all the air is filled with the cooing of +doves and the songs of birds. At night he could have heard the murmuring +waterfall amid a stillness only broken at intervals by the scream of the +owl, the clatter of the goatsucker, or the weird barking of the foxes: +for not two hundred yards from the house and practically in the garden, +is a fox earth that has never been without a litter of, cubs for +forty years!</p> + +<p>In an ivy-covered house in the stable-yard I saw a very large number of +foxes' noses nailed to boards of wood--as Sir Roger de Coverley used to +nail them. They appeared to have been slain by one Dick Turpin, huntsman +to the Vale of White Horse hounds, some thirty or forty years ago, when +a quondam master of those hounds lived in this old place.</p> + +<p>What a charm there is in an old-fashioned English garden! The great tall +hollyhocks and phlox, the bright orange marigolds and large purple +poppies. The beds and borders crammed with cloves and many-coloured +asters, the sweet blue of the cornflower, and the little lobelias. +Zinneas, too, of all colours; dahlias, tall stalks of anenome japonica, +and such tangled masses of stocks! As I walked down by the old garden +wall, whereon lots of roses hung their dainty heads, I thought I had +never seen grass so green and fresh looking, except in certain parts +of Ireland.</p> + +<p>But the wild flowers by the silent river pleased me best of all. Such a +medley of graceful, fragrant meadow-sweet, and tall, rough-leaved +willow-herbs with their lovely pink flowers. Light blue scorpion-grasses +and forget-me-nots were there too, not only among the sword-flags and +the tall fescue-grasses by the bank, but little islands of them dotted +about a over the brook. Thyme-scented water-mint, with lilac-tinted +spikes and downy stalks, was almost lost amongst the taller wild flowers +and the "segs" that fringed the brook-side.</p> + +<p>There are no flowers like the wild ones; they last right through the +summer and autumn--yet we can never have enough of them, never cease +wondering at their marvellous delicacy and beauty.</p> + +<p>Darting straight up stream on the wings of the soft south wind comes a +kingfisher clothed in priceless jewelry, sparkling in the sun: sapphire +and amethyst on his bright blue back, rubies on his ruddy breast, and +diamonds round his princely neck. Monarch he is of silvery stream, and +petty tyrant of the silvery fish.</p> + +<p>I was told by a labourer that the trout ran from a quarter of a pound to +three pounds, and that they average one pound in weight; that in the +"may-fly" season a score of fish are often taken in the day by one rod, +and that the method of taking them is by the artificial fly, well dried +and deftly floated over feeding fish. These Cotswold streams are fed at +intervals of about half a mile by the most beautiful springs, and from +the rock comes pouring forth an everlasting supply of the purest and +clearest of water. I was shown such a spring in a withybed hard by the +old manor house. I saw nothing at first but a still, transparent pool, +nine feet deep (they told me); it looked but three! But as I gaze at the +beautiful fernlike weeds at the bottom, they are seen to be gently +fanned by the water that rises--never failing even in the hottest and +driest of summers--from the invisible rock below. The whole scene--the +silent pool at my feet, the rich, well-timbered valley, with its marked +contrast to the cold hills that overlook it--reminded me forcibly of +Whyte-Melville's lines at the conclusion of the most impressive poem he +ever wrote: "The Fairies' Spring":</p> + +<blockquote> +"And sweet to the thirsting lips of men<br> + Is the spring of tears in the fairies' glen."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Out of this fairy spring was taken quite recently, but not with the +"dry" fly--for no fish could be deceived in water of such stainless +transparency--a trout that weighed three pounds and a half. He was far +and away the most beautiful trout we ever saw; as silvery as a salmon +that has just left the sea, he was a worthy denizen of the secluded +depths of that crystal spring, still welling up from the pure limestone +rock in the heart of the Cotswold Hills, as it has for a thousand years.</p> + +<p>I was told that the place was still owned by the descendants of the +pious John Coxwell who built the manor house and commemorated it by the +quaint inscription over the porch in 1590. Doubtless the architecture of +all our Elizabethan manor houses in the shape of a letter E owes its +origin to the first letter in the name of that great queen.</p> + +<p>That year was a fitting time for the building of "those haunts of +ancient peace" that have ever since beautified the villages of rural +England. Not two years before men's minds had been stirred to a pitch of +deep religious enthusiasm by what was then regarded throughout all +England as a divine miracle--the destruction of the Spanish Armada. +Scarce three years had passed since the war with Scotland had terminated +in the execution of the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots. It is difficult +for us, at the close of this nineteenth century, to realise the feelings +of our ancestors in those times of daily terror and anxiety. And when +men were daily executed, and human life was held as cheap as we now +value a sheep or an ox, no wonder John Coxwell was pious, and no wonder +he engraved that pious inscription over those crumbling walls.</p> + +<p>In the year 1590 there was a lull in those tempestuous times, and men +were able to turn for a while from the strife of battle and the daily +fear of death and cultivate the arts of peace.</p> + +<p>Thus this stately little manor house was reared, and many like it +throughout the kingdom; and there it still stands, and will stand long +after the modern building has fallen to the ground. For not without much +hard toil and sweat of brow did our forefathers erect these monuments of +"a day that is dead"; and they remain to testify to the solid masonry +and laborious workmanship of ancient times.</p> + +<p>The descendants of this John Coxwell live on another property of theirs +some twelve miles away; it is nearly seventy years since they have +inhabited this old house. I was pleased to find, however, that the +present occupiers look after the labouring classes; that what rabbits +are killed on the manor are not sold, but distributed in the village. +There is an old ivy-clad building in the grounds, only a few paces from +the manor house. This is the village club. Here squire, farmer, and +labourer are accustomed to meet on equal terms. I was somewhat surprised +to see on the club table the <i>Times</i>, the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, and other +papers. These wonderful specimens of nineteenth-century literature +contrast strangely with a place that in many respects has remained +unchanged for centuries.</p> + +<p>There are few labourers in England, even in these days, who have the +opportunity--if they will take it--of reading the <i>Times'</i> report of +every speech made in parliament. Perhaps, some day, will come forth from +this hamlet</p> + +<blockquote> +"Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast<br> + The little tyrant of his fields withstood";<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>one who from earliest youth has kept himself in touch with the politics +of the day, and has fitted himself to sit in the House of Commons as the +representative of his class. There are still a few "little tyrants" in +the fields in all parts of England, but they are very much scarcer than +was the case fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>I was much pleased with a conversation I had with an old-fashioned +labouring man who, though not past middle age, appeared to be +incapacitated from work owing to a "game leg," and whom I found sitting +under a walnut tree in the manor grounds hard by the brook. He informed +me that there was bagatelle at the club for those who liked it, and all +sorts of games, and smoking concerts: that it was a question who was the +best bagatelle player in the club; but that it probably lay between the +squire and his head gardener, though Tom, the carter, was likely to run +them close! I was glad to find so much good feeling existing among all +classes of this little community, and was not surprised to learn that +this was a contented and happy village.</p> + +<p>In this description of "a Cotswold village" we have been looking on the +bright side of things, and there is, thank Heaven! many a place, +<i>mutato nomine</i>, that would answer to it. Alas! that there should be +another side to the picture, which we would fain leave untouched.</p> + +<p>Gloucestershire, nay England, is full of old manor houses and fair, +smiling villages; but in many parts of the country we see buildings +falling out of repair and deserted mansions. Would that we knew the +remedy for agricultural depression! But let us not despair.</p> + +<blockquote> +"The future hides in it<br> + Gladness and sorrow;<br> + We press still thorow,<br> + Nought that abides in it<br> + Daunting us,--onward!"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It is a sad thing when the "big house" of the village is empty. The +labourers who never see their squire begin to look upon him as a sort of +ogre, who exists merely to screw rents out of the land they till. Those +who are dependent on land alone are often the men who do their duty best +on their estates, and, poor though they may be, they are much beloved. +But it is to be feared that in some parts of England men who are not +suffering from the depression--rich tenants of country houses and the +like--are apt to take a somewhat limited view of their duty towards +their poorer neighbours. To be sure, the good ladies at the "great +house" are invariably "ministering angels" to the poor in time of +sickness, but even in these democratic days there is too great a gulf +fixed between all classes. Let all those who are fortunate enough to +live in such a place as we have attempted to describe remember that a +kind word, a shake of the hand, the occasional distribution of game +throughout the village, and a hundred other small kindnesses do more to +win the heart of the labouring man than much talk at election times of +Small Holdings, Parish Councils, or Free Education.</p> + +<p>A tea given two or three times a year by the squire to the whole +village, when the grounds are thrown open to them, does much to lighten +the dulness of their existence and to cheer the monotonous round of +daily toil. It is often thoughtlessness rather than poverty that +prevents those who live in the large house of the village from being +really loved by those around them. There are many instances of unpopular +squires whose faces the cottagers never behold, and yet these men may be +spending hundreds of pounds each year for the benefit of those whose +affection they fail to gain.</p> + +<p>Alas! that there should exist in so many country places that class +feeling that is called Radicalism. It is perhaps fortunate that under +the guise of politics what is really nothing else but bitterness and +discontent is hidden and prevented from being recognised by its +true name.</p> + +<p>There are many country houses that are shut up for the greater part of +the year for other reasons than agricultural depression, often because +the owner, while preferring to reside elsewhere, is too proud to let the +place to a stranger. This should not be. Let these rich men who own +large houses and great estates live <i>in</i> those houses and <i>on</i> those +estates, or endeavour to find a tenant. We repeat that the landowners +who really feel the stress of bad times for the most part do their duty +nobly. They have learnt it in the severe school of adversity. It is the +richer class that we should like to see taking a greater interest in +their humble neighbours; and their power is great. The possessor of +wealth is too often the tacit upholder of the doctrine of <i>laissez +faire</i>. The times we live in will no longer allow it. Let us be up and +doing. In many small ways we may do much to promote good fellowship, and +bitterness and discontent shall be no longer known in the rural villages +of England.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-026-044.jpg"> +<img src="fp-026-044.jpg" width = "35%" alt="IN THE GARDEN."> +</a><br><b>"IN THE GARDEN."</b> +</P> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>II.</h2> + +<p>In the dead of winter these old grey houses of the Cotswolds are a +little melancholy, save when the sun shines. But to every variety of +scenery winter is the least becoming season of the year, though the hoar +frost or a touch of snow will transform a whole village into fairyland +at a moment's notice. Then the trout stream, which at other seasons of +the year is a never failing attraction, running as it does for the most +part through the woods, in mid winter seldom reflects the light of the +sun, and looks cold and uninviting. One may learn much, it is true, of +the wonders of nature in the dead time of the year by watching the great +trout on the spawn beds as they pile up the gravel day by day, and store +up beautiful, transparent ova, of which but a ten-thousandth part will +live to replenish the stock for future years. But the delight of a clear +stream is found in the spring and summer; then those cool, shaded deeps +and sparkling eddies please us by their contrast to the hot, burning +sun; and we love, even if we are not fishermen, to linger by the bank +'neath the shade of ash and beech and alder, and watch the wonderful +life around us in the water and in the air.</p> + +<p>As you sit sometimes on a bench hard by the Coln, watching the crystal +water as it pours down the artificial fall from the miniature lake in +the wild garden above, you may make a minute calculation of the day and +hour that that very water which is flowing past you now will reach +London Bridge, two hundred miles below. Allowing one mile an hour as the +average pace of the current, ten days is, roughly speaking, the time it +will take on its journey. And when one reflects that every drop that +passes has its work to do, in carrying down to the sea lime and I know +not how many other ingredients, and in depositing that lime and all that +it picked up on its way at the bottom of the ocean, to help perhaps in +forming the great rolling downs of a new continent--after this island of +ours has ceased to be--one cannot but realise that in all seasons of the +year a trout stream is a wonderfully interesting and instructive thing.</p> + +<p>TO THE COLN.</p> + +<p>Flow on, clear, fresh trout stream, emblem of purity and perfect truth; +thou hast accomplished a mighty work, thou hast a mighty work to do. Who +can count the millions of tons of lime that thou hast borne down to the +sea in far-off Kent? Thou hast indeed "strength to remove mountains," +for day by day the soil that thou hast taken from these limestone hills +is being piled up at the mouth of the great historic river, and some day +perchance it shall become rolling downs again. Fed by clear springs, +thou shalt gradually steal thy way along the Cotswold valleys, draining +foul marshes, irrigating the sweet meadows. Thou shalt turn the wheels +and grind many a hundred sacks of corn ere to-morrow's sun is set. And +then thou shalt change thy name. No longer silvery Coln, but mighty +Thames, shalt thou be called; and many a fair scene shall gladden thy +sight as thou slowly passest along towards thy goal.</p> + +<p>Smiling meadows and Gloucestershire vales will soon give place to fair +Berkshire villages, and, further on, to those glorious spires and courts +of Oxford; and here shalt thou make many friends--friends who will +evermore think kindly of thee, ever associate thy placid waters with all +that they loved best and held dearest during their brief sojourning in +those old walls which tower above thy banks. A few short miles, and thou +shalt pass a quiet and sacred spot--sacred to me, and dear above all +other spots; for close to that little village church of Clifton Hampden, +and close to thee, we laid some years ago the mortal body of a noble +man. And when thou stealest gently by, and night mists rise from off thy +glassy face, be sure and drop a tear in silvery dew upon the moss-grown +stone I know so well. And then pass on to Eton, fairest spot on earth. +Mark well the playing-fields, the glorious trees, and Windsor towering +high. Here shalt thou be loved by many a generous heart, and youth and +hope and smiling faces greet thee, as they long since greeted me. Ah +well! those friendships never could have been made so firm and lasting +mid any other scenes save under thy wide-spreading elms, beloved Eton.</p> + +<p>But onwards, onwards thou must glide, from scenes of tranquil beauty +such as these. The flag which sails o'er Windsor's stately towers must +soon be lost to sight. Thy course once more through silent fields is +laid; but not for long; for, Hampton Court's fair palace passed, already +canst thou hear the wondrous roar of unceasing footsteps in the busy +haunts of men.</p> + +<p>Courage! thy goal is nearly reached: already thou art great, and greater +still shalt thou become. Thy once transparent waters shall be merged +with salt. Thus shalt thou be given strength to bear great ships upon +thy bosom, and thine eyes shall behold the greatest city of the whole +wide world. Nay, more; thou shalt become the most indispensable part of +that city--its very life-blood, of a value not to be measured by gold. +Thou makest England what it is.</p> + +<p>Flow on, historic waters, symbolic of all that is good, all that is +great--flow on, and do thy glorious work until this world shall cease; +bearing thy mighty burden down towards the sea, showing mankind what can +be wrought from small beginnings by slow and patient labour day by day.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>Even in winter I do not know any scene more pleasing to the eye than the +sight of a Cotswold hamlet nestling amid the stately trees in the +valley, if you happen to see it on a fine day. And if there has been a +period of rainy, sunless weather for a month past, you are probably all +the more ready to appreciate the changed appearance which everything +wears. If that peaceful, bright aspect had been habitual, you would +never have noticed anything remarkable to-day. It is this very changeful +nature of our English climate which gives it more than half its charm.</p> + +<p>But the great attraction of this country lies in its being one of the +few spots now remaining on earth which have not only been made beautiful +by God, but in which the hand of man has erected scarcely a building +which is not in strict conformity and good taste. One cannot walk +through these Cotswold hamlets without noticing that the architecture of +the country in past ages, as well as in the present day to a certain +degree, shows obedience to some of those divine laws which Ruskin has +told us ought to govern all the works of man's hand.</p> + +<p>"The spirit of sacrifice," "the lamp of truth" are manifest in the +ancient churches and manor houses, as well as in the humble farmhouses, +cottages, and even the tithe barns of this district. Two thirds of the +buildings are old, and, as Ruskin has beautifully expressed it: "The +greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its +glory is in its age, and in that deep sense of voicefulness, of stern +watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, +which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves +of humanity. It is in their lasting witness against men, in their quiet +contrast with the transitional character of all things, in the strength +which, through the lapse of seasons and times, and the decline and birth +of dynasties, and the changing of the face of the earth, and of the +limits of the sea, maintains its sculptured shapeliness for a time +insuperable, connects forgotten and following ages with each other, and +half constitutes the identity, as it concentrates the sympathy, of +nations;--it is in that golden stain of time that we are to look for the +real light and colour and preciousness of architecture; and it is not +until a building has assumed this character, till it has been entrusted +with the fame and hallowed by the deeds of men, till its walls have been +witnesses of suffering and its pillars rise out of the shadow of death, +that its existence, more lasting as it is than that of the natural +objects of the world around it, can be gifted with even so much as these +possess of language and of life."</p> + +<p>If we would seek a lesson in sacrifice from the men who lived and +laboured here in the remote past, we can learn many a one from those +deep walls of native stone, and that laborious workmanship which was the +chief characteristic of the toil of our simple ancestors. "All old work, +nearly, has been hard work; it may be the hard work of children, of +barbarians, of rustics, but it is always their utmost." They may have +been ignorant of the sanitary laws which govern health, and ill advised +in some of the sites they chose, but they grudged neither hand labour +nor sweat of brow; they spent the best years of their lives in the +erection of the temples where we still worship and the manor houses we +still inhabit.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-032-050.jpg"> +<img src="fp-032-050.jpg" width = "35%" alt="A COTSWOLD MANOR HOUSE."> +</a><br><b>"A COTSWOLD MANOR HOUSE."</b> +</P> + +<p>It is not claimed that there is much <i>ornamental</i> architecture to be +found in these Cotswold buildings; it is something in these days if we +can boast that there is nothing to offend the eye in a district which is +less than a hundred miles from London. There is no other district of +equal extent within the same radius of which as much could be said.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Jam pauca aratro jugera regiae<br> + Moles relinquent."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>But here all the houses are picturesque, great and small alike. And +there are here and there pieces of work which testify to the piety and +faith of very early days: fragments of inscriptions chiselled out more +than fifteen hundred years ago--such as the four stones at Chedworth, +discovered some thirty years ago, together with many other interesting +relics of the Roman occupation, by a gamekeeper in search of a ferret. +On these stones were found the Greek letters [GREEK: Ch] and [GREEK: r], +forming the sacred monogram "C.H.R." Fifteen hundred years had not +obliterated this simple evidence of ancient faith, nor had the +devastation of the ages impaired the beauty of design, nor marred the +harmony of colouring of those delicate pavements and tesserae with which +these wonderful people loved to adorn their habitations. Since this +strange discovery the diligent research of one man has rescued from +oblivion, and the liberality of another now protects from further +injury, one of the best specimens of a Roman country house to be found +in England. Far away from the haunts of men, in the depths of the +Chedworth woods, where no sound save the ripple of the Coln and the song +of birds is heard, rude buildings and a museum have been erected; here +these ancient relics are sheltered from wind and storm for the sake of +those who lived and laboured in the remote past, and for the benefit and +instruction of him, be he casual passer-by or pilgrim from afar, who +cares to inspect them.</p> + +<p>The ancient Roman town of Cirencester, too, affords many historical +remains of the same era. But it is to the part which English hands and +hearts have played towards beautifying the Cotswold district that I +would fain direct attention; to the stately Abbey Church of Cirencester +and its glorious south porch, with its rich fan-tracery groining within +and its pierced battlements and pinnacles without; to the arched gateway +of twelfth century work, the sole remnant of that once famous +monastery--the mitred Abbey of St. Mary--founded by the piety of the +first Henry, and overthrown by the barbarity of the last king of that +name, who ordained "that all the edifices within the site and precincts +of the monastery should be pulled down and carried away";--it is to the +glorious windows of Fairford Church--the most beautiful specimens +remaining to us of glass of the early part of the sixteenth century--and +to many an ancient church and mediaeval manor house still standing +throughout this wide district, "to point a moral of adorn a tale," that +we must look for traces of the exquisite workmanship of English hands in +bygone days, "the only witnesses, perhaps, that remain to us of the +faith and fear of nations. All else for which the builders sacrificed +has passed away--all their living interests and aims and achievements. +We know not for what they laboured, and we see no evidence of their +reward. Victory, wealth, authority, happiness--all have departed, though +bought by many a bitter sacrifice. But of them, and their life, and +their toil upon earth, one reward, one evidence is left to us in those +grey heaps of deep-wrought stone. They have taken with them to the grave +their powers, their honours, and their errors; but they have left us +their adoration." <a name="FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> Ruskin, "Seven Lamps of Architecture." +</blockquote> + +<p>Too many of our modern buildings are a sham from beginning to end--sham +marble, sham stonework, sham wallpapers, sham wainscoting, sham carpets +on the ground, and sham people walking about on them: even the very +bookcases are sham. In these old Cotswold houses we have the reverse. +The stonework is real, and the material is the best of its kind--good, +honest, native stone. The oak wainscoting is real, though patched with +deal and painted white in recent times. The same pains in the carving +are apparent in those parts of the house which are never seen except by +the servants, as in the important rooms. And so it is with all the work +of three, four, and five hundred years ago. The builders may have had +their faults, their prejudices, and their ignorances,--their very +simplicity may have been the means of saving them from error,--but they +were at all events truthful and genuine.</p> + +<p>In many villages throughout the Cotswolds are to be seen ancient +wayside crosses of exquisite workmanship and design. These were for the +most part erected in the fourteenth century. One of the best specimens +of the kind stands in the market-place of old Malmesbury, hard by the +ancient monastery there. The date of this cross is A.D. 1480. Leland +remarks upon it as follows: "There is a right faire and costely peace of +worke for poor market folks to stand dry when rayne cummeth; the men of +the towne made this peace of worke in <i>hominum memoriâ</i>." Malmesbury, by +the bye, is just outside the Cotswold district.</p> + +<p>At Calmsden--a tiny isolated hamlet near North Cerney--is a grey and +weather-beaten wayside cross of beautiful Gothic workmanship, erected +(men say) by the Knights Templar of Quenington; and there are ancient +crosses or remnants of them at Cirencester, Eastleach, Harnhill, +Rendcombe, Stow-on-the-Wold, and many other places in the district. But +few of these old village crosses still stand intact in their pristine +beauty. May they never suffer the terrible fate of a very beautiful one +which was erected in the fourteenth century at Bristol! Pope, writing a +century and a half ago, describes it as "a very fine old cross of Gothic +curious work, but spoiled with the folly of <i>new gilding it</i>, that takes +away all the venerable antiquity."</p> + +<p>Happily there is no likelihood of the ancient crosses in the Cotswolds +being decorated by a coating of gold. The precious metal is all too +scarce there, even if the good taste of the country folk did not +prohibit it.</p> + +<p>I have spoken before of the ancient barns. Every hamlet has one or more +of these grand old edifices, and there are often as many as three or +four in a small village. In some of these large barns the tithe was +gathered together in kind, until rather more than sixty years ago it was +converted into a rent charge.</p> + +<p><i>Tithe</i> was made on all kinds of farm produce. The vicar's man went into +the cornfields and placed a bough in every tenth "stook"; then the +titheman came with the parson's horses and took the stuff away to the +barn. The tithe for every cock in the farmyard was three eggs; for every +hen, two eggs. Besides poultry, geese, pigs, and sheep, the parson had a +right to his share of the milk, and even of the cheeses that were made +in his parish.</p> + +<p>In an ancient manuscript which the vicar of Bibury lately acquired, and +which contains the history of his parish since the Conquest, are set +down some interesting and amusing details concerning tithe and the cash +compensations that had been paid time out of mind. The entries form part +of a diary kept by a former incumbent, and were made nearly two hundred +years ago.</p> + +<p>"For every new Milch Cow three pence.</p> + +<p>"For every thorough Milch Cow one penny.</p> + +<p>"N.B. Nothing is paid for a dry cow, and therefore tithe in kind must be +paid for all fatting cattle.</p> + +<p>"For every calf weaned a half penny.</p> + +<p>"For every calf sold four pence or <i>the left shoulder</i>.</p> + +<p>"For every calf killed in the family four pence or <i>the left shoulder</i>.</p> + +<p>"I have heard that one or two left shoulders of veal were paid to the +widow Hignall at Arlington when she rented the tithes of Dr. Vannam, but +<i>I have received none</i>."</p> + +<p>Then follows an annual account of the value of the tithes of the parish +(about five thousand acres), from 1763 to 1802, by which it appears that +the year 1800 was the best during these four decades. Here is +the entry:--</p> + +<p>"1800 The crops of this year were very deficient, but corn of all sort +sold at an extraordinary high price. I made of my tithes and living this +year clear £1,200; from the dearness of labourers the outgoing expenses +amounted to £900 in addition."</p> + +<p>The worst year seems to have been 1766, when the parson only got £360 +clear of all expenses; but even this was not bad for those days.</p> + +<p>The architecture of the Cotswold barns is often very beautiful. The +pointed windows, massive buttresses, and elaborate pinnacles are +sufficient indications of their great age and the care bestowed on the +building. Some of the interiors of these Gothic structures have fine old +oak roofs.</p> + +<p>The cottages, too, though in a few instances sadly deficient in sanitary +improvements and internal comfort, are not only picturesque, but strong +and lasting. Many of them bear dates varying from 1600 to 1700.</p> + +<p>It is evident that in everything they did our ancestors who lived in the +Elizabethan age fully realised that they were working under the eye of +"a great taskmaster." This spirit was the making of the great men of +that day, and in great part laid the foundation of our national +greatness. The glorious churches of Cirencester, Northleach, Burford, +and Bibury, and the ancient manor houses scattered throughout the +Cotswolds are fitting monuments to the men who laboured to erect them. +Would that space allowed a detailed account of all these old manor +houses! Enough has been said, at all events, to show that there are +places little known and little cared for in England where you may still +dwell without, every time you go out of doors, being forcibly reminded +of the utilitarian spirit of the age.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III."></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>VILLAGE CHARACTERS.</h3> + +<blockquote> +"If there's a hole in a' your coats,<br> + I rede ye tent it;<br> + A chiel's amang ye takin' notes,<br> + And, faith, he'll prent it."<br> + + R. BURNS.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Every village seems to possess its share of quaint, curious people; but +I cannot help thinking that our little hamlet has a more varied +assortment of oddities than is usually to be met with in so small +a place.</p> + +<p>First of all there is the man whom nobody ever sees. Although he has +lived in robust health for the past twenty years in the very centre of +the hamlet, his face is unknown to half the inhabitants. Twice only has +the writer set eyes on him. When a political contest is proceeding, he +becomes comparatively bold; at such times he has even been met with in +the bar of the village "public," where he has been known to sit +discussing the chances of the candidates like any ordinary being. But an +election is absolutely necessary if this strange individual is to be +drawn out of his hiding-place. The only other occasion on which we have +set eyes on him was on a lovely summer's evening, just after sunset: we +observed him peeping at us over a hedge, for all the world like the +"Spectator" when he was staying with Sir Roger de Coverley. He is +supposed to come out at sunset, like the foxes and the bats, and has +been seen in the distance on bright moonlight nights striding over the +Cotswold uplands. If any one approach him, he hurries away in the +opposite direction; yet he is not queer in the head, but strong and in +the prime of life.</p> + +<p>Then there is that very common character "the village impostor." After +having been turned away by half a dozen different farmers, because he +never did a stroke of work, he manages to get on the sick-list at the +"great house." Long after his ailment has been cured he will be seen +daily going up to the manor house for his allowance of meat; somehow or +other he "can't get a job nohow." The fact is, he has got the name of +being an idle scoundrel, and no farmer will take him on. It is some time +before you are able to find him out; for as he goes decidedly lame as he +passes you in the village street, he generally manages to persuade you +that he is very ill. Like a fool, you take compassion on him, and give +him an ounce of "baccy" and half a crown. For some months he hangs about +where he thinks you will be passing, craving a pipe of tobacco; until +one day, when you are having a talk with some other honest toiler, he +will give you a hint that you are being imposed on.</p> + +<p>When a loafer of this sort finds that he can get nothing more out of +you, he moves his family and goods to some other part of the country; he +then begins the old game with somebody else, borrowing a sovereign off +you for the expense of moving. As for gratitude, he never thinks of it. +The other day a man with a "game leg," who was, in spite of his +lameness, a good example of "the village impostor," in taking his +departure from our hamlet, gave out "that there was no thanks due to the +big 'ouse for the benefits he had received, for it was writ in the +<i>manor parchments</i> as how he was to have meat three times a week and +blankets at Christmas as long as he was out of work."</p> + +<p>It is so difficult to discriminate between the good and the bad amongst +the poor, and it is impossible not to feel pity for a man who has +nothing but the workhouse to look forward to, even if he has come down +in the world through his own folly. To those who are living in luxury +the conditions under which the poorer classes earn their daily bread, +and the wretched prospect which old age or ill health presents to them, +must ever offer scope for deep reflection and compassion.</p> + +<p>At the same time it must be remembered that in spite of "hard times" +and "low prices," as affecting the farmers, the agricultural labourer is +better off to-day than he has ever been in past times. Food is very much +cheaper and wages are higher. The farmers seem to be more liberal in bad +times than in good. It is the same in all kinds of business. Except +injustice there is no more hardening influence in the affairs of life +than success. It seems often to dry up the milk of human kindness in the +breast, and make us selfish and grasping.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-042-060.jpg"> +<img src="fp-042-060.jpg" width = "35%" alt="A FARMHOUSE BY THE COLN."> +</a><br><b>"A FARMHOUSE BY THE COLN."</b> +</P> + +<p>In the good times of farming there was doubtless much cause for +discontent amongst the Cotswold labourers. The profits derived from +farming were then quite large. The tendency of the age, however, was to +treat the labouring man as a mere machine, instead of his being allowed +to share in the general prosperity. ("Hinc illae lacrymae.") Now things +are changed. Long-suffering farmers are in many cases paying wages out +of their fast diminishing capital. Many of them would rather lose money +than cut down the wages.</p> + +<p>Then again agricultural labourers who are unable to find work go off to +the coal mines and big towns; some go into the army; others emigrate. So +that the distress is not so apparent in this district as the badness of +the times would lead one to expect.</p> + +<p>The Cotswold women obtain employment in the fields at certain seasons of +the year; though poorly paid, they are usually more conscientious and +hard-working than the men.</p> + +<p>Most of the cottages are kept scrupulously clean; they have an air of +homely comfort which calls forth the admiration of all strangers. The +children, too, when they go to church on Sundays, are dressed with a +neatness and good taste that are simply astonishing when one recalls the +income of a labourer on the Cotswolds--seldom, alas! averaging more than +fourteen shillings a week. A boy of twelve years of age is able to keep +himself, earning about five shillings per week. Cheerful and manly +little chaps they are. To watch a boy of fourteen years managing a +couple of great strong cart-horses, either at the plough or with the +waggons, is a sight to gladden the heart of man.</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that there are not more orchards attached to the +gardens on the Cotswolds. The reader will doubtless remember Dr. +Johnson's advice to his friends, always to have a good orchard attached +to their houses. "For," said he, "I once knew a clergyman of small +income who brought up a family very reputably, which he chiefly fed on +<i>apple dumplings</i>."</p> + +<p>Talking of clergymen, I am reminded of some stories a neighbour of +ours--an excellent fellow--lately told me about his parishioners on the +Cotswolds. One old man being asked why he liked the vicar, made answer +as follows: "Why, 'cos he be so <i>scratchy after souls</i>." The same man +lately said to the parson, "Sir, you be an hinstrument"; and being asked +what he meant, he added, "An hinstrument of good in this place."</p> + +<p>This old-fashioned Cotswold man was very fond of reciting long passages +out of the Psalms: indeed, he knew half the Prayer-book by heart; and +one day the hearer, being rather wearied, exclaimed, "I must go now, for +it's my dinner-time." To whom replied the old man, "Oh! be off with +thee, then; thee thinks more of thee belly than thee God."</p> + +<p>An old bedridden woman was visited by the parson, and the following +dialogue took place:--</p> + +<p>"Well, Annie, how are you to-day?"</p> + +<p>"O sir, I be so bad! My inside be that comical I don't know what to do +with he; he be all on the ebb and flow."</p> + +<p>The same clergyman knew an old Cotswold labourer who wished to get rid +of the evil influence of the devil. So Hodge wrote a polite, though +firm, epistle, telling his Satanic Majesty he would have no more to do +with him. On being asked where he posted his letter, he replied: "A' dug +a hole i' the ground, and popped un in there. He got it right enough, +for he's left me alone from that day to this."</p> + +<p>The Cotswold people are, like their country, healthy, bright, clean, and +old-fashioned; and the more educated and refined a man may happen to be, +the more in touch he will be with them--not because the peasants are +educated and refined, so much as because they are not <i>half</i>-educated +and <i>half</i>-refined, but simple, honest, god-fearing folk, who mind their +own business and have not sought out many inventions. I am referring now +to the labourers, because the farmers are a totally different class of +men. The latter are on the whole an excellent type of what John Bull +ought to be. The labouring class, however, still maintain the old +characteristics. A primitive people, as often as not they are "nature's +gentlemen."</p> + +<p>In the simple matter of dress there is a striking resemblance between +the garb of these country people and that of the highly educated and +refined. It is an acknowledged principle, or rather, I should say, an +unwritten law, in these days--at all events as far as men are +concerned--that to be well dressed all that is required of us is <i>not to +be badly dressed</i>. Simplicity is a <i>sine quâ non</i>; and we are further +required to abstain from showing bad taste in the choice of shades and +colours, and to wear nothing that does not serve a purpose. To simple +country folk all these things come by nature. They never trouble their +heads about what clothes they shall wear. The result is, the eye is +seldom offended in old-fashioned country places by the latest inventions +of tailors and hatters and the ridiculous changes of fashion in which +the greater part of the civilised world is wont to delight. Here are to +be seen no hideous "checks," but plain, honest clothes of corduroy or +rough cloth in natural colours; no absurd little curly "billycocks," but +good, strong broad-brimmed hats of black beaver in winter to keep off +the rain, and of white straw in summer to keep off the heat. No white +satin ties, which always look dirty, such as one sees in London and +other great towns, but broad, old-fashioned scarves of many colours or +of blue "birdseye" mellowed by age. The fact is that simplicity--the +very essence of good taste--is apparent only in the garments of the +<i>best</i>-dressed and the <i>poorest</i>-dressed people in England. This is one +more proof of the truth of the old saying, "Simplicity is nature's first +step, and the last of art."</p> + +<p>The greatest character we ever possessed in the village was undoubtedly +Tom Peregrine, the keeper.</p> + +<blockquote> +"A man, take him for all in all,<br> + I shall not look upon his like again."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The eldest son of the principal tenant on the manor, and belonging to a +family of yeoman farmers who had been settled in the place for a hundred +years, he suddenly found that "he could not a-bear farming," and took up +his residence as "an independent gentleman" in a comfortable cottage at +the gate of the manor house. Then he started a "sack" business--a trade +which is often adopted in these parts by those who are in want of a +better. The business consists in buying up odds and ends of sacks, and +letting them out on hire at a handsome profit. He was always intensely +fond of shooting and fishing; indeed, the following description which +Sir Roger de Coverley gave the "Spectator" of a "plain country fellow +who rid before them," when they were on their way to the assizes, suits +him exactly. "He is a yeoman of about an hundred pounds a year; and +knocks down a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week. He would be a +good neighbour if he did not destroy so many partridges: in short, he is +a very sensible man, shoots flying, and has been several times foreman +of the petty jury."</p> + +<p>Perhaps with regard to the "shoots flying" the reservation should be +added, that should he have seen a covey of partridges "bathering" in a +ploughed field within convenient distance of a stone wall or thick +fence, he might not have been averse to knocking over a brace for supper +on the ground. And we had almost forgotten to explain that it was for +the manor-house table that he used to knock down a dinner with his gun +twice or thrice a week, and not his own--for, some years ago, he +persuaded the squire to take him into his service as gamekeeper. When we +came to take up our abode at the manor, we found that he was a sort of +standing dish on the place. Such a keen sportsman, it was explained, was +better in our service than kicking his heels about the village and on +his father's farm as an independent gentleman. And so this is how Tom +Peregrine came into our service. For my part I liked the man; he was so +delightfully mysterious. And the place would never have been the same +without him; for he became part and parcel with the trees and the fields +and every living thing. Nor would the woods and the path by the brook +and the breezy wolds ever have been quite the same if his quaint figure +had no longer appeared suddenly there. Many a time was I startled by the +sudden apparition of Tom Peregrine when out shooting on the hill; he +seemed to spring up from the ground like "Herne the Hunter"--</p> + +<blockquote> +"Shaggy and lean and shrewd. With pointed ears<br> + And tail cropped short, half lurcher and half cur,<br> + His dog attends him."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The above lines of Cowper's exactly, describe the keeper's Irish +terrier; the dog was almost as deep and mysterious as the man himself. +When in the woods, Tom's attitude and gait would at times resemble the +movements of a cock pheasant: now stealing along for a few yards, +listening for the slightest sound of any animal stirring in the +underwood; now standing on tiptoe for a time, with bated breath. Did a +blackbird--that dusky sentinel of the woods--utter her characteristic +note of warning, he would whisper, "Hark!" Then, after due deliberation, +he would add, "'Tis a fox!" or, "There's a fox in the grove," and then +he would steal gently up to try to get a glimpse of reynard. He never +looked more natural than when carrying seven or eight brace of +partridges, four or five hares, and a lease of pheasants; it was a +labour of love to him to carry such a load back to the village after a +day's shooting. In his pockets alone he could stow away more game than +most men can conveniently carry on their backs.</p> + +<p>He was the best hand at catching trout the country could produce. With a +rod and line he could pull them out on days when nobody else could get a +"rise." He could not understand dry-fly fishing, always using the +old-fashioned sunk fly. "Muddling work," he used to call the floating +method of fly fishing.</p> + +<p>But Tom Peregrine was cleverer with the landing-net than with the rod. +Any trout he could reach with the net was promptly pulled out, if we +particularly wanted a fish. Then he would talk all day about any subject +under the sun: politics, art, Roman antiquities, literature, and every +form of sport were discussed with equal facility.</p> + +<p>One day, when I was engaged in a slight controversy with his own +father, the keeper said to me: "I shouldn't take any notice whatever of +him"; then he added, with a sigh, "These Gloucestershire folk are +comical people."</p> + +<p>"Ah! 'tis a wise son that knows his own father in Gloucestershire, isn't +it, Peregrine?" said I, putting the Shakespearian cart before the horse.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it be, to be sure, to be sure," was the reply. "I can't make 'em +out nohow; they're funny folk in Gloucestershire."</p> + +<p>He gave me the following account of the "chopping" of one of our foxes: +"I knew there was a fox in the grove; and there, sure enough, he was. +But when he went toward the 'bruk,' the hounds come along and <i>give him +the meeting</i>; and then they bowled him over. It were a very comical job; +I never see such a job in all my life. I knew it would be a case," he +added, with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>The fact is, with that deadly aversion to all the vulpine race common to +all keepers, he dearly loved to see a fox killed, no matter how or +where; but to see one "chopped," without any of that "muddling round and +messing about," as he delighted to call a hunting run, seemed to him the +very acme of satisfaction and despatch.</p> + +<p>And here it may be said that Tom Peregrine's name did not bely him. Not +only were the keen brown eye and the handsome aquiline beak marked +characteristics of his classic features, but in temperament and habit he +bore a singular resemblance to the king of all the falcons. Who more +delighted in striking down the partridge or the wild duck? What more +assiduous destroyer of ground game and vermin ever existed than Tom +Peregrine? There never was a man so happily named and so eminently +fitted to fulfil the destinies of a gamekeeper.</p> + +<blockquote> +Who loves to trap the wily stoat?<br> +Who loves the plover's piping note?<br> +Who loves to wring the weasel's throat?<br> + Tom Peregrine.<br><br> + +What time the wintry woods we walk,<br> +No need have we of lure or hawk;<br> +Have we not Tom to <i>tower</i> and talk?<br> + Tom Peregrine?<br><br> + +When to the withybed we spy,<br> +A hungry hern or mallard fly,<br> +"Bedad! we'll bag un by and by,"<br> + Tom Peregrine.<br><br> + +"Creep <i>up wind</i>, sir, without a sound,<br> +And bide thy time neath yonder 'mound,'<br> +Then knock un over on the ground,"<br> + Tom Peregrine.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>And so one might go on <i>ad infinitum</i>.</p> + +<p>A more amusing companion or keener fisherman never stepped. He had all +sorts of quaint Gloucestershire expressions, which rolled out one after +the other during a day's fishing or shooting. Then he was very fond of +reading amusing pieces at village entertainments, often copying the +broad Gloucestershire dialect; apparently he was not aware that his own +brogue smacked somewhat of Gloucestershire too. At home in his own house +he was most friendly and hospitable. If he could get you to "step in," +he would offer you gooseberry, ginger, cowslip, and currant wine, sloe +gin, as well as the juice of the elder, the blackberry, the grape, and +countless other home-brewed vintages, which the good dames of +Gloucestershire pride themselves on preparing with such skill. Very +excellent some of these home-made drinks are.</p> + +<p>The British farmer is remarkably fond of a lord. If you wanted to put +him into a good temper for a month, the best plan would be to ask a lord +to shoot over his land, and tell him privately to make a great point of +shaking the honest yeoman by the hand, and all that kind of thing. By +the bye, I was once told by a coachman that he was sure the Bicester +hounds were a first-rate pack, for he had seen in the papers that no +less than four lords hunted with them. There is little harm in this +extraordinarily widespread admiration for titles; it is common to all +nations. We can all love a lord, provided that he be a gentleman. The +gentlemen of England, whether titled or untitled, are in thought and +feeling a very high type of the human race. But the man I like best to +meet is he who either by natural insight or by the trained habit of his +mind is able to look upon all mortals with eyes unprejudiced by outward +show and circumstance, judging them by character alone. Such a man may +not be understood or be awarded the credit due to him as "lord of the +lion heart" and despiser of sycophants and cringers. The habit of mind, +nevertheless, is worth cultivating; it will be so very useful some day, +when mortal garments have been put off and the vast inequalities of +destiny adjusted, and we all stand unclothed before the Judge.</p> + +<p>Tom Peregrine was not a "great frequenter of the church"; indeed, both +father and son often remarked to me that "'Twas a pity there was not a +chapel of ease put up in the hamlet, the village church being a full +mile away." However, when Tom was ailing from any cause or other he +immediately sent for the parson, and told him that he intended in future +to go to church regularly every Sunday. Shakespeare would have enquired +if he was troubled "about some act that had no relish of salvation +in't." "Thomas, he's a terrible coward [I here quote Mrs. Peregrine]. He +can't a-bear to have anything a-wrong with him; yet he don't mind +killing any animal." He made a tremendous fuss about a sore finger he +had at one time; and when the doctor exclaimed, like Romeo, "Courage, +man; the hurt cannot be much," Tom Peregrine replied, with much the same +humour as poor Mercutio: "No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as +a church door; but 'tis enough." I do not mean to infer that he quoted +Shakespeare, but he used words to the same effect. If asked whether he +had read Shakespeare, he might possibly have given the same reply as the +young woman in <i>High Life Below Stairs</i>:</p> + +<p>"KITTY: Shikspur? Shikspur? Who wrote it? No, I never read Shikspur.</p> + +<p>"LADY B.: <i>Then you have an immense pleasure to come</i>."</p> + +<p>Let it be said, however, that in many respects Tom was an exceedingly +well-informed and clever man. The family of Peregrines were noted, like +Sir Roger de Coverley, for their great friendliness to foxes; and to +their credit let it be said that they have preserved them religiously +for very many years. I scarcely ever heard a word of complaint from +them. All honour to those who neither hunt nor care for hunting, yet who +put up with a large amount of damage to crops and fences, as well as +loss of poultry and ground game, and yet preserve the foxes for a sport +in which they do not themselves take part.</p> + +<p>When conversing with me on the subject of preserving foxes, old Mr. +Peregrine would wax quite enthusiastic "You should put a barley rick in +the Conygers, and thatch it, and there would always be a fox." he would +remark. All this I hold to be distinctly creditable. For what is there +to prevent a farmer from pursuing a selfish policy and warning the whole +hunt off his land?</p> + +<p>The village parson is quite a character. You do not often see the like +nowadays. An excellent man in every way, and having his duty at heart, +he is one of the few Tories of the old school that are left to us. +Ruling his parish with a rod of iron, he is loved and respected by most +of his flock. In the Parish Council, at the Board of Guardians, his word +is law. He seldom goes away from the village save for his annual +holiday, yet he knows all that is going on in the great metropolis, and +will tell you the latest bit of gossip from Belgravia. He has a good +property of his own in Somersetshire, but to his credit let it be said +that his affections are entirely centred in the little Cotswold village, +which he has ruled for a quarter of a century.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Full loth were him to curse for his tithes,<br> + But rather would be given out of doubt<br> + Unto his poore parishens about<br> + Of his off'ring, and eke of his substance.<br> + He could in little thing have suffisance.<br> + Wide was his parish and houses far asunder,<br> + But he ne left not for no rain nor thunder<br> + In sickness and in mischief to visit<br> + The farthest in his parish much and lit,<br> + Upon his feet, and in his hand a staff,<br> + This noble ensample to his sheep he gaf,<br> + That first he wrought and afterwards he taught."<br><br> + + CHAUCER.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Sermons are not so lengthy in our church as they were three hundred +years ago. Rudder mentions that a parson of the name of Winnington used +to preach here for two hours at a time, regularly turning the +hour-glass; for in those days hour-glasses were placed near the pulpit, +and the clergy used to vie with each other as to who could preach the +longest. I do not know if Mr. Barrow was ever surpassed in this respect. +History relates that he succeeded in emptying his church of the whole +congregation, including the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London--one man +only (an apprentice) remaining to the bitter end. Misguided laymen used +to amuse themselves in the same way. Fozbrooke mentions that one Will +Hulcote, a zealous lay preacher after the Reformation, used to mount the +pulpit in a velvet bonnet, a damask gown, and a gold chain. What an ass +he must have looked! This reminds me that at the age of twenty-four I +accepted the office of churchwarden of a certain country parish. I do +not recommend any of my readers to become churchwardens. You become a +sort of acting aide-de-camp to the parson, liable to be called out on +duty at a moment's notice. No; a young man might with some advantage to +others and credit to himself take upon himself the office of Parish +Councillor, Poor Law Guardian, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, High +Sheriff, or even Public Hangman; but save, oh, save us from being +churchwardens! To be obliged to attend those terrible institutions +called "vestry meetings," and to receive each year an examination paper +from the archdeacon of the diocese propounding such questions as, "Do +you attend church regularly? If not, why not?" etc., etc., is the +natural destiny of the churchwarden, and is more than human nature can +stand: in short, my advice to those thinking of becoming churchwardens +is, "Don't," with a very big <i>D</i>.</p> + +<p>According to the "Diary of Master William Silence," in the olden times a +pedlar would occasionally arrive at the church door during the sermon, +and proceed to advertise his wares at the top of his voice. Whereupon +the parson, speedily deserted by the female portion of his congregation +and by not a few of the other sex, was obliged to bring his discourse to +a somewhat inglorious conclusion.</p> + +<p>We learn from the same work that the churchwardens were in the habit of +disbursing large sums for the destruction of foxes. When a fox was +marked to ground the church bell was rung as a signal, summoning every +man who owned a pickaxe, a gun, or a terrier dog, to lend a hand in +destroying him. We are talking of two or three hundred years ago, when +the stag was the animal usually hunted by hounds on the Cotswolds and in +other parts of England.</p> + +<p>Our village is a favourite meet of the V.W.H. foxhounds. An amusing +story is told of a former tenant of the court house--a London gentleman, +who rented the place for a time. He is reported to have made a special +request to the master of the hounds, that when the meet was held at "the +Court," "his lordship" would make the fox pass in front of the +drawing-room windows, "For," said he, "I have several friends coming +from London to see the hunt."</p> + +<p>In a hunting district such as this the owners and occupiers of the +various country houses are usually enthusiastic devotees of the chase. +The present holder of the "liberty" adjoining us is a fox-hunter of the +old school. An excellent sportsman and a wonderful judge of a horse, he +dines in pink the best part of the year, drives his four-in-hand with +some skill, and wears the old-fashioned low-crowned beaver hat.</p> + +<p>We have many other interesting characters in our village; human nature +varies so delightfully that just as with faces so each individual +character has something to distinguish it from the rest of the world. +The old-fashioned autocratic farmer of the old school is there of +course, and a rare good specimen he is of a race that has almost +disappeared. Then we have the village lunatic, whose mania is "religious +enthusiasm." If you go to call on him, he will ask you "if you are +saved," and explain to you how his own salvation was brought about. +Unfortunately one of his hobbies is to keep fowls and pigs in his house +so that fleas are more or less numerous there, and your visits are +consequently few and far between.</p> + +<p>The village "quack," who professes to cure every complaint under the +sun, either in mankind, horses, dogs, or anything else by means of +herbs, buttonholes you sometimes in the village street. If once he +starts talking, you know that you are "booked" for the day. He is rather +a "bore," and is uncommonly fond of quoting the Scriptures in support of +his theories. But there is something about the man one cannot help +liking. His wonderful infallibility in curing disease is set down by +himself to divine inspiration. Many a vision has he seen. Unfortunately +his doctrines, though excellent in theory, are seldom successful in +practice. An excellent prescription which I am informed completely cured +a man of indigestion is one of his mixtures "last thing at night" and +the first chapter of St. John carefully perused and digested on top.</p> + +<p>I called on the old gentleman the other day, and persuaded him to give +me a short lecture. The following is the gist of what he said: "First of +all you must know that the elder is good for anything in the world, but +especially for swellings. If you put some of the leaves on your face, +they will cure toothache in five minutes. Then for the nerves there's +nothing like the berries of ivy. Yarrow makes a splendid ointment; and +be sure and remember Solomon's seal for bruises, and comfrey for 'hurts' +and broken bones. Camomile cures indigestion, and ash-tree buds make a +stout man thin. Soak some ash leaves in hot water, and you will have a +drink that is better than any tea, and destroys the 'gravel.' +Walnut-tree bark is a splendid emetic; and mountain flax, which grows +everywhere on the Cotswolds, is uncommon good for the 'innards.' 'Ettles +[nettles] is good for stings. Damp them and rub them on to a 'wapse' +sting, and they will take away the pain directly." On my suggesting that +stinging nettles were rather a desperate remedy, he assured me that +"they acted as a blister, and counteracted the 'wapse.' Now, I'll tell +you an uncommon good thing to preserve the teeth," he went on, "and that +is to <i>brush</i> them once or twice a week. You buys a brush at the +chymists, you know; they makes them specially for it. Oh, 'tis a capital +good thing to cleanse the teeth occasionally!"</p> + +<p>He wound up by telling me a story of a celebrated doctor who left a +sealed book not to be opened till after his death, when it was to be +sold at auction. It fetched six hundred pounds. The man who paid this +sum was horrified on opening it to find it only contained the following +excellent piece of advice: "Always remember to keep the feet warm and +the head cool."</p> + +<p>As I said good-bye, and thanked him for his lecture, he said: "Those +doctors' chemicals destroy the 'innards.' And be sure and put down rue +for the heart; and burdock, 'tis splendid for the liver."</p> + +<p>Nor must mention be omitted of old Isaac Sly, a half-witted labouring +fellow with a squint in one eye and blind of the other, who at first +sight might appear a bad man to meet on a dark night, but is harmless +enough when you know him; he haunts the lanes at certain seasons of the +year, carrying an enormous flag, and invariably greets you with the +intelligence that he will bring the flag up next Christmas the same as +usual, according to time-honoured custom. He is the last vestige of the +old wandering minstrels of bygone days, playing his inharmonious +concertina in the hall of the manor house regularly at Christmas and at +other festivals.</p> + +<p>Nor must we forget dear, honest Mr. White, the kindest and most pompous +of men, who, after fulfilling his destiny as head butler in a great +establishment, and earning golden opinions from all sorts and conditions +of men, finally settled down to a quiet country life in a pretty cottage +in our village, where he is the life and soul of every convivial +gathering and beanfeast, carving a York ham or a sirloin with great +nicety and judgment. He has seen much of men and manners in his day, and +has a fund of information on all kinds of subjects. Having plenty of +leisure, he is a capital hand at finding the whereabouts of outlying +foxes; and once earned the eternal gratitude of the whole neighbourhood +by starting a fine greyhound fox, known as the "old customer," out of a +decayed and hollow tree that lay in an unfrequented spot by the river. +He poked him out with a long pole, and gave the "view holloa" just as +the hounds had drawn all the coverts "blank," and the people's faces +were as blank as the coverts; whereupon such a run was enjoyed as had +not been indulged in for many a long day.</p> + +<p>But what of our miller--our good, honest gentleman farmer and +miller--now, alas! retired from active business? What can I say of him? +I show you a man worthy to sit amongst kings. A little garrulous and +inquisitive at times, yet a conqueror for all that in the battle +of-life, and one of whom it may in truth be said,</p> + +<blockquote> +"And thus he bore without abuse<br> + The grand old name of gentleman."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>As to the morals of the Gloucestershire peasants in general, and of our +village in particular, it may be said that they are on the whole +excellent; in one respect only they are rather casual, not to say +prehistoric.</p> + +<p>The following story gives one a very good idea of the casual nature of +hamlet morals:--</p> + +<p>A parson--I do not know of which village, but it was somewhere in this +neighbourhood--paid a visit to a newly married man, to speak seriously +about the exceptionally premature arrival of an heir. "This is a +terrible affair," said the parson on entering the cottage. "Yaas; 'twere +a bad job to be sure," replied the man. "And what will yer take +to drink?"</p> + +<p>Let it in justice be said that such episodes are the exception and not +the rule.</p> + +<p>Among the characters to be met with in our Cotswold hamlet is the +village politician. Many a pleasant chat have we enjoyed in his snug +cottage, whilst the honest proprietor was having his cup of tea and +bread and butter after his work. Common sense he has to a remarkable +degree, and a good deal more knowledge than most people give him credit +for. He is a Radical of course; nine out of ten labourers are <i>at +heart</i>. And a very good case he makes out for his way of thinking, if +one can only put oneself in his place for a time. We have endeavoured to +convert him to our way of thinking, but the strong, reflective mind,</p> + +<blockquote> +"Illi robur, et aes triplex<br> + Circa pectus erat,"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>is not to be persuaded. He will be true to "the colour"; this is his +final answer, even if your arguments overcome for the time being. And +you cannot help liking the man for his straightforward, self-reliant +nature; he is acting up to the standard he has set himself all +through life.</p> + +<blockquote> +"This above all, to thine own self be true,<br> + And it must follow, as the night the day,<br> + Thou canst not then be false to any man."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>And how many there are in the byways of England acting up to this motto, +and leading the lives of heroes, though their reward is not to be +found here!</p> + +<p>There is no nobler sight on this earth than to behold men of all ages +doing their duty to the best of their ability, in spite of manifold +hardships and many a bitter disappointment; cheerfully and manfully +confronting difficulties of all kinds, and training up children in the +fear and knowledge of God. If this is not nobleness, there is no such +thing on earth. And it is owing to the vast amount of real, genuine +Christianity that exists among these honest folk that life is rendered +on the whole so cheerful in these Cotswold villages. Many small faults +the peasants doubtless possess; such are inseparable from human nature. +The petty jealousies always to be found where men do congregate exist +here, and as long as the earth revolves they will continue to exist; but +underneath the rough, unpolished exterior there is a reef of gold, far +richer than the mines of South Africa will ever produce, and as immortal +as the souls in which it lies so deeply rooted and embedded.</p> + +<p>For the best type of humanity we need not search in vain among the +humble cottages of the hamlets of England. There shall we find the +courageous, brave souls who "scorn delights and live laborious +days,"--men who estimate their fellows at their worth, and not according +to their social position. Blunt and difficult to lead, not out of +hardness of heart or obstinate pigheadedness, but as Burns has put it:</p> + +<blockquote> +"For the glorious priviledge<br> + Of being independant."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>A few such are to be found in all our rural villages if one looks for +them; and if they are the exceptions to the general rule, it must also +be remembered that men with "character" are equally rare amongst the +upper and middle classes.</p> + +<p>Talking of village politics, I shall never forget a meeting held at +Northleach a few years ago. It was at a time when the balance of parties +was so even that our Unionist member was returned by the bare majority +of three votes, only to be unseated a few weeks afterwards on a recount. +Northleach is a very Radical town, about six miles from my home; and +when I agreed to take the chair, I little knew what an unpleasant job I +had taken in hand. Our member for some reason or other was unable to +attend. I therefore found myself at 7.30 one evening facing two hundred +"red-hot" Radicals, with only one other speaker besides myself to keep +the ball a-rolling. My companion was one of those professional +politicians of the baser sort, who call themselves Unionists because it +pays better for the working-class politician--in just the same way as +ambitious young men among the upper classes sometimes become Radicals on +the strength of there being more opening for them on the "Liberal" side.</p> + +<p>Well, this fellow bellowed away in the usual ranting style for about +three-quarters of an hour; his eloquence was great, but truth was "more +honoured in the breach than in the observance." So that when he sat +down, and my turn came, the audience, instead of being convinced, was +fairly rabid. I was very young at that time, and fearfully nervous; +added to which I was never much of a speaker, and, if interrupted at +all, usually lost the thread of my argument.</p> + +<p>After a bit they began shouting, "Speak up." The more they shouted the +more mixed I got. When once the spirit of insubordination is roused in +these fellows, it spreads like wild-fire. The din became so great I +could not hear myself speak. In about five minutes there would have been +a row. Suddenly a bright idea occurred to me. "Listen to me," I shouted; +"as you won't hear me speak, perhaps you will allow me to sing you a +song." I had a fairly strong voice, and could go up a good height; so I +gave them "Tom Bowling." Directly I started you could have heard a pin +drop. They gave, me a fair hearing all through; and when, as a final +climax, I finished up with a prolonged B flat--a very loud and long +note, which sounded to me something between a "view holloa" and the +whistle of a penny steamboat, but which came in nicely as a sort of +<i>pièce de résistance</i>, fairly astonishing "Hodge"--their enthusiasm knew +no bounds. They cheered and cheered again. Hand shaking went on all +round, whilst the biggest Radical of the lot stood up and shouted, "You +be a little Liberal, I know, and the other blokes 'ave 'ired [hired] +you." Whether we won any votes that evening I am doubtful, but certain I +am that this meeting, which started so inauspiciously, was more +successful than many others in which I have taken part in a Radical +place, in spite of the fact that we left it amid a shower of stones from +the boys outside.</p> + +<p>I do not think there is anything I dislike more than standing up to +address a village audience on the politics of the day. Unless you happen +to be a very taking speaker--which his greatest friends could not accuse +the present writer of being--agricultural labourers are a most +unsympathetic audience. They will sit solemnly through a long speech +without even winking an eye, and your best "hits" are passed by in +solemn silence. To the nervous speaker a little applause occasionally is +doubtless encouraging; but if you want to get it, you must put somebody +down among the audience, and pay them half a crown to make a noise.</p> + +<p>I suppose no better fellow or more suitable candidate for a Cotswold +constituency ever walked than Colonel Chester Master, of the Abbey; yet +his efforts to win the seat under the new ballot act were always +unavailing, saving the occasion on which he got in by three votes, and +then was turned out again within a month. An unknown candidate from +London--I will not say a carpet-bagger--was able to beat the local +squire, entirely owing to the very fact that he was a stranger.</p> + +<p>There is a good deal of chopping and changing about among the +agricultural voters, in spite of a general determination to be true to +the "yaller" colour or the "blue," as the case may be. As I passed down +the village street on the day on which our last election took place, I +enthusiastically exclaimed to a passer-by in whom I thought I recognised +one of our erstwhile firmest supporters, "We shall have our man in for a +certainty this time." "What--in the brook!" replied the turncoat, with a +glance at the stream, and not without humour, his face purple with +emotion. This was somewhat damping; but the hold of the paid social +agitator is very great in these country places, and it is scarcely +credible what extraordinary stories are circulated on the eve of an +election to influence the voters. At such times even loyalty is at a +discount At a Tory meeting a lecturer was showing a picture of +Gibraltar, and expatiating on the English victory in 1704, when Sir +George Rooke won this important stronghold from the Spaniards. "How +would you like any one to come and take your land away?" exclaimed a +Radical, with a great show of righteous indignation. And his sentiments +received the applause of all his friends.</p> + +<p>In these matters, and in the spirit of independence generally, country +folk have much altered. No longer can it be said; as Addison quaintly +puts it in the <i>Spectator</i>, that "they are so used to be dazzled with +riches that they pay as much deference to the understanding of a man of +estate as of a man of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard +any truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached to them, +when they know there are several men of five hundred a year who do not +believe it."</p> + +<p>In such-like matters the labourers now show a vast deal of common sense, +and the only wonder is that whilst paying but little deference either to +men of estate or men of learning, they yet allow themselves to be +"bamboozled" by the promises and claptrap of the paid agitator.</p> + +<p>Narrow and ignorant as is the Toryism commonly displayed in country +districts, it is yet preferable, from the point of view of those whose +motto is <i>aequam memento</i>, etc., to the impossible Utopia which the +advanced Radicals invariably promise us and never effect.</p> + +<p>A word now about the farmers of Gloucestershire.</p> + +<p>It is often asked, How do the Cotswold farmers live in these bad times? +I suppose the only reply one can give is the old saw turned upside down: +They live as the fishes do in the sea; the great ones eat up the little +ones. The tendency, doubtless, in all kinds of trade is for the small +capitalists to go to the wall.</p> + +<p>Some of the farmers in this district are yeoman princes, not only +possessing their own freeholds, but farming a thousand or fifteen +hundred acres in addition. Mr. Garne, of Aldsworth, is a fine specimen +of this class. He makes a speciality of the original pure-bred Cotswold +sheep, and his rams being famous, he is able to do very well, in spite +of the fact that there is little demand for the old breed of sheep, the +mutton being of poor quality and the wool coarse and rough. Mr. Garne +carries off all the prizes at "the Royal" and other shows with his +magnificent sheep. A cross between the Hampshire downs and the Cotswold +sheep has been found to give excellent mutton, as well as fine and silky +wool. The cross breed is gradually superseding the native sheep. Mr. +Hobbs, of Maiseyhampton, is famous for his Oxford downs. These sheep are +likewise superior to the Cotswold breed.</p> + +<p>Barley does uncommonly well on the light limestone soil of these hills. +The brewers are glad to get Cotswold barley for malting purposes. Fine +sainfoin crops are grown, and black oats likewise do well. The shallow, +porous soil requires rain at least once a week throughout the spring and +summer. The better class of farmer on these hills does not have at all a +bad time even in these days. Very often they lead the lives of squires, +more especially in those hamlets where there is no landowner resident. +Hunting, shooting, coursing, and sometimes fishing are enjoyed by most +of these squireens, and they are a fine, independent class of +Englishman, who get more fun out of life than many richer men, They will +tell you with regard to the labourers that the following adage is still +to be depended upon:--</p> + +<blockquote> +"Tis the same with common natures:<br> + Use 'em kindly they rebel;<br> + But be rough as nutmeg-graters,<br> + And the rogues obey you well."<br> +</blockquote> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV."></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE LANGUAGE OF THE COTSWOLDS, WITH SOME ANCIENT SONGS AND LEGENDS.</h3> + +<p>A very marked characteristic of the village peasant is his extraordinary +honesty. Not one in ten would knock a pheasant on the head with his +stick if he found one on his allotment among the cabbages. Rabbit +poachers there are, but even these are rare; and as for housebreaking +and robbery, it simply does not exist. The manor house has a tremendous +nail-studded oak door, which is barred at night by ponderous clamps of +iron and many other contrivances; but the old-fashioned windows could be +opened by any moderately skilful burglar in half a minute. There is +absolutely nothing to prevent access to the house at night, whilst in +the daytime the doors are open from "morn till dewy eve." Most of the +windows are innocent of shutters. When in Ireland recently, I noticed +that the gates in every field were immensely strong, generally of iron, +with massive pillars of stone on either side; but in spite of these +precautions there was usually a gap in the hedge close by, through which +one might safely have driven a waggon. This reminded one of the Cotswold +manor house and its strongly barricaded oak door, surrounded by windows, +which any burglar could open "as easy as a glove," as Tom Peregrine +would say.</p> + +<p>A strange-looking traveller, with slouching gait and mouldy wideawake +hat, passes through the hamlet occasionally, leading a donkey in a cart. +This is one of the old-fashioned hawkers. These men are usually poachers +or receivers of poached goods. They are not averse to paying a small sum +for a basket of trout or a few partridges, pheasants, hares or rabbits +in the game season; whilst in spring they deal in a small way in the +eggs of game birds. As often as not this class of man is accompanied by +a couple of dogs, marvellously trained in the art of hunting the coverts +and "retrieving" a pheasant or a rabbit which may be crouching in the +underwood. Hares, too, are taken by dogs in the open fields. One never +finds out much about these gentry from the natives. Even the keeper is +reticent on the subject. "A sart of a harf-witted fellow" is Tom +Peregrine's description of this very suspicious-looking traveller.</p> + +<p>The better sort of carrier, who calls daily at the great house with all +kinds of goods and parcels from the big town seven miles off, is +occasionally not averse to a little poaching in the roadside fields +among the hares. The carriers are a great feature of these rural +villages; they are generally good fellows, though some of them are a bit +too fond of the bottle on Saturday nights.</p> + +<p>The dogs employed by poachers are taught to keep out of sight and avoid +keepers and such-like folk. They know as well as the poacher himself the +nature of their trade, and that the utmost secrecy must be observed. To +see them trotting demurely down the road you would never think them +capable of doing anything wrong. A wave of the hand and they are into +the covert in a second, ready to pounce like a cat on a sitting +pheasant. One short whistle and they are at their master's heels again. +If in carrying game in their mouths they spied or winded a keeper, they +would in all probability contrive to hide themselves or make tracks for +the high road as quickly as possible, leaving their spoil in the thick +underwood, "to be left till called for."</p> + +<p>But to return once more to the honest Cotswold labourer. Occasionally a +notice is put up in the village as follows:--</p> + +<p>"There will be a dinner in the manor grounds on July--. Please bring +knives and forks."</p> + +<p>These are great occasions in a Cotswold village. Knives and forks mean +meat; and a joint of mutton is not seen by the peasants more than "once +in a month of Sundays." Needless to say, there is not much opportunity +of studying the language of the country as long as the feast is +progressing. "Silence is golden" is the motto here whilst the viands are +being discussed; but afterwards, when the Homeric desire of eating and +drinking has been expelled, an adjournment to the club may lead to a +smoking concert, and, once started, there are very few Cotswold men who +cannot sing a song of at least eighteen verses. For three hours an +uninterrupted stream of music flows forth, not only solos, but +occasionally duets, harmoniously chanted in parts, and rendered with the +utmost pathos. It cannot be said that Gloucestershire folk are endowed +with a large amount of musical talent; neither their "ears" nor their +vocal chords are ever anything great, but what they lack in quality they +make up in quantity, and I have listened to as many as forty songs +during one evening--some of them most entertaining, others extremely +dull. The songs the labourer most delights in are those which are +typical of the employment in which he happens to be engaged. Some of the +old ballads, handed down from father to son by oral tradition, are very +excellent. The following is a very good instance of this kind of song; +when sung by the carter to a good rollicking tune, it goes with a rare +ring, in spite of the fact that it lasts about a quarter of an hour. +There would be about a dozen verses, and the chorus is always sung twice +at the end of each verse, first by the carter and then by the +whole company.</p> + +<p>"Now then, gentlemen, don't delay harmony," Farmer Peregrine keeps +repeating in his old-fashioned, convivial way, and thus the ball is kept +a-rolling half the night.</p> + +<blockquote> +JIM, THE CARTER LAD.<br><br> + +"My name is Jim, the carter lad--<br> + A jolly cock am I;<br> + I always am contented,<br> + Be the weather wet or dry.<br> + I snap my finger at the snow,<br> + And whistle at the rain;<br> + I've braved the storm for many a day,<br> + And can do so again."<br><br> + + (<i>Chorus</i>.)<br><br> + + "Crack, crack, goes my whip,<br> + I whistle and I sing,<br> + I sits upon my waggon,<br> + I'm as happy as a king.<br> + My horse is always willing;<br> + As for me, I'm never sad:<br> + There's none can lead a jollier life<br> + Than Jim, the carter lad."<br><br> + +"My father was a carrier<br> + Many years ere I was born,<br> + And used to rise at daybreak<br> + And go his rounds each morn.<br> + He often took me with him,<br> + Especially in the spring.<br> + I loved to sit upon the cart<br> + And hear my father sing.<br> + Crack, crack, etc."<br><br> + +"I never think of politics<br> + Or anything so great;<br> + I care not for their high-bred talk<br> + About the Church and State.<br> + I act aright to man and man,<br> + And that's what makes me glad;<br> + You'll find there beats an honest heart<br> + In Jim, the carter lad.<br> + Crack, crack, etc."<br><br> + +"The girls, they all smile on me<br> + As I go driving past.<br> + My horse is such a beauty,<br> + And he jogs along so fast.<br> + We've travelled many a weary mile,<br> + And happy days have had;<br> + For none can lead a jollier life<br> + Than Jim, the carter lad.<br> + Crack, crack, etc."<br><br> + +"So now I'll wish you all good night<br> + It's time I was away;<br> + For I know my horse will weary<br> + If I much longer stay.<br> + To see your smiling faces,<br> + It makes my heart quite glad.<br> + I hope you'll drink your kind applause<br> + To Jim, the carter lad.<br> + Crack, crack, etc."<br><br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The village choirs do very well as long as their organist or vicar is +not too ambitious in his choice of music. There is a fatal tendency in +many places to do away with the old hymns, which every one has known +from a boy, and substitute the very inferior modern ones now to be found +in our books. This is the greatest mistake, if I may say so. A man is +far more likely to sing, and feel deeply when he is singing, those +simple words and notes he learnt long ago in the nursery at home. And +there is nothing finer in the world than some of our old English hymns.</p> + +<p>I appeal to any readers who have known what it is to feel deeply; and +few there are to whom this does not apply, if some of those moments of +their lives, when the thoughts have soared into the higher regions of +emotion, have not been those which followed the opening strain of the +organ as it quietly ushered in the old evening hymn, "Abide with me, +fast falls the eventide," or any other hymn of the same kind. It is the +same in the vast cathedral as in the little Norman village church. There +are fifty hymns in our book which would be sufficient to provide the +best possible music for our country churches. The best organists realise +this. Joseph Barnby always chose the old hymns; and you will hear them +at Westminster and St. Paul's. The country organist, however, imagines +that it is his duty to be always teaching his choir some new and +difficult tune; the result in nine cases out of ten being "murder" and a +rapid falling off in the congregation.</p> + +<p>The Cotswold folk on the whole are fond of music, though they have not a +large amount of talent for it. The Chedworth band still goes the round +of the villages once or twice a year. These men are the descendants of +the "old village musicians," who, to quote from the <i>Strand Musical +Magazine</i> for September 1897, "led the Psalmody in the village church +sixty years ago with stringed and wind instruments. Mr. Charles Smith, +of Chedworth, remembers playing the clarionet in Handel's <i>Zadok the +Priest</i>, performed there in 1838 in honour of the Queen's accession." He +talks of a band of twelve, made up of strings and <i>wood-wind</i>.</p> + +<p>I am bound to say that the music produced by the Chedworth band at the +present day, though decidedly creditable in such an old-world village, +is rather like the Roman remains for which the district is so famous; it +savours somewhat of the prehistoric. But when the band comes round and +plays in the hall of our old house on Christmas Eve, I have many a +pleasant chat with the Chedworth musicians; they are so delightfully +enthusiastic, and so grateful for being allowed to play. When I gave +them a cup of tea they kept repeating, "A thousand thanks for all your +kindness, sir."</p> + +<p>It is inevitable that men engaged day by day and year by year in such +monotonous employ as agricultural labour should be somewhat lacking in +acuteness and sensibility; in no class is the hereditary influence so +marked. Were it otherwise, matters would be in a sorry pass in country +places, for discontent would reign supreme; and once let "ambition mock +their useful toil," once their sober wishes learn to stray, how would +the necessary drudgery of agricultural work be accomplished at all? In +spite, however, of this marked characteristic of inertness--hereditary +in the first place, and fostered by the humdrum round of daily toil on +the farm--there is sometimes to be found a sense of humour and a love of +merriment that is quite astonishing. A good deal of what is called +knowledge of the world, which one would have thought was only to be +acquired in towns, nowadays penetrates into remote districts, so that +country folk often have a good idea of "what's what" I once overheard +the following conversation:</p> + +<p>"Who's your new master, Dick? He's a bart., ain't he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no," was the reply; "he's only a <i>jumped-up jubilee knight</i>!"</p> + +<p>Sense of humour of a kind the Cotswold labourer certainly has, even +though he is quite unable to see a large number of apparently simple +jokes. The diverting history of John Gilpin, for instance, read at a +smoking concert, was received with scarce a smile.</p> + +<p>Old Mr. Peregrine lately told me an instance of the extraordinary +secretiveness of the labourer. Two of his men worked together in his +barn day after day for several weeks. During that time they never spoke +to each other, save that one of them would always say the last thing at +night, "Be sure to shut the door."</p> + +<p>Oddly enough they thoroughly appreciate the humour of the wonderful +things that went on fifty and a hundred years ago. The old farmer I have +just mentioned told me that he remembers when he used to go to church +fifty years ago, how, after they had all been waiting half an hour, the +clerk would pin a notice in the porch, "No church to-day; Parson C---- +got the gout."</p> + +<p>As with history so also with geography, the Cotswold labourer sometimes +gets "a bit mixed."</p> + +<p>"'Ow be they a-gettin' on in Durbysher?" lately enquired a man at +Coln-St-Aldwyns.</p> + +<p>To him replied a righteously indignant native of the same village, "I've +'eard as 'ow the English army 'ave killed ten thousand Durvishers +(Dervishes)."</p> + +<p>"Bedad!" answered his friend, "there won't be many left in Durbysher if +they goes on a-killin' un much longer."</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-078-096.jpg"> +<img src="fp-078-096.jpg" width = "35%" alt="THE HAMLET."> +</a><br><b>"THE HAMLET."</b> +</P> + +<p>Another story lately told me in the same village was as follows:--</p> + +<p>An old lady went to the stores to buy candles, and was astonished to +find that owing to the Spanish-American war "candles was riz."</p> + +<p>"Get along!" she indignantly exclaimed. "<i>Don't tell me they fights by +candlelight</i>"</p> + +<p>One of the cheeriest fellows that ever worked for us was a carter called +Trinder. He was the father of <i>twenty-one children</i>--by the same wife. +He never seemed to be worried in the slightest degree by domestic +affairs, and was always happy and healthy and gay. This man's wages +would be about twelve shillings a week: not a very large sum for a man +with a score of children. Then it must be remembered that the boys would +go off to work in the fields at a very early age, and by the time they +were ten years old they would be keeping themselves. A large family like +this would not have the crushing effect on the labouring man that it has +on the poor curate or city clerk. Nevertheless, one cannot help looking +upon the man as a kind of hero, when one considers the enormous number +of grandchildren and descendants he will have. On being asked the other +day how he had contrived to maintain such a quiverful, he answered, +"I've always managed to get along all right so far; I never wanted for +vittals, sir, anyhow." This was all the information he would give.</p> + +<p>Talking of "vittals," the only meat the labouring man usually indulges +in is bacon. His breakfast consists of bread and butter, and either tea +or cocoa. For his dinner he relies on bread and bacon, occasionally +only bread and cheese. In the winter he is home by five, and once more +has tea, or cocoa, or beer. Coffee is very seldom seen in the cottages. +During the short days there is nothing to do but go to bed in the +evening, unless a walk of over a mile to the village inn is considered +worth the trouble. But being tired and leg weary, a long walk does not +usually appeal to the men after their evening meal; so to bed is the +order of the day,--and, thank Heaven! "the sleep of a labouring man is +sweet." In the longer days of spring and summer there is plenty to do in +the allotments; and on the whole the allotments acts have been a great +blessing to the labourers.</p> + +<p>It is during the three winter months that penny readings and smoking +concerts are so much appreciated in the country. Too much cannot be done +in this way to brighten the life of the village during the cold, dark +days of December and January, for the labouring man hates reading above +all things.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the fact that these simple folk do not read the newspapers, or +only read those parts in which they have a direct interest--such as +paragraphs indulging in socialistic castles in the air--has its +advantages, inasmuch as it allows their common sense full play in all +other matters, unhampered as it is (except in this one weak point of +socialism) by the prejudices of the day. So that if one wanted to get an +unprejudiced opinion on some great question of right or wrong, in the +consideration of which common sense alone was required--such a question, +for instance, as is occasionally cropping up in these times in our +foreign policy--one would have to go to the very best men in the +country, namely, those amongst the educated classes who think for +themselves, or to men of the so-called lowest strata of society, such as +these honest Cotswold labourers; because there is scarcely one man in +ten among the reading public who is not biassed and confused by the +manifold contradictions and political claptrap of the daily papers, and +led away by side issues from a clear understanding of the rights of +every case. Our free press is doubtless a grand institution. As with +individuals, however, so ought it to be with nations. Let us, in our +criticisms of the policy of those who watch over the destinies of other +countries, whilst firmly upholding our rights, strictly adhere to the +principle of <i>noblesse oblige</i>. The press is every day becoming more and +more powerful for good or evil; its influence on men's minds has become +so marked that it may with truth be said that the press rules public +opinion rather than that public opinion rules the press. But the writers +of the day will only fulfil their destiny aright by approaching every +question in a broad and tolerant spirit, and by a firm reliance, in +spite of the prejudices of the moment, on the ancient faith of <i>noblesse +oblige</i>. However, the unanimity recently shown by the press in upholding +our rights at Fashoda was absolutely splendid.</p> + +<p>The origin of the names of the fields in this district is difficult to +trace. Many a farm has its "barrow ground," called after some old burial +mound situated there; and many names like Ladbarrow, Cocklebarrow, etc., +have the same derivation. "Buryclose," too, is a name often to be found +in the villages; and skeletons are sometimes dug up in meadows so +called. A copse, called Deadman's Acre, is supposed to have received its +name from the fact that a man died there, having sworn that he would +reap an acre of corn with a sickle in a day or perish in the attempt. It +is more likely, however, to be connected with the barrows, which are +plentiful thereabouts.</p> + +<p>Oliver Cromwell's memory is still very much respected among the +labouring folk. Every possible work is attributed to his hand, and even +the names of places are set down to his inventive genius. Thus they tell +you that when he passed through Aldsworth he did not think very much of +the village (it is certainly a very dull little place), so he snapped +his fingers and exclaimed, "That's all 'e's worth!" On arriving at Ready +Token, where was an ancient inn, he found it full of guests; he +therefore exclaimed, "It's already taken!" Was ever such nonsense heard? +Yet these good folk believe every tradition of this kind, and delight in +telling you such stories. Ready Token is a bleak spot, standing very +high, and having a clump of trees on it; it is therefore conspicuous for +miles; so that when this country was an open moor, Ready Token was very +useful as a landmark to travellers. Mr. Sawyer thinks the name is a +corruption from the Celtic word "rhydd" and the Saxon "tacen," meaning +"the way to the ford," the place being on the road to Fairford, where +the Coln is crossed.</p> + +<p>One of the chief traditions of this locality, and one that doubtless has +more truth in it than most of the stories the natives tell you, relates +that two hundred years ago people were frequently murdered at Ready +Token inn when returning with their pockets full of money from the big +fairs at Gloucester or Oxford. A labouring friend of mine was telling me +the other day of the wonderful disappearance of a packman and a +"jewelrer," as he called him. For very many years nothing was heard of +them, but about twenty years ago some "skellingtons" were dug up on the +exact spot where the inn stood, so their disappearance was +accounted for.</p> + +<p>This same man told me the following story about the origin of Hangman's +Stone, near Northleach:--</p> + +<p>"A man stole a 'ship' [sheep], and carried it tied to his neck and +shoulders by a rope. Feeling rather tired, he put the 'ship' down on top +of the 'stwun' [stone] to rest a bit; but suddenly it rolled off the +other side, and hung him--broke his neck."</p> + +<p>Hangman's Stone may be seen to this day. The real origin of the name may +be found in Fozbrooke's History of Gloucestershire. It was the place of +execution in Roman times.</p> + +<p>"As illuminations in cases of joy, dismissal from the house in quarrels, +wishing joy on New Year's Day, king and queen on twelfth day (from the +Saturnalia), holding up the hand in sign of assent, shaking hands, etc., +are Roman customs, so were executions just out of the town, where also +the executioner resided. In Anglo-Saxon times this officer was a man of +high dignity."</p> + +<p>A very common name in Gloucestershire for a field or wood is "conyger" +or "conygre." It means the abode of conies or rabbits.</p> + +<p>Some farms have their "camp ground"; and there, sure enough, if one +examines it carefully, will be found traces of some ancient British +camp, with its old rampart running round it. But what can be the +derivation of such names as Horsecollar Bush Furlong, Smoke Acre +Furlong, West Chester Hull, Cracklands, Crane Furlong, Sunday's Hill, +Latheram, Stoopstone Furlong, Pig Bush Furlong, and Barelegged Bush?</p> + +<p>Names like Pitchwells, where there is a spring; Breakfast Bush Ground, +where no doubt Hodge has had his breakfast for centuries under shelter +of a certain bush; Rickbushes, and Longlands are all more or less easy +to trace. Furzey Leaze, Furzey Ground, Moor Hill, Ridged Lands, and the +Pikes are all names connected with the nature of the fields or +their locality.</p> + +<p>Leaze is the provincial name for a pasture, and Furzey Leaze would be a +rough "ground," where gorse was sprinkled about. The Pikes would be a +field abutting on an old turnpike gate. The word "turnpike" is never +used in Gloucestershire; it is always "the pike." A field is a "ground," +and a fence or stone wall is a "mound." The Cotswold folk do not talk +about houses; they stick to the old Saxon termination, and call their +dwellings "housen"; they also use the Anglo-Saxon "hire" for hear. The +word "bowssen," too, is very frequently heard in these parts; it is a +provincialism for a stall or shed where oxen are kept. "Boose" is the +word from which it originally sprang. A very expressive phrase in common +use is to "quad" or "quat"; it is equivalent to the word "squat." Other +words in this dialect are "sprack," an adjective meaning quick or +lively; and "frem" or "frum," a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon +"fram," meaning fresh or flourishing. The latter word is also used in +Leicestershire. Drayton, who knew the Cotswolds, and wrote poetry about +the district, uses the expression "frim pastures." "Plym" is the +swelling of wood when it is immersed in water; and "thilk," another +Anglo-Saxon word, means thus or the same.</p> + +<p>A mole in the Gloucestershire dialect is an "oont" or "woont." A barrow +or mound of any kind is a "tump." Anything slippery is described as +"slick"; and a slice is a "sliver." "Breeds" denotes the brim of a hat, +and a deaf man is said to be "dunch" or "dunny." To "glowr" is to +stare--possibly connected with the word "glare."</p> + +<p>Two red-coated sportsmen, while hunting close to our village the other +day, got into a small but deep pond. They were said to have fallen into +the "stank," and got "zogged" through: for a small pond is a "stank," +and to be "zogged" is equivalent to being soaked.</p> + +<p>"Hark at that dog 'yoppeting' in the covert! I'll give him a nation good +'larroping' when I catch him!" This is the sort of sentence a +Gloucestershire keeper makes use of. To "larrop" is to beat. Oatmeal or +porridge is always called "grouts"; and the Cotswold native does not +talk of hoisting a ladder, but "highsting" is the term he uses. The +steps of the ladder are the "rongs." Luncheon is "nuncheon." Other words +in the dialect are "caddie" = to humbug; "cham" = to chew; "barken" = a +homestead; and "bittle" = a mallet.</p> + +<p>Fozbrooke says that the term "hopping mad" is applied to people who are +very angry; but we do not happen to have heard it in Gloucestershire. +Two proverbs that are in constant use amongst all classes are, "As sure +as God's in Gloucestershire," and, "'Tis as long in coming as Cotswold +'berle'" (barley). The former has reference to the number of churches +and religious houses the county used to possess, the latter to the +backward state of the crops on the exposed Cotswold Hills. To meet a man +and say, "Good-morning, nice day," is to "pass the time of day with +him." Anything queer or mysterious is described as "unkard" or "unket"; +perhaps this word is a provincialism for "uncouth." A narrow lane or +path between two walls is a "tuer" in Gloucestershire vernacular. +Another local word I have not heard elsewhere is "eckle," meaning a +green woodpecker or yaffel. The original spelling of the word was +"hic-wall." In these days of education the real old-fashioned dialect is +seldom heard; among the older peasants a few are to be found who speak +it, but in twenty years' time it will be a thing of the past.</p> + +<p>The incessant use of "do" and "did," and the changing of <i>o</i>'s into +<i>a</i>'s are two great characteristics of the Gloucestershire talk. Being +anxious to be initiated into the mysteries of the dialect, I buttonholed +a labouring friend of mine the other day, and asked him to try to teach +it to me. He is a great exponent of the language of the country, and, +like a good many others of his type, he is as well satisfied with his +pronunciation as he is with his other accomplishments. The fact is that</p> + +<blockquote> +"His favourite sin<br> + Is pride that apes humility."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It is <i>your</i> grammar, not his, which is at fault. In the following +verses will be found the gist of what he told me:--</p> + +<blockquote> +"If thee true 'Glarcestershire' would know,<br> + I'll tell thee how us always zays un;<br> + Put 'I' for 'me,' and 'a' for 'o'.<br> + On every possible occasion.<br><br> + + When in doubt squeeze in a 'w'--<br> + 'Stwuns,' not 'stones.' And don't forget, zur,<br> + That 'thee' must stand for 'thou' and 'you';<br> + 'Her' for 'she,' and <i>vice versâ</i>.<br><br> + + Put 'v' for 'f'; for 's' put 'z';<br> + 'Th' and 't' we change to 'd,'--<br> + So dry an' kip this in thine yead,<br> + An' thou wills't talk as plain as we."<br><br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The student in the language of the Cotswolds should study a very ancient +song entitled "George Ridler's Oven." Strange to say, there is little or +nothing in it about the oven, but a good deal of the old Gloucestershire +talk may be gleaned from it. It begins like this:</p> + +<p>GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN.</p><br> + +<blockquote> +A RIGHT FAMOUS OLD GLOUCESTERSHIRE BALLAD.<br><br> + +"The stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns,<br> + The stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, <i>the stwuns</i>."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>This is sung like the prelude to a grand orchestral performance. +Beginning somewhat softly, Hodge fires away with a gravity and emotion +which do him infinite credit, each succeeding repetition of the word +"stwuns" being rendered with ever-increasing pathos and emphasis, until, +like the final burst of an orchestral prelude, with drums, trumpets, +fiddles, etc, all going at the same time, are at length ushered in the +opening lines of the ballad.</p> + +<blockquote> +"The stwuns that built Gaarge Ridler's oven,<br> + And thauy qeum from the Bleakeney's Quaar;<br> + And Gaarge he wur a jolly ould mon,<br> + And his yead it graw'd above his yare.<br><br> + +"One thing of Gaarge Ridler's I must commend.<br> + And that wur vor a notable theng;<br> + He mead his braags avoore he died,<br> + Wi' any dree brothers his zons zshou'd zeng.<br><br> + +"There's Dick the treble and John the mean<br> + (Let every mon zing in his auwn pleace);<br> + And Gaarge he wur the elder brother,<br> + And therevoore he would zing the beass.<br><br> + +"Mine hostess's moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell)<br> + A pretty wench, and I lov'd her well;<br> + I lov'd her well--good reauzon why,<br> + Because zshe lov'd my dog and I.<br><br> + +"My dog has gotten zitch a trick<br> + To visit moids when thauy be zick;<br> + When thauy be zick and like to die,<br> + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I.<br><br> + +"My dog is good to catch a hen,--<br> + A duck and goose is vood vor men;<br> + And where good company I spy,<br> + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I.<br><br> + +"Droo aal the world, owld Gaarge would bwoast,<br> + Commend me to merry owld England mwoast;<br> + While vools gwoes scramblin' vur and nigh,<br> + We bides at whoam, my dog and I.<br><br> + +"Ov their furrin tongues let travellers brag,<br> + Wi' their vifteen neames vor a puddin' bag;<br> + Two tongues I knows ne'er towld a lie,<br> + And their wearers be my dog and I.<br><br> + +"My mwother told I when I wur young,<br> + If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot,<br> + That drenk would pruv my auverdrow,<br> + And meauk me wear a thzreadbare cwoat.<br><br> + +"When I hev dree zixpences under my thumb,<br> + Oh, then I be welcome wherever I qeum;<br> + But when I hev none, oh, then I pass by,--<br> + 'Tis poverty pearts good company.<br><br> + +"When I gwoes dead, as it may hap,<br> + My greauve shall be under the good yeal tap<br> + In vouled earms there wool us lie,<br> + Cheek by jowl, my dog and I."<br><br> +</blockquote> + + + +<blockquote> +<table width="40%"> +<tr><td> </td><td>GLOSSARY.</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>stwuns</i> = stones.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>pleace</i> = place.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>quaar</i> = quarry.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>pwoot</i> = pewter.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>yare</i> = hair.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>yeal</i> = ale.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>avoor</i> = before.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>qeum</i> = come.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>auwn</i> = own.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>graw'd</i> = grew.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>furrin</i> = foreign.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>braags</i> = brag.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>greauve</i> = grave.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>zshou'd</i> = should.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>thauy</i> = they.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>beass</i> = bass.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>yead</i> = head.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>auverdrow</i> = overthrow.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>mead</i> = made.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>vouled earms</i> = folded arms.</td></tr> + +<tr><td><i>dree</i> = three.</td> +<td> </td> +<td><i>zitch</i> = such.</td></tr> +</table> +</blockquote> + +<p>The song itself is as old as the hills, but I have taken the liberty of +appending a glossary, in order that my readers may be spared the +trouble of making out the meaning of some of the words. It was a long +time before it dawned upon me that "vouled earms" meant "folded arms "; +"auverdrow" likewise was very perplexing. Like many of the old ballads, +it sounds like a rigmarole from beginning to end; but there is really a +great deal more in it than meets the eye. George Ridler is no less a +personage than King Charles I., and the oven represents the cavalier +party. (See Appendix.)</p> + +<p>Such songs as these are deeply interesting from the fact that they are +handed down by oral tradition from father to son, and written copies are +never seen in the villages. The same applies to the play the mummers act +at Christmas-time; all has to be learnt from the preceding generation of +country folk. But the great feature of our smoking concerts and village +entertainments has always been the reading of Tom Peregrine. This noted +sportsman, who writes one of the best hands I ever saw, has kindly +copied out a recitation he lately gave us. It relates to the adventures +of one Roger Plowman, a Cotswold man who went to London, and is taken +from a book, compiled some years ago by some Ciceter men, entitled +"Roger Plowman's Excursion to London." It was read at a harvest home +given by old Mr. Peregrine in his huge barn, an entertainment which +lasted from six o'clock till twelve. I trust none of my readers will be +any the worse for reading it. Tom Peregrine declares that when he first +gave it at a penny reading some years ago, one or two of the audience +had to be carried out in hysterics--they laughed so much; and another +man fell backwards off his chair, owing to the extreme comicality of it. +The truth is, our versatile keeper is a wonderful reader, and speaking +as he does the true Gloucestershire accent, in the same way as some of +the squires spoke it a century or more ago, it is extremely amusing to +hear him copying the still broader dialect of the labouring class. He +has a tremendous sense of humour, and his epithet for anything amusing +is "Foolish." "'Tis a splendid tale; 'tis so desperate foolish," he +would often say.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>ROGER PLOWMAN'S JOURNEY TO LONDON.</h2> + +<p>Monday marnin' I wur to start early. Aal the village know'd I wur +a-gwain, an' sum sed as how I shood be murthur'd avoor I cum back. On +Sunday I called at the manur 'ouse an' asked cook if she hed any message +vor Sairy Jane. She sed:</p> + +<p>"Tell Sairy Jane to look well arter 'e, Roger, vor you'll get lost, tuck +in, an' done vor."</p> + +<p>"Rest easy in yer mind, cook," I zed; "Roger is toughish, an' he'll see +thet the honour o' the old county is well show'd out and kep' up."</p> + +<p>Cook wished me a pleasant holiday.</p> + +<p>I started early on Monday marnin', 'tarmined to see as much as possible. +I wur to walk into Cizzeter, an' vram thur goo by train to Lunnon.</p> + +<p>I wur delighted wi' Cizzeter. The shops an' buildin's round the +market-pleace wur vine; an' the church wur grand; didn't look as how he +wur built by the same sort of peeple as put the shops up.</p> + +<p>When the Roomans an' anshunt Britons went to church arm-in-arm it wur +always Whitsuntide, an' arter church vetched their banners out wi' brass +eagles on, an' hed a morris dance in the market-pleace. The anshunt +Britons never hed any tailory done, but thay wur all artists wi' the +paint pot. The Consarvatives painted thurselves bloo, and the Radicals +yaller, an' thay as danced the longest, the Roomans sent to Parlyment to +rool the roost.</p> + +<p>I wur show'd the pleace wur the peeple started vor Lunnon. I walked in, +an' thur wur a hole in the purtition, an' I seed the peeple a-payin' +thur money vor bits o' pasteboord. I axed the mon if he could take I +to Lunnon.</p> + +<p>He sed, "Fust, second, or thurd?"</p> + +<p>I sed, "Fust o' course, not arter; vor Sairy Jane ull be waitin'."</p> + +<p>He sed 'twer moor ner a pound to pay.</p> + +<p>I sed the paason sed 'twer about eight shillin'.</p> + +<p>"That's thurd class," he sed; an' that thay ud aal be in Lunnon at the +same time.</p> + +<p>So I paid thurd class, an' he shuved out sum pasteboord, an' I put it in +my pocket, an' walked out; an' thur wur a row o' carridges waitin' vor +Lunnon; an' off we went as fast as a racehoss.</p> + +<p>I heerd sum say thay wur off to Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, +North Wales; an' I sed to meself, "I be on the rong road. Dang the +buttons o' that little pasteboord seller! he warn't a 'safe mon' to hev +to do wi'."</p> + +<p>I enquired if the peeple hed much washin' to do for the railway about +here, an' thay wanted to know what I required to know vor.</p> + +<p>I sed because thur war such a long clothesline put up aal the way +along. An' thay aal bust out a-larfin,' an' sed 'twur the tallergraph; +an' one sed as how if the Girt Western thought as how 'twould pay +better, thay ud soon shet up shop, an' take in washin'.</p> + +<p>Never in aal me life did I go at such a rate under and awver bridges an +droo holes in the 'ills. We wur soon at Swindon, wur a lot wur at work +as black as tinkers. We aal hed to get out, an' a chap in green clothes +sed we shood hev to wait ten minits.</p> + +<p>Thur wur a lot gwain into a room, an' I seed they wur eatin' and +drinkin'; so I ses to meself, "I be rayther peckish, I'll go in an' see +if I can get summut." So in I goes; an' 'twer a vine pleace, wi' sum +nation good-looking gurls a-waitin'.</p> + +<p>"I'll hev a half-quartern loaf," I sed.</p> + +<p>"We doan't kip a baker's shop," she sed. "Thur's cakes, an' biskits, an' +sponge cakes."</p> + +<p>"Hev 'e got sum good bacon, raythur vattish?" I sed.</p> + +<p>"No, sur; but thur's sum good poork sausingers at sixpence."</p> + +<p>"Hand awver the pleat, young 'ooman," I sed, "an' I'll trubble you vor +the mustard, an' salt, an' that pleat o' bread an' butter, an' I'll set +down an' hev a bit of a snack."</p> + +<p>The sausingers wur very good, an' teasted moorish aal the time; but the +bread an' butter wur so nation thin that I had to clap dree or vour +pieces together to get a mouthful. I didn't seem to want a knife or +vork, but the young 'ooman put a white-handled knife an' silver +vork avoor me.</p> + +<p>The pleat o' bread an' butter didn't hold out vor the sausingers, so I +hed another pleat o' bread an' butter, an' wur getting on vine. I seem'd +to want summut to wet me whistle, an' wur gwain to order a quart o' ale, +when I heers a whistle an' a grunt vram a steamer, an' out I goos; an', +begum! he wur off.</p> + +<p>I beckuned to the chap to stop the train, wi' me vork as I hed jest +stuck into the last sausinger. I hed clapt a good mouthful in, or I +could hev hollur'd loud enough vor him to heer. The train didn't stop, +an' the vellers in green laughed to see I wur left in the lurch, as I +tell'd them that Sairy Jane would be sure to meet the Lunnon train. Thay +sed I could go in an' vinish the sausingers now, an' that wur what I +intended to do.</p> + +<p>I asked the young 'ooman for a bottle o' ale, when she put a tallish +bottle down wi' a beg head; an' as I wur dry I knocked the neck off, an' +the ale kum a-fizzing out like ginger pop,--an' 'twer no use to try to +stop the fizzle. I had aal I could get in a glass, an' it zeemed +goodish. She soon run back wi' another bottle in her hand, an' I tell'd +her 'twer pop she hed put down.</p> + +<p>"What hev you bin an' dun, sur?" she sed; "that wur a bottle o' Moses's +shampane, at seven shillin's an' sixpence a bottle."</p> + +<p>I tell'd her I know'd 'twer nothin' but pop, as it fizzled so. Thur wur +two or dree gentlemen in, an' thay larfed at the fizzle an' I. It seemed +to meak me veel merryish, an' I zed, "What's to pay, young 'ooman?"</p> + +<p>She sed, "Thirteen shillin's, sur."</p> + +<p>"Thirteen scaramouches!" I sed. "What vor?"</p> + +<p>"Seven sausingers, dree and sixpence; twenty-vour slices o' bread an' +butter, two shillin's; an' a bottle of shampane, seven and +sixpence;--kums to thirteen shillin's," she sed.</p> + +<p>"Yer tell'd me as how the sausingers wur sixpence," I sed; "an' the +slices o' bread ud cut off a tuppeny loaf."</p> + +<p>She sed the sausingers wur sixpence each, an' twenty-vour slices o' +bread an' butter wur a penny each--two shillin's.</p> + +<p>I sed, "Do 'e call that reysonable, young 'ooman? 'cause I bain't +a-gwain to pay thirteen shillin's vor't, an' lose me train, an' +disappoint Sairy Jane. Thirteen shillin's vor two or dree sausingers, a +few slices o' bread an' butter, an' a bottle o' pop--not vor Roger, if +he knows it"</p> + +<p>Up kums a chap an' ses, "Be you gwain to pay vor wat you hev hed?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure I be. Thur's sixpence vor the sausingers, tuppence vor bread +an' butter, an' dreppence the pop,--that meaks 'levenpence"; an' I drows +down a shillin', and ses, "Thur's the odd penny vor the young 'ooman as +waited upon me."</p> + +<p>"You hed thirteen shillin's worth o' grub an' shampane, an' you'll hev +to pay twelve shillin's moor or I shall take 'e away an' lock 'e up vor +the night," he sed.</p> + +<p>"Do 'e thenk as how you could do aal that, young man?" I sed. "No +disrespect to 'e though, vor that don't argify; but I could ketch hold +on 'e by the scroff o' yer neck an' the seat o' yer breeches, an' pitch +'e slick into the roadway among the iron."</p> + +<p>"Look heer, Meyster Turmot, you'll hev to pay twelve shillin' moor avoor +you gwoes out o' heer, or Lunnon won't hold 'e to-night."</p> + +<p>I know'd Sairy Jane ud be a-waitin', an' as he sed the train were moast +ready, I drows down a suverin', an' hed the change, an' as I wur a-gwain +out I hollurs out as how I shood remember Swindleum stashun. I heer'd +the lot a-larfin, an' hed moast a mind to go in an' twirl me ground ash +among um vor thur edification.</p> + +<p>I wur soon on the road agen, a-gwain like a house a-vire, an' thur wur +more clotheslines aal the way along on pwosts.</p> + +<p>W'en we got nearish to Lunnon I seed sum girt beg round barrels painted +black.<a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a> I axed a chap what thay wur, an' he sed that thay wur beg +barrels o' stingo, an' thur wur pipes laid on to the peeple's housen vor +thay to draw vram.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> Gasometers. +</blockquote> + +<p>I sed that wur very good accommodashun to hev XXX laid on vor use.</p> + +<p>We soon druv into the beggest pleace I wur ever in since I wur born'd. +Thay sed 'twer Paddington, an' that I wur to get out, vor they wurn't +a-gwain to drive no furder. I hed paid to go to Lunnon, an' thay shood +drive all the way when thay wur paid avoor'and.</p> + +<p>I wur tell'd Paddington wur the Lunnon stashun by a porter, an' I look'd +round vor Sairy Jane, as she sed as how her ud be heer at one o'clock; +and porter sed 'twer then dree o'clock, an' likely Sairy Jane had gone +away. Drat thay sausingers as mead I too late vor the train!</p> + +<p>I set down to wait for Sairy Jane, as I didn't know her directions, an' +hed left the letter she sent at whoam. Arter waitin' for a long while I +started out, an' 'oped to see her in sum part o' Lunnon.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>Another story Tom Peregrine is fond of reading to us relates how a +labouring man was recommended to get some oxtail soup to strengthen him. +He goes into the town and sees "Oxikali Soap" written up on a shop +window. He buys a cake of it, makes his wife boil it up in the pot, and +then proceeds to drink it for his health. When he has taken a spoonful +or two and found it very unpleasant, his wife makes him finish it up, +saying it is sure to do him good; and she consoles him with the +assurance that all medicine is nasty.</p> + +<p>At the harvest home in the big barn, after the applause which followed +Tom Peregrine's recitation had died away, a sturdy carter stood up and +sang a very old Gloucestershire song, which runs as follows:--</p> +<br> +<center> +THE TURMUT HOWER.<br><br> + +"I be a turmut hower,<br> +Vram Gloucestershire I came;<br> +My parents be hard-working folk,<br> +Giles Wapshaw be my name.<br> +The vly, the vly,<br> +The vly be on the turmut,<br> +An' it be aal me eye, and no use to try<br> +To keep um off the turmut.<br><br> + +"Zum be vond o' haymakin',<br> +An' zum be vond o' mowin',<br> +But of aal the trades thet I likes best<br> +Gie I the turmut howin'.<br> +The vly, etc.<br><br> + +"'Twas on a summer mornin',<br> +Aal at the brake o' day,<br> +When I tuck up my turmut hower,<br> +An' trudged it far away.<br> +The vly, etc.<br><br> + +"The vust pleace I got work at,<br> +It wus by the job,<br> +But if I hed my chance agen,<br> +I'd rayther go to quod.<br> +The vly, etc.<br><br> + +"The next pleace I got work at,<br> +'Twer by the day,<br> +Vor one old Varmer Vlower,<br> +Who sed I wur a rippin' turmut hower.<br> +The vly, etc.<br><br> + +"Sumtimes I be a-mowin',<br> +Sumtimes I be a-plowin',<br> +Gettin' the vurrows aal bright an' clear<br> +Aal ready vor turmut sowin'.<br> +The vly, etc.<br><br> + +"An' now my song be ended<br> +I 'ope you won't call encore;<br> +But if you'll kum here another night,<br> +I'll seng it ye once more.<br> +The vly, etc."<br> +</center><br> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V."></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE WOLDS.</h3> + +<p>Time passes quickly for the sportsman who has the good fortune to dwell +in the merry Cotswolds. Spring gives place to summer and autumn to +winter with a rapidity which astonishes us as the years roll on.</p> + +<p>So diversified are the amusements that each season brings round that no +time of year lacks its own characteristic sport. In the spring, ere red +coats and "leathers" are laid aside by the fox-hunting squire, there is +the best of trout-fishing to be enjoyed in the Coln and +Windrush--streams dear to the heart of the accomplished expert with the +"dry" fly. In spring, too, are the local hunt races at Oaksey and +Sherston, at Moreton-in-the-Marsh and Andoversford. Pleasant little +country gatherings are these race meetings, albeit the <i>bonâ-fide</i> +hunter has little chance of distinguishing himself between the flags in +any part of England nowadays. The Lechlade Horse Show, too, is a great +institution in the V.W.H. country at the close of the hunting season.</p> + +<p>Annually at Whitsuntide for very many centuries "sports" have been held +in all parts of the country. It is said that they are the <i>floralia</i> of +the Romans. Included in these sports are many of those amusements of the +middle ages of which Ben Jonson sang:</p> + +<blockquote> +"The Cotswold with the Olympic vies<br> + In manly games and goodly exercise."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Horse-racing is a great feature in the programme of these Whitsuntide +festivities.</p> + +<p>The "may-fly" carnival among the trout, together with lots of cricket +matches, make the time pass all too quickly for those who spend the +glorious summer months in the Cotswolds. By the time the Cirencester +Horse Show is over, the cubs are getting strong and mischievous. +Directly the corn is cut the hounds are out again in the lovely +September mornings. By this time partridges are plentiful, and must be +shot ere they get too wild. So year by year the ball is kept rolling in +the quiet Cotswold Hills; the days go by, yet content reigns amongst +all classes.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife<br> + Their sober wishes never learned to stray;<br> + Along the cool, sequestered vale of life<br> + They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Then there is so much to do indirectly connected with sport of all +kinds, if you live in a Cotswold village. Woods and fox coverts must be +kept in good order, so that there may always be cover to shelter game +and foxes. Cricket grounds afford unlimited scope for labour and +experiment.</p> + +<p>If you either own or rent a trout stream there is no end to the +improvements that can be made with a little time and labour. Deep holes +or even lakes may be dug, great stones and fir poles may be utilised, to +form eddies and waterfalls and homes for the trout. By means of a little +stocking with fresh blood a stream may often be turned from a worthless +piece of water into a splendid fishery. There is no limit to the +articles of food which can be imported. Gammari, or fresh-water shrimps, +caddis and larvae, and various species of weeds which nourish insects +and snails--notably the <i>chara flexilis</i> from Loch Leven--may all be +procured and transplanted to your water. The beautiful springs which +feed the Coln at various intervals, where the watercress grows freely, +would be of great service in forming lakes; there is so much poor marshy +land even in the fertile valleys that might be utilised, with advantage +and profit for the purpose of trout preserving.</p> + +<p>Talking of watercress, this is a branch of farming which appears to be +somewhat neglected on the banks of the Coln. The villagers tell you that +watercress, like the oyster, is good in every month with an "r" in it: +so that all through the year, save in May, June, July, and August, +watercress may be picked and sent to market. But the proprietor of +watercress beds attaches little importance to the fact that he possesses +large beds of this wholesome and reproductive plant, and you will not +see it on his table once in a month of Sundays. In London one eats +watercress all the year round, more especially in the months without an +"r," but it does not come from the Cotswolds.</p> + +<p>There is not much covert shooting on these hills. The country is so open +and the coverts so small and deficient in underwood that pheasant +preserving on a large scale is not practicable; for this reason the +preservation of foxes is the first consideration. At Stowell, Sherborne, +Rendcombe, Barnsley, and Cirencester, as well as on a few other large +estates, a large head of game is reared; while foxes are plentiful too. +But the owners and occupiers of most of the manors are content to rely +on nature to supply them with game in due season.</p> + +<p>However, for those gunners who, like the writer, are both unskilful and +unambitious, the shooting obtained on the Cotswold Hills is very +enjoyable. In September from ten to twenty brace of partridges are to be +picked up, together with what hares a man cares to shoot, and a few +rabbits. Then landrails or corncrakes, and last, but not least, an +occasional quail, are usually included in the bag. Quails are rather +partial to this district; during the first fortnight of September a few +are generally shot on the manor we frequent. On August 17th this year we +found a nest containing five young quails about half-grown.</p> + +<p>But the real pleasure connected with this kind of sport lies in the +sense of wildness. The air is almost as good a tonic as that of the +Scotch moors, whilst there is the additional satisfaction of being at +home in September instead of flying away to the North, and having to put +up with all the discomfort of a long railway journey each way.</p> + +<p>There is no time of year one would sooner spend at home on Cotswold than +the month of September. Nature is then at her best: the cold, bleak +hills are clothed with the warmth of golden stubble; the autumnal haze +now softens the landscape with those lights and shades which add so much +of loveliness and sense of mystery to a hill country; the rich aftermath +is full of animal life; birds of all descriptions are less wild and more +easily observed than is the case later on, when the pastures and downs +have been thinned by frost and there is no shelter left. Now you may see +the kestrels hovering in mid air, and the great sluggish heron wending +his ethereal way to the upper waters of the trout stream. You watch him +till he drops suddenly from the heavens, to alight in the little valley +which lies a short mile away, invisible amid the far-stretching +tablelands. Occasionally, too, a marsh-harrier may be met with, but this +is a <i>rara avis</i> even in these outlandish parts. Peregrine falcons are +uncommon too, though one may yet see a pair of them now and then if one +keeps a sharp look-out at all times and seasons. There are wimbrels and +curlews that have been shot here during recent years stuffed and hung up +in glass cases in old Mr. Peregrine's house.</p> + +<p>Of other birds which are becoming scarcer year by year in England, the +kingfishers are not uncommon in these parts; you will often see the +brilliant little fellow dart past you as you walk by the stream in +summer. Water-ousels or dippers are scarce; we have seen but one +specimen in the last three years.</p> + +<p>In September, as you walk over the fields, the Cotswolds are seen at +their best. Somehow or other a country never looks so well from the +roads as it appears when you are in the fields. The man who prefers the +high road had better not live in the Cotswolds; for these roads, mended +as they are with limestone in the more remote parts of the district, +become terribly sticky in winter, while the grass fields and stubbles +are generally as dry as a bone. There is but a small percentage of clay +in the soil, but a good deal of lime, and five inches down is the hard +rock; therefore this light, stony soil never holds the rain, but allows +it to percolate rapidly through, even as a sieve. When the sun is hot +after a frost the ploughs "carry" certainly, but this is because they +dry so quickly; they seldom remain thoroughly wet for any length of +time. Consequently, in hunting, the feet of hounds, horses, and even of +foxes pick up the sticky, arable soil, instead of splashing through it, +and scent is spoiled thereby. Doubtless the lime in the soil adds to its +stickiness. It is amusing to watch a fox "break" covert and make his way +over a plough which "carries": he travels very badly; we have seen him +fail to jump a sheep hurdle at the first attempt. Fortunately for the +fox, the hounds are also handicapped by these conditions, and scent is +wretched. This might appear at first sight to show that the scent of +foxes is chiefly given off from their feet. We can recall few occasions +on which a plough that "carried" held a "burning scent." But little +though we know of the mysteries of "scent," it is generally agreed that +the "steaming trail" emanates chiefly from the body and breath of a fox, +even though on certain days there is no evidence of any scent, save on +the ground. It is probable, however, that on light ploughlands +evaporation is so great when the sun is shining (unless the wind is +sufficiently cold to counteract the heat of the sun and prevent rapid +evaporation) that all scent from the body and breath of the fox, save +that which happens to cling to the ground, is borne upwards and lost in +the upper air. <i>The hounds therefore have to fall back on whatever scent +may remain clinging to the soil</i>, those occasions of course excepted +when the great density or gravity of the air prevents scent from rising +and dispersing, and causes it to hang <i>breast high</i>.</p> + +<p>After some years of careful experiment with the hygrometer and +barometer, and after an intricate investigation of scent (that +mysterious matter which is given off from the skin and breath of foxes), +I have come to the conclusion that if we could get an Isaac Newton to +"whip in" to a Tom Firr for about a twelvemonth, we might very likely +come to know all about it. In standing on ground whereon "angels fear to +tread," I am fully aware that I speak as a fool. But let me state that +it is on the barometer that I now place my somewhat limited reliance on +a hunting morning, and not on the hygrometer, on the weight of the +column of air on a given point of the surface of the earth, rather than +on the state of the evaporations, the relative humidity, and the dew +point. And I have noticed that the best scenting days have been those +when the thermometer has given readings from 38º up to 46º Fahrenheit in +the shade. A high and steady glass, an almost imperceptible east or +north-east wind, with the ground soaked with moisture and no frost +during the previous night, is the only combination of conditions under +which scent on the grass is a moral certainty. On the other hand, a low +and unsteady glass, a warm, gusty south or west wind, with a hot sun, +following a frost, or a day with cold showers, with bright, sunny +intervals, or during the afternoon (but not always the morning) before a +storm of wind or rain,--such are the conditions which make so many of +our attempts to hunt the fox by scent a miserable farce; yet even on +these days hounds may run during some part of the day. When the +barometer is thoroughly unsettled there may be light local currents, +perfectly imperceptible to man, yet felt by cows and sheep--currents +created like winds by a variation of temperature in different parts of +any given field, and which will scatter the scent and spoil the sport. +These currents, rapid evaporation combined with a lack of steady +atmospheric pressure, and that sticky state of soil which on ploughed +land invariably follows a frost, and in a lesser degree affects grass, +causing a fox to take his pad scent on with him (all the particles that +do not cling to the ground having been diffused and lost in the +air),--these are the curses of modern hunting fields and the chief +causes of bad scenting days.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-106-124.jpg"> +<img src="fp-106-124.jpg" width = "35%" alt="OXEN PLOUGHING."> +</a><br><b>"OXEN PLOUGHING."</b> +</P> + +<p>After September is past the shooting man will not get very much sport on +the Cotswolds, as far as the partridges are concerned, for they are not +numerous enough to be worth driving; they soon become as wild as they +can possibly be. On Hatherop and some other estates good partridge +driving is enjoyed. The farmers are very fond of shooting them under a +"kite,"--this, as it is hardly necessary to explain, is an artificial +representation of the hawk. It is flown high up in the air at some +distance ahead of the guns. The birds, seeing what they take to be a +very large and savage-looking hawk hovering above them, ready to pounce +down at a moment's notice, become frightened, and lie crouching in the +hedges and turnips, until they almost have to be kicked up by the +sportsmen. But when once they do get up they fly straight away, nor do +they come back for a long time. This mode of shooting is all very well +once in a way, but if indulged in habitually it scares the birds, +driving them on to other manors. Not having seen it successfully carried +out, we are not fond of the method, but there are good sportsmen in +these parts who advocate it. Some maintain that this cannot be called a +really sportsmanlike way of shooting partridges, though there is +doubtless room for two opinions on the question.</p> + +<p>Later on in the autumn, when November frosts begin to attract snipes to +the withybeds and water meadows by the Coln, the unambitious gunner may +often enjoy the charm of a small and select mixed bag.</p> + +<p>Two of us went out for an hour last winter before breakfast, having been +informed that a woodcock was lying in an ash copse by the river. We got +the woodcock--a somewhat <i>rara avis</i> in small, isolated coverts on the +hills; in addition, the bag contained one snipe, one wild duck, two +pheasants, six rabbits, a pigeon, a heron, and some moorhens. Now this +was very good sport, because it was totally unexpected. The majority of +shooting people might not think much of so small a bag, but it must be +remembered that the charm of this kind of shooting is its wildness. It +seems rather hard to kill herons, but anybody who has tried to preserve +trout will agree that herons are the greatest enemies with which the +trout-fisher has to contend. One heron will clear a shallow stream in a +very short time. When the floods are out, trout fall a ready prey to +these rapacious birds. The kingfishers likewise have a very good time. +The fish will gorge themselves with worms picked up on the inundated +meadows, until they are so full that the worms actually begin falling +out of their mouths. I picked several up last autumn which had been +stabbed, I suppose, by a heron. They were unharmed, save for a small +round hole, as if made by a bullet; there was no other mark on them. But +when taken up, the worms came out of their mouths by the score! +Kingfishers are carefully preserved, in spite of their destructiveness, +but one must draw the line at herons.</p> + +<p>Waiting for wild duck coming into the "spring" on a frosty night is +cold work, but very good fun. They breed here in fair numbers, and fly +away in August. But when the ground becomes "scrumpety," as the natives +say, with the first severe frost, back they come from the frozen meres +to their old home; and if one can keep out of sight (and this is no easy +matter in December) many a shot can be obtained in the withybeds by the +river. Teal and widgeon may be shot occasionally in the same manner.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, when you are upon the hills with Tom Peregrine, the keeper, +trying to pick up a brace or two of partridges for the house, he will +suddenly say, "<i>Quad down!</i>" then, throwing himself on to his hands and +knees in breathless anxiety, he will begin whistling for "all he knows." +You imitate him to the best of your ability, and soon, if you are lucky, +an enormous flock of golden plover flash over you. Four barrels are +fired almost instantaneously, and the deadly "twelve-bore" of your +companion is seldom fired in vain.</p> + +<p>Green plover, or lapwings, are numerous enough on the Cotswolds. They +are wonderfully difficult to circumvent, nevertheless. You crouch down +under a wall, while your men go ever so far round to drive them to you; +but it is the rarest thing in the world to bag one. Their eggs are very +difficult to find in the breeding season. It is the male bird that, like +a terrified and anxious mother, flies round and round you with piteous +cries; the female bird, when disturbed, flies straight away.</p> + +<p>Pigeon-shooting with decoys is a very favourite amusement among the +Cotswold farmers. They manage to bag an enormous quantity in a hard +winter, sometimes getting over a hundred in a day. Wood-pigeons come in +thousands to the stubble fields when the beech nuts have come to an end. +Large flocks of them annually migrate to England from Northern Europe. +Crouching in a hedge or under a wall, you may enjoy as pretty a day's +sport as ever fell to the lot of mortal man. A few dead birds are placed +on the stubble to attract the flocks, and a grand variety of flying +shots may be obtained as the wood-pigeons fly over. The year 1897 was +remarkable for this shooting. Between November 20th and 30th two of our +farmers killed close on a thousand of these birds. Some of them +doubtless were potted on the ground. Tom Peregrine remarked that "he +never saw such a sight of dead pigeons. The cheese-room up at the farm +was full of them." The vast flocks that blacken the skies for a few +short weeks in November disappear as suddenly as they come. After +November they are no more seen.</p> + +<p>There would be many more partridges were it not for the rooks and +magpies. Hedges wherein the birds can hide their nests are few and far +between in the wall country, so the keen-eyed rook spies out many a nest +in the spring of the year. For this reason and because they eat the +corn, the farmers hate them. We cannot share their feelings. We should +be sorry to see the old rookery in the garden diminished in the +slightest degree. Jays and magpies are terribly numerous; they are rare +egg-stealers. We have seen as many as twelve of the latter lately +flying all together. Magpies are difficult to get at; they will sit +perched upon the topmost twigs of the trees, but will invariably fly +away before you get within shot.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to rear a few pheasants annually. There is no bird +which gives more delight, even if fairly tame; their beautiful colouring +and cheerful crowing are always pleasant in the garden and woods around +your house. If you feed them every day, they will come regularly up to +the very door; and with them come the swans, waddling up from the water, +looking very much out of their element. Sometimes, too, a moorhen will +join the party; whilst two little wild ducks, the sole survivors of a +brood of sixteen, which were attacked and killed by a stoat, will take +food right out of the mouths of the good-natured old swans. Peacocks I +would not care to have round the house; but there is nothing more in +touch with English country life than the glorious red, green, and brown +colouring of a "fine" cock pheasant strutting proudly across the lawn on +his way to his roosting-place in the firs, contrasting as he does with +the majestic form and snowy plumage of the stately swans, which glide +about the silent Coln at the bottom of the garden--the incarnation of +grace and symmetry. Truly some of the most common of animals are also +the most beautiful.</p> + +<p>Besides the rooks, there is another bird which the farmers love to wage +incessant war upon. The other day I received the following message +printed on the back of a postcard:--</p> + +<p>"A meeting will be held at the Swan Hotel, Bibury, on Friday, November +13th, at 6.30 p.m., to arrange about starting a <i>Sparrow Club</i> for the +district."</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>"<i>What is a Sparrow Club?</i>" I anxiously enquired the other day of a +labouring man, a particular friend of mine, whom I happened to fall in +with on his way to chapel. He answered that it was a club for killing +sparrows when they get too numerous--paying boys a farthing a head for +every bird they catch, and giving prizes for the greatest number killed. +Boys may often be seen out at night, with long poles and nets attached +to them, catching sparrows in the trees. But my friend tells me that the +way he likes to catch them is to go into a barn at night with a lantern. +"You must hold the lantern under your coat so as to half screen the +light, and the birds will fly at the light and settle on your +shoulders." He tells me you can pick them off your clothes by the dozen. +I have never tried it, certainly, as, personally, I have no quarrel with +the sparrows. I was disappointed that the "Sparrow Club," for which a +great public meeting had to be convened, was not of a more exciting +nature. One was led to believe by the importance of the printed postcard +that some good old English custom was about to be revived.</p> + +<p>A farmer has just brought me in a peregrine falcon that he shot this +morning. He is of course very proud of the achievement. It is useless to +argue with him on the question of preserving birds that are becoming +scarce in England. He considers that a <i>rara avis</i> such as this, which +is "here to-day and gone to-morrow," is a prize which does not often +fall to the lot of the gunner; it must be bagged at all hazards. Nor is +it easy to answer the argument which he seldom fails to put forth, that +if he doesn't shoot it, somebody else will.</p> + +<p>Talking of rare birds, I shall never forget seeing a wild swan come +sailing up the Coln during a very hard frost two years ago. Two of us +were out after wild duck, and it was a grand sight to watch this +magnificent bird winging his way rapidly up stream at a height of about +fifty yards. It is rare indeed to see them in these parts, though the +vicar of Bibury tells me that seven wild swans were once seen on the +Coln near that village; but this was some years ago. On the same +authority I learn that a Solan goose, or gannet, has been known to visit +this stream. Tom Peregrine shot one a few years back; also a puffin, a +bird with a parrot-like beak and of the auk tribe. Wild geese frequently +pass over us, following the course of the stream.</p> + +<p>On a bright, warm day in October, such a day as we usually have a score +or more of in the course of our much-abused English autumn, it is +pleasant to take one's gun and, leaving behind the quiet, peaceful +valley and the old-world houses of the Cotswold hamlet, to ascend the +hill and seek the great, rolling downs, a couple of miles away from any +sign of human habitation. You may get a shot at a partridge or a +wood-pigeon as you go. Hares you might shoot, if you cared to, in every +field. But on the other hand you will be equally well pleased if your +gun is not fired off, for it is peace and quiet that you are really in +search of,--the noise of a shot and the jar of a gun do not suit your +present mood.</p> + +<p>After walking for half an hour you come to a bit of high ground, where +you have often stood before, and, resting your gun against a wall, you +gaze at the view beyond.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Quocunque adspicias, nihil est nisi gramen et aer."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Nothing particularly striking, perhaps, is visible to the eye, yet to my +mind there is a charm about it which the pen is quite unable to +describe. Below is a wide expanse of undulating downland, divided into +fifty-acre fields by means of loose, uncemented walls of grey stone. The +grass is green for the time of year, and scattered about are horses, +cattle, and sheep, contentedly nibbling the short fine turf. In the +midst of mile upon mile of rolling downs stands forth prominently one +field of plough, of the richest brown hue; whilst six miles away a long +belt of tall trees, half hidden by haze, marks the outline of Stowell +Park. Save for one ivy-covered homestead, miles away on the right, +nothing else is in sight.</p> + +<p>It is past five o'clock, and the sun, which has been shining brightly +all day, with that genial warmth which one only fully appreciates as the +winter approaches, is beginning to descend. It is the lights and shades +which play over this wide stretch of open country which makes the +landscape look so beautiful. And when the wreaths of white, woolly +clouds begin to glow round their furthermost edges like coals of fire on +a frosty night, with all the promise of a brilliant sunset, this stretch +of hill and plain wears an aspect which, once seen, you will never +forget. It takes your thoughts away into the great unknown--the +infinite,--that mysterious world which is ever around us, and which +seems nearer when we are looking at a beautiful sunset or a beautiful +view than at any other time in this life, save, for ought we know, +during the last few moments of our earthly existence. And although no +human habitation is anywhere to be seen, the air is full of the spirits +of bygone generations and of bygone <i>races</i> of men. There are traces of +humanity in all directions, wherever your eye may gaze, but they are the +traces of a forgotten people.</p> + +<p>Yonder semicircular ridge was once the rampart of an ancient British +town; though, save in the tangled copse hard by, where the plough has +never been at work, it is fast disappearing. Many a stone lying about +the camp bears unmistakable marks of fire.</p> + +<p>A glance of the eye westwards, and your thoughts are carried back to the +Roman invasion; for scarce five miles off lies the ancient Roman villa +of Chedworth. Then, again, tradition has it that a mile away from this +spot, and close to the old manor house, skirmishes were fought in later +days, at the time the Civil Wars were raging, when many a chivalrous +cavalier and many a stern, unbending Puritan lay dead on yonder field, +or, maybe, was carried into the old house to linger and to die in the +very room in which you slept last night. Everywhere in England are +battlefields; but they are, in the words of De Quincey, "battlefields +that nature has long ago reconciled to herself with the sweet oblivion +of flowers."</p> + +<p>This very mound on which you are standing, is it not the burying-place +of a race which dwelt on the Cotswolds full three thousand years ago? +And were not human remains found here a few years back, when this, in +common with many other barrows hard by, was opened, and an underground +chamber discovered therein--the earthly resting-place of the bones of +the unknown dead?</p> + +<p>"The silence of deep eternities, of worlds from beyond the morning +stars--does it not speak to thee? The unborn ages,--the old graves, with +their long-mouldering dust,--the very tears that wetted it, now all +dry,--do not these speak to thee what ear hath not heard?"</p> + +<blockquote> +"Solemn before us<br> + Veiled the dark Portal--<br> + Goal of all mortal.<br> + Stars silent rest o'er us,<br> + Graves under us silent."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Well has Carlyle translated the great German poet. And the old barrows +that lie scattered over these wide-stretching downs are not dumb; they +are continually speaking to us of those things "which ear hath not +heard"; and at no time have they more to tell than at the close of a +mild, peaceful day in October, when all else, save for the faint +tinkling of the distant sheep-bells, is silent as death, and the sun, +ere once more disappearing, is shedding a solemn glow over the deserted, +mysterious uplands of the Cotswold Hills.</p> + +<p>But the partridges are "calling" all around, and a covey actually +passes over your head. Your sporting instincts begin to revive, and you +take up your gun and proceed to stalk that covey, stealing round under a +wall. Then you suddenly remember that the V.W.H. hounds meet in your +village to-morrow, and you begin wondering whether they will once again +find the great dog fox that several times last season led you over the +wide, open country that now lies mapped out before you. <i>Your</i> fox, too, +one of a litter you came upon two springs ago, in a little spinney not +half a mile from where you are standing now, stub-bred and of the +greyhound stamp, fleet of foot and lithe of limb. Each time the hounds +had come to draw he was at home in the covert on the brow of the hill +which shelters the old manor house you inhabit from the cold blast of +winter. Here he loved to dwell, and hunt moorhens and dabchicks and +water-rats all night long by the banks of silvery Coln. But on three +occasions within six weeks, no sooner did the hounds enter the wood than +a shrill scream proclaimed him away on the far side. You were mounted on +a good horse, and were away as soon as the pack. And then for thirty +minutes the "old customer" cantered away over those broad pastures, +hounds and horses tearing after him on a breast-high scent, but never +gaining an inch of ground. Two leagues were quickly traversed ere yonder +distant belt of trees was reached, where the dry leaves lay rotting on +the ground, and there was not an atom of scent. So he saved his life, +and the tired, mud-bespattered sportsmen vow that there never was such +a run seen before, so thrilling is the ecstasy of "pace" and so +enchanting the stride of a well-bred horse.</p> + +<p>'Tis a wild, deserted tract of country that stretches from Cirencester +right away to the north of Warwickshire. For fifty miles you might +gallop on across those undulating fields, and meet no human being on +your way. We have ridden forty miles on end along the Fosseway, and, +save in the curious half-forsaken old towns of Moreton-in-the-Marsh and +Stow-on-the-Wold, we scarcely met a soul on the journey. What a +marvellous work was that old Roman Fosseway! Raised high above the level +of the adjoining fields, it runs literally "as straight as an arrow" +through the heart of the grassy Midlands. And what a rare hunting +country it passes through! We saw but one short piece of barbed wire in +our journey of over forty miles. Now that farming is no longer +remunerative, the whole country seems to be given up to hunting. Depend +upon it, it is this sport alone that circulates money through this +deserted land.</p> + +<p>Time was when the uplands of Gloucestershire were almost entirely under +the plough, when good scenting days seldom gladdened the heart of the +hunting man, and when, in a ride over the Cotswold tableland, the +excitement of a fast gallop on grass was an impossibility. Those were +the days when land at thirty shillings an acre was eagerly sought after +and the wheat crop amply repaid those who cultivated it. Now, alas! +farms are to be had for the asking, rent free; but nobody will take +them, and the country is rapidly going back to its original +uncultivated state. The farmer, nevertheless, does not lose heart.</p> + +<p>To lay down such light land into permanent pasture does not pay; it is +therefore left to its own devices, with the result that in a short time +weeds and moss and rough grasses spring up--less unprofitable than +ploughed fields, and almost as favourable for hunting the fox as the +fair pastures of the Vale of Aylesbury. However,</p> + +<blockquote> +"Nihil est ab omni<br> + Parte beatum."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>There are other things to be done in this life besides riding across +country in the wake of the flying pack, glorious and exhilarating though +the pastime be; and the sooner these great wastes of unprolific land are +once more transformed into wheat-growing plough, the better will it be +for all of us.</p> + +<p>So you stroll dreamily homewards, musing on these things, and wondering +whether you will have another glorious gallop to-morrow. You will just +go round by that spinney to see if the earth you gave orders to be +stopped up is properly closed. But stop! What is that lying curled up +under the wall not ten yards off? See, he stirs! he rises lazily and +looks round! 'Tis the very fox! Long and lean and wiry is he, fine drawn +and sleek as a trained racehorse, with a brush nearly two feet long! +Brown as the ploughed field you were looking at just now, save for the +tip of his brush, which is white as snow. He trots off along the wall, +offering the easiest of broadside shots if you were villain enough to +take advantage of it. He does not hurry; he stops and looks round after +a bit, as much as to say, "I trust you." But when you steal cautiously +towards him he once more lollops along. You follow, to see where he goes +to when he has jumped over the high wall into the next field. But he +does not jump over, but <i>on to</i> the wall, and there he sits looking at +you until you are once more nearly up to him; then he disappears the +other side, and you run up and peep over. He is nowhere to be seen! You +look along the wall for a hole into which he could have popped, but in +vain. You stoop down and try to track him by scent and the mark of his +pad, but all to no purpose; and from that day to this you have never +discovered what became of him.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI."></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>A GALLOP OVER THE WALLS.</h3> + +<blockquote> +"Waken, lords and ladies gay,<br> + To the greenwood haste away;<br> + We can show you where he lies,<br> + Fleet of foot and tall of size."<br><br> + + SIR WALTER SCOTT.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The next morning you are up betimes, for the hounds meet at the house at +nine o'clock. You are not sorry on looking out of your window to see +that a thick mist at present envelopes the country. With the ground in +the dry state it is in, this mist, accompanied as it is by a heavy dew, +is your only chance of a scent. How else could they hunt the jackal in +India if it was not for this dew? Thus reflecting, you recall pleasant +recollections of gallops over hard ground with the Bombay hounds, and +comfort yourself with the thought that the ground here to-day cannot be +as hard as that Indian soil. You are soon into your breeches and boots +and down to breakfast. In the dining-room a large party is already +assembled, for there are five men and two ladies turning out from the +house, whilst one or two keen sportsmen have already put in an +appearance from afar.</p> + +<p>The hounds turn up punctual to the appointed time. How beautiful and +majestic they look as they suddenly come into sight amid beech and ash +and walnut, whilst the bright pageant advances leisurely and in order +over the ancient ivy-covered bridge which spans the silent river, where +the morning mist still hangs, and the grass shines white with silvery +dew. In good condition they look, too--a credit to their huntsman, who +evidently has not neglected giving them plenty of exercise on the roads +during the summer. You greet the genial master; then in answer to his +enquiry as to where you would like him to draw, you point to the hanging +wood on the brow of the hill, and tell him that as you heard them +barking there this very morning it is a certain find. No sooner are the +words out of your mouth than a holloa breaks the silence of the early +morn: the gardener has "viewed" a cub within a hundred yards of the +house. Desperately bold are the cubs at this time of year, before they +have been hunted. Their first experience of being "stopped out" for the +night does not seem to have frightened them at all. They have been +kicking up a rare shindy most of the night in the covert close to +the house.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Alas I regardless of their doom,<br> + The little victims play."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>By to-night they will have become sadder and wiser beings. Several +people will be glad of this, the keeper included: for the fowls have +suffered lately; there have also been one or two well-planned and +carefully thought out sallies on the young pheasants--without much +damage, however. Not long ago a bold young cub spent some time in +breaking open the lid of one of the coops, in which were some late +pheasants. He actually forced the wire netting from the roof of the +coop, although it was firmly nailed to the woodwork. But he could not +quite get his head in, for when the keeper arrived on the scene at five +o'clock a.m., there he was, clawing and scratching at the birds. His +efforts met with no success, however, for not a single bird was badly +injured, though some damage might have been done if Master Reynard had +not been interrupted at this critical moment. Young cubs are like +puppies, very mischievous. There are plenty of rabbits about, and they +are the food foxes like best; poultry and pheasants are pursued and +killed out of pure love of mischief.</p> + +<p>We must return to the hounds. Our huntsman wisely determines not to go +to the holloa, for he prefers to let the young entry draw for their +game. Besides which, if this cub has gone away, he is one of the right +sort, and does not require schooling. For as we all know, one of the +objects of cub-hunting is to teach the young foxes that if they don't +leave the covert when the hounds are thrown in, they will get a rare +dusting. So, the hounds having been taken to the "up-wind" end of the +wood, the huntsman begins drawing steadily "down wind." Let them have +every chance now; it will be quite early enough to begin drawing up wind +when the leaf is off and Reynard has got a bit shy. Blood is an +excellent thing for young hounds, nay, for all hounds, early in the +season; but we don't want to chop any cubs before they know where they +are or what it all means.</p> + +<p>And soon the whole valley re-echoes with hound music, as the pack come +crashing towards us through the thick underwood. We get a splendid view +of the proceedings--for the covert is a long, narrow strip of about ten +acres, running in the shape of a bow round the hill immediately above +the place where we are stationed. There is another small wood of about +the same size on the other side of the little valley. For this our fox +makes, the hounds dashing close after him through the brook. Round and +round they go, and it is evident that this cub (unlike several of his +brethren who have taken their departure, viewed by the whole field, but +<i>not</i> holloaed at) does not intend to face the open country. Scent is +good in covert, perhaps because there are at present few of those dry +leaves on the ground that spoil scent after the "fall of the leaf"; the +result is, we kill a cub. This will be a lesson to the rest of the +family when they return to-night and discover the fearful end that +befalls foxes that "hang in covert." Another cub having gone to ground +in a rabbit-hole, the keeper is given injunctions to have this hole, +together with any other large ones he can find, stopped up, after +allowing a day or two to pass, especially making sure, by the use of +terriers and also by the tracks, that he does not stop any cubs in.</p> + +<p>We now leave the home coverts and start away for a withybed about a mile +up the river, where we are told there is a litter. Here, however, we do +not find, though it is the likeliest place in the world for a fox. As +the hounds dash into the withybed a whole string of wild ducks get up, +circle round us, and then fly straight away up stream in the shape of +the letter V--a sight unsurpassed if you happen to be a lover of nature.</p> + +<p>Our next draw is an isolated artificial gorse of about six acres. If we +find here, we must have a gallop, for there is no covert of any size +within a four-mile radius; a fine open country lies all around; walls to +jump and large fields of fifty acres apiece to gallop over. There is +some light plough, but each year the plough gets scarcer, for the +Cotswolds are rapidly being allowed to tumble back into grass or, +rather, into <i>weeds</i>.</p> + +<p>A great proportion of the stone-wall country hereabouts consists of +downs divided into large enclosures; when the walls are low there is no +reason why the pace should not be almost as good as it is in an +unenclosed country. Happily to-day we seem to be in for a quick thing, +for before the whip has had time to get to the end of the covert, hounds +are away, without a sound, and we start off fully two hundred yards +behind them.</p> + +<p>The old fox, for a fiver! But there is no stopping them; so, knowing the +country and the earth he is making for, you make tracks, as hard as +your horse can pelt, in the direction in which the hounds are going, and +very soon they turn to you, and you find yourself almost alongside of +them. They are running "mute," with their noses several inches off the +ground; it almost looks as if they had "got a view" of him. But this is +not the case. Scent is "breast high." Two old hounds that you know +well--Crusty and Governor--are leading, though you are glad that one or +two you do not know (evidently some of this year's entry) are not +far behind.</p> + +<p>The country, which has so far been rather hilly, now opens out into a +flat tableland. You fly on, thankful that you are on a thoroughbred, and +that he is in good condition. It pays well to keep a horse "up" all the +summer in this country, for some of the quickest things of the season +take place in October. Scent is often good at this time of the year, +because the fields are full of keep: there is plenty of rough grass +about. Later on they will be pared down by sheep, and the frost will +make them as bare as a turnpike road. Then again that abomination, a +"carrying" plough, is not so likely to be met with in October; the white +frosts are not severe enough. Later on they are a constant source of +annoyance to a huntsman, and invariably cause a check.</p> + +<p>But your horse, well bred and fit though he be, is doing all he can to +live with the hounds. Fortunately, you know that he is too good to +chance a wall, even when blown. At the pace hounds are going you have +not much time to trot slowly at the walls in the orthodox fashion; you +must take them as they come, high and low alike, at a fair pace, taking +a pull a few strides before your mount takes off. Oh, how exhilarating +is a gallop in this fine Cotswold air in the cool autumnal morning! and +what a splendid view you get of hounds! Here are no tall fences to hide +them from your sight and to tempt a fox to run the hedgerows, no boggy +woodlands where your horse flounders up to his girths in yellow clay, no +ridge and furrow, and no deep ploughed fields.</p> + +<p>What is the charm which belongs so exclusively to a fast and <i>straight</i> +"run" over this wild, uncultivated region? It does not lie in the +successful negotiation of Leicestershire "oxers," Aylesbury "doubles," +or Warwickshire "stake-and-bound" fences, for there need be no obstacle +greater than an occasional four-foot stone wall. Perhaps it lies partly +in the fact that in a run over a level stone-wall country, where the +enclosures are large and the turf sound, given a good fox and a "burning +scent," hounds and horses travel at as great a pace as they attain in +any country in England. Here, moreover, if anywhere, is to be found the +"greatest happiness for the greatest number," the maximum of sport with +the minimum of danger; the fine, free air of the high-lying Cotswold +plains; the good fellowship engendered when all can ride abreast; the +very muteness of the flying pack; the onslaught of a light brigade, or +of "a flying squadron under the Admiral of the Red" sailing away over a +sea of grass towards a region almost untrodden by man; the long sweeping +stride of a well-bred horse; the unceasing twang of the horn to +encourage flagging hounds beaten off by the pace and those which got +left behind at the start; lastly, the <i>glorious uncertainty</i>! Can it +last? Where will it all end? Shall we run "bang into him" in the open, +or will he beat us in yonder cold scenting woodland standing boldly +forth on the skyline miles ahead? All these things add a peculiar +fascination to a fast run over this wild country.</p> + +<p>Sooner or later there is a sudden check, a couple of sharp turns, and +the spell is gone. Hounds may run back ever so well, to the very covert +whence an hour ago they forced him. The pleasure of watching them work +out a scent, growing rapidly colder, may indeed be left to us; but the +glorious possibilities, which lasted as long as a gallant though +invisible "quarry" was leading us <i>straight away</i> from home into +unfamiliar regions, have passed away; the record run, which we thought +had really commenced at last, far, far into the unknown land, into the +country leading to nowhere, is not yet attained,--probably it never will +be, for it existed in the human imagination alone during that thrilling +thirty-minutes' burst, and was beyond the compass of foxes, horses, +and hounds.</p> + +<p>As a set off to this it must be admitted that fast runs do not take +place every day on these hills. Perhaps there will not be more than half +a dozen "clinkers" in a season with a "two-day-a-week" pack. For this +reason, as regards all-round sport, the wall country cannot compare with +a vale: a stranger might hunt there for three weeks in March, and at the +end of that time take himself off in disappointment and disgust, +declaring these fast-flying runs he had heard so much about to be an +invention and a myth, and the wall country only fit for fools and +funkers. For good scenting days in this hill country are few and far +between, and a bad day in the wall district is the poorest fun +imaginable. For this the field have generally themselves to thank, since +they will not give the hounds a chance.</p> + +<p>But there is a burning scent this morning, as there generally is when +the dew is just going off. For twenty-five minutes hounds do not check +once. The earth our fox has been making for is fortunately closed. This +causes a moment's uncertainty among the hounds, but not a check, for +they drive straight onwards, and it is evident that he is making for +some earths five miles away in a neighbouring hunt's territory, which +instinct tells him will be open.</p> + +<p>There they go, old T.K. and J.A., and several ladies, past masters in +the craft of crossing a country with the maximum of elegance and skill +and the minimum of risk to their horses, themselves, or their friends. +Though the hounds are travelling at their greatest possible pace, they +ride alongside them, looking as cool as cucumbers (too cool, I think, +for their own enjoyment; for the more excitable though less experienced +rider probably enjoys himself more). Note how each wall, varying in +height from three to four and a half feet, is taken at a steady pace by +those well-schooled horses; even a five-foot wall, coped with sharp, +jagged stones pointing straight upwards, does not turn them one hair's +breadth from the line. And please note also that each has two hands on +the reins, and no whip hand flung high in the air, or elbows thrust +outwards, you gentlemen who are fond of painting pictures of hunting +scenes for the press!</p> + +<p>A good rider sitting at his ease on horseback,</p> + +<blockquote> +"As if an angel dropped down from the clouds<br> + To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,<br> + And witch the world with noble horsemanship,"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>resembles a skilful musician seated at a piano or an organ. There is the +same kind of communication between the man and the instrument, whereby +the stricken chords respond to the lightest touch of the master, who +guides as with a silken thread the keys that set the trembling strings +in motion. For the rider's keys are curb and snaffle, and his hands, by +means of the bridle, control the sensitive bars of his horse's +mouth--the most harmonious, delicate organ yet discovered on earth, but +too often, alas! thumped and banged on to such an awful extent by +unsympathetic, heavy hands, as to become considerably out of tune, +whereby discord occasionally reigns supreme instead of sweet +melodious harmony.</p> + +<p>Goodness gracious! what's up? Our horse, which has never refused before, +has stopped dead at a wall. We stand up in the stirrups and peep over, +and there below us is a narrow but deep quarry, a veritable death trap +for the unwary sportsman. This is indeed a merciful escape; and how can +we be too thankful that a horse--wise, sagacious animal that he is--has +been endowed with an extraordinary instinct whereby he can <i>smell</i> +danger, even though he cannot see it. Writing of this--one of the +numerous escapes a merciful dispensation of Providence has granted us in +the hunting field--we are reminded that no less than five good men and +true have been killed suddenly with the V.W.H. hounds during the last +eighteen years. The list commences with George Whyte Melville, prince of +hunting men, who broke his neck in a ploughed field in 1878. And it is a +very remarkable fact that Mr. Noel Smith was killed in 1896, on +precisely the same day--viz., the first Thursday of December--as that on +which Whyte Melville lost his life eighteen years before.</p> + +<p>But soon after crossing a road, hounds suddenly check. After casting +themselves beautifully forward right-and left-handed until they have +completed a half circle, they throw up their heads and look round for +the huntsman. By a sort of instinct, the result of previous observation, +the foremost riders anticipated that check, and did not follow hounds +over the road, though one or two later arrivals press forward rather too +eagerly. The huntsman, who is not far off, seeing at a glance that there +is no other cause for checking, as the hounds are in the middle of a +large grass field, immediately decides that the fox has turned sharp +down wind (he has been running up wind all the way), and casts his +hounds left-handed and back towards the lane without much delay.</p> + +<p>"And now," to quote from Mr. Madden's "Diary of Master William Silence," +"may be seen the advantage of a good character honestly won." Crusty is +busy "feathering" down the road, and as he is an absolutely reliable +hound, the rest of the pack are not long in coming back to him, and +soon, cheered by their huntsman, they are in full cry again.</p> + +<p>Our fox has run the road for a quarter of a mile. This manoeuvre has +probably saved his life, for it has given him time to get his breath +back. In addition to this, the instant Reynard turned down wind the +scent changed from a very good one to a most indifferent one. How often +this happens in a run! And it is one of the fox-hunter's chief +consolations that there is scarcely a day throughout the season on which +a run is impossible, if only a fox will set his head resolutely <i>up +wind</i>, just as in a ringing run there is a certain amount of consolation +in the thought that a fox <i>must travel up wind part of the way</i>.</p> + +<p>It is evident that, being beaten, Reynard has given up all idea of going +for the earths three miles away. He is beginning, like all tired foxes, +to twist and turn. There is no scent on the road; the hounds are +therefore laid on in a grass field, and feather across it in an +uncertain sort of way. This gives an opportunity to a sportsman who has +just arrived by the road to proclaim that "as usual they are hunting +hares." However, there is some pretty hunting done by the pack up a +hedgerow and across a ploughed field; but with scent growing less and +less, as is always the case with a tired, twisting fox, we do not get +along very fast. Hares are jumping up in all directions, and a terrible +nuisance they are on this sort of occasion! That hounds will stick to +their fox, twist and turn though he may, in spite of hares, is a fact +that is often proved in this country, when a lucky view has once more +put them on good terms with the hunted fox, at a time when half the +field have been crying "hare." But when a fox's scent has gradually +diminished until it tends to vanishing point, it is useless to attempt +to hunt him. This appears to be the case this morning, for the sun has +scattered the mists, and has been shining the last ten minutes with +tremendous vigour. We are glad when the master decides to give it up, +for we hope to have some more runs with this old fox later on in the +season. Hounds and horses have had enough for the time of year. So we +turn our horses' heads to the cool breeze that is ever present on the +Cotswolds, making the climate there one of the most delightful in the +world in summer and autumn. And as we ride slowly homeward over the +hill, past golden stubble fields, there is much that is picturesque to +be seen on all sides: for some late barley is not yet gathered in; +horses, drawing great yellow waggons, and old-fashioned Cotswold +labourers are busy amongst the sheaves; and there is an air of activity +and animation in the fields that is absent a month or two later. Bleak +and desolate does this country sometimes look in winter, though when the +sun shines it is fair enough. And suddenly, as we ride along, a lovely +valley is seen below: old-world farmhouses and gabled cottages come into +view, nestling amid stately elms and beech trees already touched by +autumn's hand. As we gradually descend the hill, everything looks more +beautiful than ever this morning; for we have had a gallop. For to-day +at least we shall be in a thoroughly good temper. Whatever the morrow +may bring forth, everything will appear to-day in the best possible +light. Such an excellent tonic is a fast gallop over the walls for +banishing dull care away.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII."></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>A COTSWOLD TROUT STREAM.</h3> + +<p>"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: Doubtless +God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did; and so, +if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent +recreation than angling.'"--<i>The Compleat Angler</i>.</p> + +<p>Very few trout we have caught this season ('98) are pink-fleshed when +cooked. Last year there were a good number. The reason probably is that +they have not been feeding on the fresh-water shrimps or crustaceans, +owing to the abundance of olive duns and other flies that have been on +the water. Last winter, being so mild, was very favourable for the +hatching out of fly in the spring. A hard winter doubtless commits sad +havoc among the caddis and larvae at the bottom of the river; the +trout, not being able to get much fly, are then compelled to fall back +on the crustaceans. The food in these limestone rivers is so plentiful +that the fish are able to pick and choose from a very varied bill of +fare. This is the reason they are so difficult to catch. One is not able +to increase the stock of trout to any great extent, thereby making them +easier to catch, because the fish one introduces into the water are apt +to crowd together in one or two places, with the result that they are +far too plentiful in the shallows, where there is little food, and too +scarce in the deeper water. Of the Loch Leven trout, turned in two years +ago as yearlings, more than two-thirds inhabit the quick-running, +gravelly reaches; in consequence, they have grown very little. The few +that have stayed in the deeper water have done splendidly; they are now +about three-quarters of a pound in weight. No fish, not even sea trout, +fight so well as these bright, silvery "Loch Levens." They have cost us +no end of casts and flies already this season,--not yet a month old. +Experience proves, however, that ordinary <i>salmo fario</i>, or common brook +trout, are the best for turning down; for the Loch Leven trout require +deep water to grow to any size.</p> + +<p>When a boy, I made a strange recovery of an eel that I had hooked and +lost three weeks before. I was fishing with worms in a large deep hole +in Surrey. My hook was a salmon fly with the feathers clipped off. I +hooked what I believed to be an eel, but he broke the line through +getting it entangled in a stick on the bottom. Three weeks afterwards, +when fishing in the same fashion and in the same place, the line got +fixed up on the bottom. I pulled hard and a stick came away. On that +stick, strange to say, was entangled my old gut casting-line, and at the +end of the line was an eel of two pounds' weight! On cutting him open, +there, sure enough, was the identical clipped salmon fly; it had been +inside that eel for three weeks without hurting him. This sounds like a +regular angler's yarn, and nobody need believe it unless he likes; +nevertheless, it is perfectly true. I had got "fixed up" in the same +stick that had broken my line on the previous occasion.</p> + +<p>That fish have very little sense of feeling is proved time after time. +There is nothing unusual in catching a jack with several old hooks in +his mouth. With trout, however, the occurrence is more rare. Last season +my brother lost a fly and two yards of gut through a big trout breaking +his tackle, but two minutes afterwards he caught the fish and recovered +his fly and his tackle. We constantly catch fish during the may-fly time +with broken tackle in their mouths.</p> + +<p>Who does not recollect the rapturous excitement caused by the first fish +caught in early youth? My first capture will ever remain firmly +impressed on the tablet of the brain, for it was a red herring--"a +common or garden," prime, thoroughly salted "red herring"! It came about +in this way. At the age of nine I was taken by my father on a yachting +expedition round the lovely islands of the west coast of Scotland. We +were at anchor the first evening of the voyage in one of the beautiful +harbours of the Hebrides, and, noticing the sailors fishing over the +side of the boat, I begged to be allowed to hold the line. Somehow or +other they managed to get a "red herring" on to the hook when my +attention was diverted; so that when I hauled up a fish that in the +darkness looked fairly silvery my excitement knew no bounds. After the +sailors had taken it off the hook, and given it a knock on the head, I +rushed down with it into the cabin, where my father and three others +were dining. Throwing my fish down on to the table, I delightedly +exclaimed, "Look what I have caught, father; isn't it a lovely fish?" I +could not understand the roars of laughter which followed, as one of the +party, with a horrified glance at my capture, shouted, "Take it away, +take it away!" <i>Non redolet sed olet</i>. Oddly enough, although after this +I caught any amount of real live fish, I never realised until months +afterwards how miserably I had been taken in by the boat's crew on that +eventful night.</p> + +<p>Not long afterwards, whilst fishing with a worm just below the falls at +Macomber, in the Highlands, I made what was for a small boy a remarkable +catch of sea trout. I forget the exact number, but I know I had to take +them back in sacks. They were "running" at the time, and it was very +pretty to see them continually jumping up the seven-foot ladder out of +the Spean into the Lochy. Underneath this ladder, where the water boiled +and seethed in a thousand eddies, hundreds of trout lay ready to jump up +the fall. Into this foaming torrent I threw my heavily leaded bait. No +sooner was the worm in the water than it was seized by a fine sea trout. +Some of them were nearly two pounds; and although I had a strong +casting-line, they were often most difficult to land, for a series of +small cataracts dashed down amongst huge rocks and slippery boulders, +until, a hundred feet below, the calm, deep Macomber pool was reached. +As the fish, when hooked, would often dash down this foaming torrent +into the pool below, they gave a tremendous amount of play before they +were landed. There was an element of danger about it, too, as a false +step might have led to ugly complications amongst the rocks, over which +the water came pouring down at the rate of ten miles an hour. A boy of +twelve years old, as I was then, would not have stood a chance in that +roaring torrent. A terrible accident happened here a few years +afterwards. A party went from the house, where I always stayed, to fish +at Macomber Falls. There were four ladies and two men. Whilst they were +sitting eating their luncheon at this romantic spot, an argument arose +as to whether a man falling into the seething pool below the fall would +be drowned or not. The water was only about two feet deep; but the place +was a miniature whirlpool, and, once started down the pent-in torrent, a +man would be dashed along the rocky bed and carried far out into the +deep Macomber pool beyond. A gentleman from Lincolnshire argued that in +would be impossible for any one to be drowned in such shallow water. +This was at lunch. Little did he imagine that within half an hour his +theory would be put to the test. But so it was; for whilst he was +standing on the rocks fishing, with a large overcoat on, he slipped and +fell in. His fishing-line became entangled round his legs, and he was +borne away at the mercy of the current. Unfortunately only ladies were +present, his friend having gone down stream. Twice he clutched hold of +the rocky bank opposite them, but it was too slippery, and his hold gave +way. A man jumping across the chasm might possibly have saved him by +risking his own life, for it was only fourteen feet wide; but it would +have been madness for any of the ladies to have attempted it. So the +poor fellow was drowned in two feet of water, before their eyes, and in +spite of their brave endeavours to save him. He must have been stunned +by repeated blows from the rocks, or else I think he would have baffled +successfully with the torrent. The overcoat must have hampered him most +dreadfully. It was a terrible affair, reminding one of the death of +"young Romilly" in the Wharfe, of which Wordsworth tells in that +beautiful poem, the "Force of Prayer." Bolton Abbey, as everybody knows, +was built hard by, on the river bank, by the sorrowful mother, in honour +of her boy.</p> + +<blockquote> +"That stately priory was reared;<br> + And Wharf, as he moved along<br> + To matins, join'd a mournful voice,<br> + Nor failed at evensong."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>How many a beautiful spot in the British Isles has been endowed with a +romance that will never entirely die away owing to some catastrophe of +this kind! Macomber Falls are very beautiful indeed, but one cannot pass +the place now without a shudder and a sigh.</p> + +<p>It has been said that "the test of a river is its power to drown a +man." There is doubtless a peculiar grandeur about the roaring torrent; +but to me there is a still greater charm in the gentle flow of a south +country trout stream, such as abound in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and in the +Cotswolds. I do not think the Coln is capable of drowning a man, though +one of the Peregrine family told me the other day that the only two men +who ever bathed in our stream died soon afterwards from the shock of the +intensely cold water! But then, it must be remembered that the old +prejudice against "cold water" still lingers amongst the country folk of +Gloucestershire; so that this story must always be taken <i>cum +grano salis</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-140-158.jpg"> +<img src="fp-140-158.jpg" width = "35%" alt="THE COLN NEAR BIBURY."> +</a><br><b>"THE COLN NEAR BIBURY."</b> +</P> + +<p>There are few trout streams to our mind more delightful from the +angler's point of view than the Gloucestershire Coln. Rising a few miles +from Cheltenham, it runs into the Thames near Lechlade, and affords some +fifteen miles or more of excellent fishing. The scenery is of that quiet +and homely type that belongs so exclusively to the chalk and limestone +streams of the south of England.</p> + +<p>From its source to the point at which it joins the Isis, the Coln flows +continuously through a series of parks and small well-wooded demesnes, +varied with picturesque Cotswold villages and rich water meadows. It +swells out into fishable proportions just above Lord Eldon's Stowell +property, steals gently past his beautiful woods at Chedworth and the +Roman villa discovered a few years ago, then onward through the quaint +old-world villages of Fossbridge to Winson and Coln-St-Dennis. Though +not a hundred miles from London, this part of Gloucestershire is one of +the most primitive and old-fashioned districts in England. Until the new +railway between Andover and Cheltenham was opened, four years ago, with +a small station at Fosscross, there were many inhabitants of these +old-world villages who had never seen a train or a railway. Only the +other day, on asking a good lady, the wife of a farmer, whether she had +ever been in London, I received the reply, "No, but I've been to +Cheltenham." This in a tone of voice that meant me to understand that +going to Cheltenham, a distance of about sixteen miles, was quite as +important an episode in her life as a visit to London would have been.</p> + +<p>On leaving Winson the Coln widens out considerably, and for the next two +miles becomes the boundary between Mr. Wykeham-Musgrave's property of +Barnsley and the manor of Ablington. It flows through the picturesque +hamlet of Ablington, within a hundred yards of the old Elizabethan manor +house, over an artificial fall in the garden, and passes onward on its +secluded way through lovely woodland scenery, until it reaches the +village of Bibury; here it runs for nearly half a mile parallel with the +main street of the village, and then enters the grounds of Bibury Court. +I know no prettier village in England than Bibury, and no snugger +hostelry than the Swan. The landlady of this inn has a nice little +stretch of water for the use of those who find their way to Bibury; and +a pleasanter place wherein to spend a few quiet days could not be found. +The garden and old court house of Bibury are sweetly pretty, the house, +like Ablington, being three hundred years old; the stream passes within +a few yards of it, over another waterfall of about ten feet, and soon +reaches Williamstrip. Here, again, the scenery is typical of rural +England in its most pleasing form; and the village of Coln-St.-Aldwyns +is scarcely less fascinating than Bibury.</p> + +<p>After leaving the stately pile of Hatherop Castle and Williamstrip Park +on the left, the Coln flows silently onwards through the delightful +demesne of Fairford Park. Here the stream has been broadened out into a +lake of some depth and size, and holds some very large fish. Another +mile and Fairford town is reached, another good specimen of the Cotswold +village--for it is a large village rather than a town--with its lovely +church, famous for its windows, its gabled cottages, and comfortable +Bull Inn. There are several miles of fishing at the Bull, as many an +Oxonian has discovered in times gone by, and we trust will again.</p> + +<p>From what we have said, it will easily be gathered that this stream is +unsurpassed for scenery of that quiet, homely type that Kingsley +eulogises so enthusiastically in his "Chalk Stream Studies," and I am +inclined to agree with him in his preference for it over the grander +surroundings of mountain streams:</p> + +<p>"Let the Londoner have his six weeks every year among crag and heather, +and return with lungs expanded and muscles braced to his nine months' +prison. The countryman, who needs no such change of air and scene, will +prefer more homelike, though more homely, pleasures. Dearer to him than +wild cataracts or Alpine glens are the still hidden streams which Bewick +has immortalised in his vignettes and Creswick in his pictures. The long +grassy shallow, paved with yellow gravel, where he wades up between low +walls of fern-fringed rock, beneath nut and oak and alder, to the low +bar over which the stream comes swirling and dimpling, as the +water-ouzel flits piping before him, and the murmur of the ringdove +comes soft and sleepy through the wood,--there, as he wades, he sees a +hundred sights and hears a hundred tones which are hidden from the +traveller on the dusty highway above."</p> + +<p>But <i>chacun à son goût</i>! Let us now see what sort of sport may be had in +the Coln. To begin with, it must be described as a "may-fly" stream. +This means, of course, that there is a tremendous rise of fly early in +June, with the inevitable slack time before and after the may-fly time.</p> + +<p>But there is much pleasant angling to be had at other times. The season +begins at the end of March, when a few small fish are rising, and may be +caught with the March brown or the blue and olive duns. Few big fish are +in condition until May, but much fun can be had with the smaller ones +all through April. The half-pounders fight splendidly, and give one the +idea, on being hooked, of pulling three times their real weight. The +April fishing, at all events after the middle of the month, is very +delightful in this river. One does not actually kill many fish, for a +large number are caught and returned.</p> + +<p>In May, when the larger fish begin to take up their places for the +summer, one may expect good sport. This season, however, has been very +disappointing; and, judging by the way the fish were feeding on the +bottom for the first fortnight of the month, one is led to expect an +early rise of the may-fly. Until the "fly is up," the April flies, +especially the olive dun, are all that are necessary. For a couple of +weeks before the "fly-fisher's carnival" sport is always uncertain.</p> + +<p>If the wind is in a good quarter, sport may be had; but should it be +east, the trout will not leave the caddis, with which the bed of the +river is simply alive at this time. Of late years good sport has been +obtained at the latter end of May with small flies. The may-fly +generally comes up on the higher reaches about the last week in May, or +about June 1st, though at Fairford, lower down, it is a week earlier. A +good season means a steady rise of fly, lasting for nearly three weeks, +but with no great amount of fly on any one day. A bad may-fly season +means, as a rule, a regular "glut" of fly for three or four days, so +that the fish are stuffed full almost to bursting point, and will not +look at the natural fly afterwards, much less at your neatly "cocked" +artificial one.</p> + +<p>Large bags can, of course, be made on certain days in the may-fly +season; but I do not know of any better than one hundred and six fish in +three days, averaging one pound apiece.</p> + +<p>Sport, however, is not estimated by the number of fish taken, and there +is no better day's fun for the real fisherman than killing four or five +brace of good fish when the trout are beginning to get tired of the fly, +but are still to be caught by working hard for them. The "alder" will +often do great execution at this time, and a small blue dun is sometimes +very killing in the morning or evening.</p> + +<p>After the "green-drake" has lived his short life and disappeared, there +is a lull in the fishing, and the sportsman may with advantage take +himself off to London to see the Oxford and Cambridge cricket match. All +through July and August, when the water gets low and clear, the best and +largest fish may be taken from an hour before sunset up to eleven +o'clock at night by the red palmer. Although it savours somewhat of +poaching, I confess to a weakness for evening and night fishing. The +cool water meadows, the setting sun, with its golden glow on the water, +add a peculiar charm to fishing at this time of day in the hot summer +months. And then--the splash of your fish as you hook him! How magnified +is the sound in the dim twilight, when you cannot see, but can only hear +and feel your quarry! And what satisfaction to know that that great +"logger-headed" two-pounder, that was devouring goodness knows how many +yearlings and fry daily, is safe out of the water and in your basket!</p> + +<p>On rainy days in these months good sport may be had with the wet fly; +and in September a yellow dun, or a fly that imitates the wasp, will +kill, if only you can keep out of sight, and place a well-dried fly +right on the fish's nose.</p> + +<p>The dry fly and up stream is of course the orthodox method of fishing in +this as in other south-country chalk or limestone streams. No flogging +the water indiscriminately all the way up, but marking your fish down, +and stalking him, is the real game. For those who fish "wet" sport is +not so good as it used to be, owing to the "schoolmaster being abroad" +amongst trout as well as amongst men; but on certain windy days this +method is the only one possible. There is a good deal of prejudice +against the "chuck-and-chance-it" style among the advocates of the +dry-fly method of fishing. That a man who fishes with a floating fly +should be set down as a better sportsman than one who allows his fly to +sink is, to my thinking, a narrow-minded argument, and one, moreover, +that is not borne out by facts. True, in some clear chalk streams the +fish can only be killed with the dry fly; and in such cases it is +unsportsmanlike to thrash the water--in the first place, because there +is no chance of catching fish, and in the second, in the interest of +other anglers, because it is likely to make the fish shy. And therefore +it is a somewhat selfish method of fishing.</p> + +<p>But let those accomplished exponents of the art of fishing who are too +fond of applying the epithet "poacher" to all those who do not fish in +their own particular style remember that there are but few streams in +England sluggish enough for dry-fly fishing; consequently many +first-rate fishermen have never acquired the art. The dry-fly angler has +no more right to consider himself superior as a sportsman to the +advocate of the old-fashioned method than the county cricketer has to +consider himself superior to the village player. In both cases time and +practice have done their work; but the best fishermen and the most +practised exponents of the game of cricket are very often inferior to +their less distinguished brethren as <i>sportsmen</i>. At the same time, were +I asked which of all our English sports requires the greatest amount of +perseverance, the supremest delicacy of hand, the most assiduous +practice, and the most perfect control of temper, in order that +excellence may be attained, I would unhesitatingly answer, "Dry-fly +fishing on a real chalk stream"; and I would sooner have one successful +day under such conditions than catch fifty trout by flogging a +Scotch burn.</p> + +<p>In the Coln the fish run largest at Fairford, where the water has been +deepened and broadened; and there three-pounders are not uncommon. Then +at Hatherop and Williamstrip there are some big fish. Higher up the +trout run up to two and a half pounds; and the average size of fish +killed after May 1st is, roughly speaking, one pound. The higher reaches +are very much easier to fish, for the following reason: at Bibury, and +at intervals of about half a mile all the way down, the river is fed by +copious springs of transparent water; the lower down you go, and the +more springs that fall into the river, the more glassy does it become. +The upper reaches of this river may be described as easy fishing. The +water, when in good trim, is of a whey colour, though after June it +becomes low and very clear. The flies I have mentioned are the only ones +really necessary, and if the fish will not take them they will probably +take nothing. They are, to sum up:</p> + +<blockquote> +(1) March Brown.<br> +(2) Olive Dun.<br> +(3) Blue Dun.<br> +(4) May-fly.<br> +(5) Alder.<br> +(6) Palmer.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>"Wykeham's Fancy" and the "Grey Quill Gnat" are the only other flies +that need be mentioned. The former has a great reputation on the river, +but we ourselves have used it but little.</p> + +<p>The food on the Coln is most abundant, and to this must be attributed +the extraordinary size of the fish as compared with the depth and bulk +of water. That one hundred and fifty brace of trout, averaging a pound +in weight, are taken with rod and line each year on a stretch of water +two miles in length, and varying in depth from two to three feet, with a +few deep holes, the width of the water being not more than thirty feet +for the most part, is sufficient proof that there is abundance of food +in the river.</p> + +<p>Where the water is shallow we have found great advantage accrue by +putting in large stones and fir poles, to form ripples and also homes +for the fish. By this means shallow reaches can be made to hold good +fish, and the eddies and ripples make them easy to catch. The stones add +to the picturesqueness of the stream, for they soon become coated with +moss, and give the idea in some places of a rocky Scotch burn. A +pleasant variety of fishing is thus obtained; for at one time you are +throwing a dry fly on to the still and unruffled surface of the broader +reaches, and a hundred yards lower down you may have to use a wet fly in +the narrower and quicker parts, where the stones cause the water to +"boil up" in all directions, and the eddies give a chance to those who +are uninitiated into the mysteries of dry-fly angling.</p> + +<p>The large fish prefer sluggish water, but in these artificial ripples +fish may be caught on days on which the stream would be unfishable under +ordinary circumstances. It would be invidious to make comparisons +between the Coln and the Hampshire rivers--the Itchen and the +Test,--these are larger rivers, with larger fish, and they require a +better fisherman than those stretches of the Coin that we are dealing +with, although the lower reaches of the latter stream are difficult +enough for most people.</p> + +<p>Otters used to be considered scarce on the River Coln, but two have +lately been trapped in the parish of Bibury. With pike and coarse fish +we are not troubled on the upper reaches, though lower down they exist +in certain quantities. Of poachers I trust I may say the same. Rumour +has sometimes whispered of nets kept in Bibury and elsewhere, and of +midnight raids on the neighbouring preserves; but though I have walked +down the bank on many a summer night, I have never once come upon +anything suspicious, not even a night-line. The Gloucestershire native +is an honest man. He may think, perhaps, that he has nothing to learn +and cannot go wrong, but burglaries are practically unknown, and +poaching is not commonly practised.</p> + +<p>To sum up, the River Coln affords excellent sport amid surroundings +seldom to be found in these days. The whole country reminds one of the +days of Merrie England, so quaint and rural are the scenes. The houses +and cottages are all built of the native stone, which can be obtained +for the trouble of digging, so there is no danger of modern villas or +the inroads of civilisation spoiling the face of the country. And +moreover, these country people; being simple in their tastes, have never +endeavoured to improve on the old style of building; the newer cottages, +with their pointed gables, closely resemble the old Elizabethan houses. +The new stone soon tones down, and every house has a pretty garden +attached to it.</p> + +<p>I have just returned from a stroll by the river, with my rod in hand, on +the look-out for a rise. Not a fish was stirring. It is the middle of +May, and this glorious valley is growing more and more glorious every +day. An evening walk by the stream is delightful now, even though you +may begin to wonder if all the fish have disappeared. The air is full of +joyful sounds. The cuckoo, the corncrake, and the cock pheasant seem to +be vieing with each other; but, alas! nightingales there are none. As I +come round a bend, up get a mallard and a duck, and beautiful they look +as they swing round me in the dazzling sunlight. A little further on I +come upon a whole brood of nineteen little wild ducks. The old mothers +are a good deal tamer now than they were in the shooting season. Many a +time have they got up, just out of shot, when I was trying to wile away +the time during the great frost with a little stalking. A kingfisher +shoots past; but I have given up trying to find her nest. There is a +brood of dabchicks, and, a little further on, another family of +wild duck.</p> + +<p>The spring flowers are just now in their flush of pride and glory. +Clothing the banks, and reflected everywhere in the blue waters of the +stream, are great clusters of marsh marigolds painting the meadows with +their flaming gold; out of the decayed "stoles" of trees that fell by +the water's edge years and years ago springs the "glowing violet"; here +and there, as one throws a fly towards the opposite bank, a purple glow +on the surface of the stream draws the attention to a glorious mass of +violets on the mossy bank above; myriads of dainty cuckoo flowers,</p> + +<blockquote> +"With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,<br> + And every flower that sad embroidery wears,"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>are likewise to be seen. Farther away from the stream's bank, on the +upland lawn and along the hedge towards the downs, the deep purple of +the hyacinth and orchis, and the perfect blue of the little eyebright or +germander speedwell, are visible even at a distance. In a week the lilac +and sweet honeysuckle will fill the air with grateful redolence.</p> + +<p>Ah! a may-fly. But I know this is only a false alarm. There are always a +few stray ones about at this time; the fly will not be "up" for ten days +at least. When it does come, the stream, so smooth and glassy now, will +be "like a pot a-boiling," as the villagers say. You would not think it +possible that a small brook could contain so many big fish as will show +themselves when the fly is up.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, we will quote once more from dear old Charles Kingsley, +for what was true fifty years ago is true now--at all events, in this +part of Gloucestershire; and may it ever remain so!</p> + +<p>"Come, then, you who want pleasant fishing days without the waste of +time and trouble and expense involved in two hundred miles of railway +journey, and perhaps fifty more of highland road; come to pleasant +country inns, where you can always get a good dinner; or, better still, +to pleasant country houses, where you can always get good society--to +rivers which always fish brimful, instead of being, as these mountain +ones are, very like a turnpike road for three weeks, and then like +bottled porter for three days--to streams on which you have strong +south-west breezes for a week together on a clear fishing water, instead +of having, as on these mountain ones, foul rain spate as long as the +wind is south-west, and clearing water when the wind chops up to the +north,--streams, in a word, where you may kill fish four days out of +five from April to October, instead of having, as you will most probably +in the mountain, just one day's sport in the whole of your +month's holiday."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII."></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE MAY-FLY IS UP.</h3> + +<blockquote> +"Just in the dubious point where with the pool<br> + Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils<br> + Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank<br> + Reverted plays in undulating flow,<br> + There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly."<br><br> + + THOMSON'S <i>Seasons</i>.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>When does the may-fly come, the gorgeous succulent may-fly, that we all +love so well in the quiet valleys where the trout streams wend their +silent ways?</p> + +<p>It comes "of a Sunday," answers the keeper, who would fain see the +prejudice against fishing "on the Sabbath" scattered to the four winds +of heaven. He thinks it very contrary of the fly that it should +invariably come up "strong" on the one day in the week on which the +trout are usually allowed a rest.</p> + +<p>"'Tis a most comical job, but it always comes up thickest of a Sunday," +he frequently exclaims. Then, if you press him for further particulars, +he grows eloquent on the subject, and tells you as follows: "We always +reckons to kill the most fish on 'Durby day.' 'Tis a most singular +thing, but the 'Durby day' is always the best."</p> + +<p>Now, considering that Derby day is a movable feast, saving that it +always comes on a Wednesday, there would appear to be no more logic in +this statement than there is in the one about the fly coming up strong +on a Sunday. However, so deep rooted is the theory that the Derby and +the cream of the may-fly fishing are inseparably associated that we have +come to talk of the biggest rise of the season as "the Derby day," +whatever day of the week it may happen to be.</p> + +<p>Thus Tom Peregrine, the keeper, when he sees the fly gradually coming +up, will say: "I can see how it will be--next Friday will be Durby day. +You must 'meet' the fly that day; 'be sure and give it the meeting,' +sir. We shall want six rods on the water on Friday." He is so +desperately keen to kill fish that he would sooner have six rods and +moderate sport for each fisherman than three rods and good sport all +round. Wonderfully sanguine is this fellow's temperament:</p> + +<blockquote> +"A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays<br> + And confident to-morrows."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It is always "just about a good day for fishing" before you start; and +if you have a bad day, he consoles you with an account of an +extraordinary day last week, or one you are to have next week. Sometimes +it was last season that was so good; "or it will be a splendid season +next year," for some reason or other only known to himself.</p> + +<p>Three good anglers are quite sufficient for two miles of fishing on the +best of days. Experience has taught us that "too many cooks spoil the +broth" even in the may-fly season.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget a most lamentable, though somewhat laughable, +occurrence which took place five years ago. Foolishly responding to the +entreaties of our enthusiastic friend the keeper, we actually did ask +five people to fish one "Durby day." As luck would have it they all +came; but unfortunately a neighbouring squire, who owns part of the +water, but who seldom turns up to fish, also chose that day, and with +him came his son. Seven was bad enough in all conscience, but imagine my +feelings when a waggonette drove up, full of <i>undergraduates from +Oxford</i>: my brother, who was one of the undergraduates, had brought them +down on the chance, and without any warning. Of course they all wanted +to fish, though for the most part they were quite innocent of the art of +throwing a fly. Result: ten or a dozen fisherman, all in each other's +way; every rising fish in the brook frightened out of its wits; and very +little sport. The total catch for the day was only thirty trout, or +exactly what three rods ought to have caught.</p> + +<p>These were the sort of remarks one had to put up with: "I say, old +chap, there's a d----d fellow in a mackintosh suit up stream; he's +bagged my water"; or, "Who is that idiot who has been flogging away all +the afternoon in one place? Does he think he's beating carpets, or is he +an escaped lunatic from Hanwell?"</p> + +<p>The whole thing was too absurd; it was like a fishing competition on the +Thames at Twickenham.</p> + +<p>Since this never-to-be-forgotten day I have come to the conclusion that +to have too few anglers is better than too many; also, alas! that it is +quite useless to ask your friends to come unless they are accomplished +fishermen. It takes years of practice to learn the art of catching +south-country trout in these days, when every fish knows as well as we +do the difference between the real fly and the artificial. One might as +well ask a lot of schoolboys to a big "shoot," as issue indiscriminate +invitations to fish.</p> + +<p>It is a prochronism to talk of the <i>May</i>-fly; for, as a matter of fact, +the first ten days of <i>June</i> usually constitute the may-fly season. Of +late years the rise has been earlier and more scanty than of yore. There +are always several days, however, during the rise when all the biggest +fish in the brook come out from their homes beneath the willows, take up +a favourable place in mid stream, and quietly suck down fly after fly +until they are absolutely stuffed. To have fished on one of these days +in any well-stocked south-country brook is something to look back upon +for many a long day. In a reach of water not exceeding one hundred yards +in length there will be fish enough to occupy you throughout the day. +You may catch seven or eight brace of trout, none of which are under a +pound in weight, where you did not believe any large ones existed. The +fact is, the larger fish of a trout stream are more like rats in their +habits than anything else; they stow themselves away in holes in the +bank and all sorts of inconceivable places, and are as invisible by day +as the otter itself.</p> + +<p>That man derives the greatest enjoyment from this annual carnival among +the trout who has been tied to London all through May, sweltering in a +stuffy office and longing for the country. Though his sympathies are +bound up heart and soul in country pursuits, he has elected to "live +laborious days" in the busy haunts of men. He does it, though he hates +it; for he has sufficient insight to know that self-denial in some form +or other is the inevitable destiny of mortal man: sooner or later it has +to be undergone by all, whether we like it or not</p> + +<blockquote> +"Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit<br> + Ab dis plura feret"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Horace never wrote anything truer than that, though we are not to +suppose that the second line will necessarily come true in this life.</p> + +<p>We will imagine that our friend is a briefless barrister, but a fine, +all-round sportsman; a crack batsman, perhaps, at Eton and Oxford, or +one of whom it might be said:</p> + +<blockquote> +"Give me the man to whom nought comes amiss,<br> + One horse or another, that country or this--<br> + Who through falls and bad starts undauntedly still<br> + Rides up to the motto, 'Be with them I will.'"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>There may be good sportsmen enough enjoying life throughout the country +villages of Merrie England, but in my humble opinion the <i>best</i> +sportsmen must be sought in stifling offices in London, or serving +"their country and their Queen" under the burning sun of a far country, +or maybe in the reeking atmosphere of the East End, or as missionaries +in that howling wilderness the inhospitable land of "the +heathen Chinee."</p> + +<p>Sitting in his dusty chambers, poring over grimy books and legal +manuscripts, our "briefless" friend receives a telegram which he has +been expecting rather anxiously the last few days. As brief as he is +"briefless," it brings a flush to his cheek which has not been seen +there since that great run with the hounds last Christmas holidays. "The +fly is up; come at once." These are the magic words; and no time is lost +in responding to the invitation, for, as prearranged, he is to start for +Gloucestershire directly the wire arrives.</p> + +<p>There is no need to rush off to Mr. Farlow and buy up his stock of +may-flies; for though he does not tie his own flies, our angling friend +has a goodly stock of them neatly arranged in rows of cork inside a +black tin box; and, depend upon it, they are the <i>right</i> ones.</p> + +<p>Many a fisherman goes through a lifetime without getting the right flies +for the water on which he angles. It is ten to one that those in the +shops are too light, both in the body and the wing; the may-flies +usually sold are likewise much too big. About half life-size is quite +big enough for the artificial fly, and as a general rule they cannot be +too <i>dark</i>.</p> + +<p>Some years ago we caught a live fly, and took it up to London for the +shopman to copy. "At last," we said to ourselves, "we have got the right +thing." But not a bit of it. The first cast on to the water showed us +that the fly was utterly wrong. It was far too light. The fact is, the +insect itself appears very much darker on the water than it does in the +air. But the artificial fly shows ten times lighter as it floats on the +stream than it does in the shop window.</p> + +<p>Dark mottled grey for your wings, and a brown hackle, with a dark rather +than a straw-coloured body, is the kind of fly we find most killing on +the upper Coln. Of course it may be different on other streams, but I +suspect there is a tendency to use too light a fly everywhere, save +among those who have learnt by experience how to catch trout. As Sir +Herbert Maxwell has proved by experiment, trout have no perception of +colour except so far as the fly is light or dark. He found dark blue and +red flies just as killing as the ordinary may-fly.</p> + +<p>For the dry-fly fisherman equipment is half the battle. Show me the man +who catches fish; ten to one his rod is well balanced and strong, his +line heavy, though tapered, and his gut well selected and stained. The +fly-book stamps the fisherman even more truly than the topboot stamps +the fox-hunter. Nor does the accomplished expert with the dry fly +disdain with fat of deer to grease his line, nor with paraffin to dress +his fly and make it float. But he keeps the paraffin in a leather case +by itself, so that his coat may not remain redolent for months. From +top to toe he is a fisherman. His boots are thick, even though he does +not require waders; on his knees are leather pads to ward off +rheumatism; whilst on his head is a sober-coloured cap--not a white +straw hat flashing in the sunlight, and scaring the timid trout +to death.</p> + +<p>Thus appears our sportsman of the Inner Temple not twelve hours after we +saw him stewing in his London chambers. What a metamorphosis is this! +Just as the may-fly, after two years of confinement as a wretched grub +in the muddy bed of the stream, throws off its shackles, gives its wings +a shake, and soars into the glorious June atmosphere, happy to be free, +so does the poor caged bird rejoice, after grubbing for an indefinite +period in a cramped cell, to leave darkness and dirt and gloom (though +not, like the may-fly, for ever), and flee away on wings the mighty +steam provides until he finds himself once again in the fresh green +fields he loves so well. And truly he gets his reward. He has come into +a new world--rather, I should say, a paradise; for he comes when meadows +are green and trees are at their prime. Though the glory of the lilac +has passed away, the buttercup still gilds the landscape; barley fields +are bright with yellow charlock, and the soft, subdued glow of sainfoin +gives colour to the breezy uplands as of acres of pink carnations. On +one side a vast sheet of saffron, on the other a lake of rubies, ripples +in the passing breeze, or breaks into rolling waves of light and shade +as the fleecy clouds sweep across azure skies. He comes when roses, pink +and white and red, are just beginning to hang their dainty heads in +modest beauty on every cottage wall or cluster round the ancient porch; +when from every lattice window in the hamlet (I wish I could say every +<i>open</i> window) rows of red geraniums peep from their brown pots of +terra-cotta, brightening the street without, and filling the cosy rooms +with grateful, unaccustomed fragrance; when the scent of the sweet, +short-lived honeysuckle pervades the atmosphere, and the faces of the +handsome peasants are bronzed as those of dusky dwellers under +Italian skies.</p> + +<blockquote> +No daintie flowre or herbe that grows on ground;<br> +No arborett with painted blossoms drest,<br> +And smelling sweete, but there it might be found,<br> +To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al around.<br><br> + +E. SPENSER.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>What a pleasant country is this in which to spend a holiday! How white +are the limestone roads! how fresh and invigorating is the upland air! +The old manor house is deserted, its occupants having gone to London. +But a couple of bachelors can be happy in an empty house, without +servants and modern luxuries, as long as the may-fly lasts. It is +pleasant to feel that you can dine at any hour you please, and wear what +you please. The good lady who cooks for you is merely the wife of one of +the shepherds; but her cooking is fit for a king! What dinner could be +better than a trout fresh from the brook, a leg of lamb from the farm, +and a gooseberry tart from the kitchen garden? For vegetables you may +have asparagus--of such excellence that you scarcely know which end to +begin eating--and new potatoes.</p> + +<p>For my part, I would sooner a thousand times live on homely fare in the +country than be condemned to wade through long courses at London dinner +parties, or, worse still, pay fabulous prices at "Willis's Rooms," the +"Berkeley," or at White's Club.</p> + +<p>What a comfort, too, to be without housemaids to tidy up your papers in +the smoking-room and shut your windows in the evening! How healthful to +sleep in a room in which the windows have been wide open night and day +for months past!</p> + +<p>Sport is usually to be depended upon in the may-fly time, as long as you +are not late for the rise. Of late years the fly has "come up" so early +and in such limited quantities that but few fishermen were on the +water in time.</p> + +<p>We are apt to grumble, declaring that the whole river has gone to the +bad; that the fish are smaller and fewer in numbers than of yore,--but +is this borne out by facts? The year 1896 was no doubt rather a failure +as regards the may-fly; but as I glance over the pages of the game-book +in which I record as far as possible every fish that is killed, I cannot +help thinking that sport has been very wonderful, take it all round, +during six out of seven seasons.</p> + +<p>It is a lovely day during the last week in May. There has been no rain +for more than a fortnight; the wind is north-east, and the sun shines +brightly,--yet we walk down to the River Coln, anticinating a good day's +sport among the trout: for, during the may-fly season, no matter how +unpropitious the weather may appear, sport is more of a certainty on +this stream than at any other time of year. Early in the season drought +does not appear to have any effect on the springs; we might get no rain +from the middle of April until half-way through June, and yet the water +will keep up and remain a good colour all the time. But after June is +"out," down goes the water, lower and lower every week; no amount of +rain will then make any perceptible increase to the volume of the +stream, and not until the nights begin to lengthen out and the autumnal +gales have done their work will the water rise again to its normal +height. If you ask Tom Peregrine why these things are so, he will only +tell you that after a few gales the "springs be <i>frum</i>." The word +"frum," the derivation of which is, Anglo-Saxon, "fram," or "from" = +strong, flourishing, is the local expression for the bursting of +the springs.</p> + +<p>Our friend Tom Peregrine is full of these quaint expressions. When he +sees a covey of partridges dusting themselves in the roads, he will tell +you they are "bathering." A dog hunting through a wood is always said to +be "breveting." "I don't like that dog of So-and-so's, he do 'brevet' +so," is a favourite saying. The ground on a frosty morning "scrumps" or +"feels scrumpety," as you walk across the fields; and the partridges +when wild, are "teert." All these phrases are very happy, the sound of +the words illustrating exactly the idea they are intended to convey. +Besides ordinary Gloucestershire expressions, the keeper has a large +variety that he has invented for himself.</p> + +<p>When the river comes down clear, it is invariably described as like +looking into a gin bottle, or "as clear as gin." A trout rising boldly +at a fly is said to "'quap' up," or "boil up," or even "come at it like +a dog." The word "mess" is used to imply disgust of any sort: "I see one +boil up just above that mess of weed"; or, if you get a bit of weed on +the hook, he will exclaim, "Bother! that mess of weed has put him down." +Sometimes he remarks, "Tis these dreadful frostis that spiles +everything. 'Tis enough to sterve anybody." When he sees a bad fisherman +at work, he nods his head woefully and exclaims, "He might as well throw +his 'at in!" Then again, if he is anxious that you should catch a +particular trout, which cannot be persuaded to rise, he always says, +"Terrify him, sir; keep on terrifying of him." This does not mean that +you are to frighten the fish; on the contrary, he is urging you to stick +to him till he gets tired of being harassed, and succumbs to temptation. +All these quaint expressions make this sort of folk very amusing +companions for a day's fishing.</p> + +<p>It is eleven o'clock; let us walk down stream until we come to a bend in +the river where the north-east wind is less unfavourable than it is in +most parts. There is a short stretch of two hundred yards, where, as we +fish up stream, the breeze will be almost at our backs, and there are +fish enough to occupy us for an hour or so; afterwards, we shall have to +"cut the wind" as best we can.</p> + +<p>As we pass down stream the pale olive duns are hatching out in fair +numbers, and a few fish are already on the move. What lovely, delicate +things are these duns! and how "beautifully and wonderfully are they +made"! If you catch one you will see that it is as delicate and +transparent as it can possibly be. Not even the may-fly can compare with +the dun. And what rare food for trout they supply! For more than six +weeks, from April 1st, they hatch out by thousands every sunny day. The +may-fly may be a total failure, but week after week in the early spring +you may go down to the riverside with but one sort of fly, and if there +are fish to be caught at all, the pale-winged olive dun will catch them; +and in spite of the fact that there are a few may-flies on the water, it +is with the little duns that we intend to start our fishing to-day. The +trout have not yet got thoroughly accustomed to the green-drake, and the +"Durby day" will not be here for a week. It is far better to leave them +"to get reconciled" to the new fly (as the keeper would put it); they +will "quap" up all the better in a few days if allowed, in angling +phraseology, "to get well on to the fly."</p> + +<p>On arriving at the spot at which we intend commencing operations, it is +evident that the rise has begun. Happily, everything was in readiness. +Our tapered gut cast has been wetted, and a tiny-eyed fly is at the end. +The gut nearest the hook is as fine as gut can possibly be. Anything +thicker would be detected, for a spring joins the river at this point +and makes the water rather clear. Higher up we need not be so +particular. There is a fish rising fifteen yards above us; so, crouching +low and keeping back from the bank, we begin casting. A leather +kneecap, borrowed from the harness-room, is strapped on to the knee, and +is a good precaution against rheumatism. The first cast is two feet +short of the rise, but with the next we hook a trout. He makes a +tremendous rush, and runs the reel merrily. We manage to keep him out of +the weeds and land him--a silvery "Loch Leven," about three-quarters of +a pound, and in excellent condition. Only two years ago he was put into +the stream with five hundred others as a yearling. The next two rising +fish are too much for us, and we bungle them. One sees the line, owing +to our throwing too far above him, and the other is frightened out of +his life by a bit of weed or grass which gets hitched on to the barb of +the hook, and lands bang on to his nose. These accidents will happen, so +we do not swear, but pass on up stream, and soon a great brown tail +appears for a second just above some rushes on the other side. Kneeling +down again, we manage, after a few casts--luckily short of our fish--to +drop the fly a foot above him. Down it sails, not "cocking" as nicely as +could be wished, but in an exact line for his nose. There is a slight +dimple, and we have got him. For two or three minutes we are at the +mercy of our fish, for we dare not check him--the gut is too fine. But, +lacking condition, he soon tires, and is landed. He is over a pound and +a half, and rather lanky; but kill him we must, for by the size of his +head we can see that he is an old fish, and as bad as a pike for eating +fry. Two half-pounders are now landed in rapid succession, and returned +to the water. Then we hook a veritable monster; but, alas! he makes a +terrific rush down stream, and the gut breaks in the weeds. Of course he +is put down as the biggest fish ever hooked in the water. As a matter of +fact, two pounds would probably "see him." Putting on another olive dun, +we are soon playing a handsome bright fish of a pound, with thick +shoulders and a small head. And a lovely sight he is when we get him out +of the water and knock him on the head.</p> + +<p>We now come to a place where some big stones have been placed to make +ripples and eddies, and the stream is more rapid. Glad of the chance of +a rest from the effort of fishing "dry," which is tiring to the wrist +and back, we get closer to the bank, and flog away for five minutes +without success. Suddenly we hear a voice behind, and, looking round, +see our mysterious keeper, who is always turning up unexpectedly, +without one's being able to tell where he has sprung from. "The fish be +all alive above the washpool. I never see such a sight in all my life!" +he breathlessly exclaims.</p> + +<p>"All right," we reply; "we'll be up there directly. But let's first of +all try for the big one that lies just above that stone."</p> + +<p>"There's one up! ... There's another up! The river's boiling," says our +loquacious companion.</p> + +<p>"That's the big fish," we reply, vigorously flogging the air to dry the +fly; for when there is a big fish about, one always gives him as neatly +a "cocked" fly as is possible.</p> + +<p>"<i>Must</i> have him! Bang over him!" exclaims Tom Peregrine excitedly.</p> + +<p>But there is no response from the fish.</p> + +<p>"Keep <i>terrifying</i> of him, keep <i>terrifying</i> of him," whispers Tom; +"he's bound to make a mistake sooner or later." So we try again, and at +the same moment that the fly floats down over the monster's nose he +moves a foot to the right and takes a live may-fly with a big roll and +a flop.</p> + +<p>"Well, I never! Try him with a may-fly, sir," says Peregrine.</p> + +<p>Thinking this advice sound, we hastily put on the first may-fly of the +season; and no sooner have we made our cast than, as Rudyard Kipling +once said to the writer, there is a boil in the water "like the launch +of a young yacht," a tremendous swirl, and we are fast into a famous +trout. Directly he feels the insulting sting of the hook he rushes down +stream at a terrific rate, so that the line, instead of being taut, +dangles loosely on the water. We gather the line through the rings in +breathless haste--there is no time to reel up--and once more get a tight +strain on him. Fortunately there are no weeds here; the current is too +rapid for them. Twice he jumps clean out of the water, his broad, +silvery sides flashing in the sunlight. At length, after a five minutes' +fight, during which our companion never stops talking, we land the best +fish we have caught for four years. Nearly three pounds, he is as "fat +as butter," as bright as a new shilling, with the pinkest of pink spots +along his sides, and his broad back is mottled green. The head is small, +indicating that he is not a "cannibal," but a real, good-conditioned, +pink-fleshed trout. And it is rare in May to catch a big fish that has +grown into condition.</p> + +<p>We have now four trout in the basket. "A pretty dish of fish," as +Peregrine ejaculates several times as we walk up stream towards the +washpool. For thirty years he has been about this water, and has seen +thousands of fish caught, yet he is as keen to-day as a boy with his +first trout. As we pass through a wood we question him as to a small +stone hut, which appeared to have fallen out of repair.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he replied, "that was built in the time of the Romans"; and then +he went on to tell us how a <i>great</i> battle was fought in the wood, and +how, about twenty years ago, they had found "a <i>great</i> skeleton of a +man, nearly seven feet long"--a sure proof, he added, that the Romans +had fought here.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, there are several Roman villas in the +neighbourhood, and there was also fighting hereabouts in the Civil Wars. +But half the country folk look upon everything that happened more than a +hundred years ago as having taken place in the time of the Romans; and +Oliver Cromwell is to them as mythical a personage and belonging to an +equally remote antiquity as Julius Caesar. The Welsh people are just the +same. The other day we were shown a huge pair of rusty scissors whilst +staying in Breconshire. The man who found them took them to the "big +house" for the squire to keep as a curiosity, for, "no doubt," he said, +"they once belonged to <i>some great king</i>"!</p> + +<p>To our disgust, on reaching the upper water we found it as thick as +pea-soup. Sheep-washing had been going on a mile or so above us. Never +having had any sport under these conditions in past times, we had quite +decided to give up fishing for the day; but Tom Peregrine, who is ever +sanguine, swore he saw a fish rise. To our astonishment, on putting the +fly over the spot, we hooked and landed a large trout Proceeding up +stream, two more were quickly basketed. When the water comes down as +thick as the Thames at London Bridge, after sheep washing, the big trout +are often attracted out of their holes by the insects washed out of the +wool; but they will seldom rise freely to the artificial fly on such +occasions. To-day, oddly enough, they take any fly they can see in the +thick water, and with a "coch-y-bondu" substituted for the may-fly, as +being more easily seen in the discoloured water, any number of fish were +to be caught. But there is little merit and, consequently, little +satisfaction in pulling out big trout under these conditions, so that, +having got seven fish, weighing nine pounds, in the basket, we are +satisfied.</p> + +<p>As a rule, it is only in the may-fly season that the biggest fish rise +freely; an average weight of one pound per fish is usually considered +first-rate in the Coln. On this day, however, although the may-fly was +not yet properly up, the big fish, which generally feed at night, had +been brought on the rise by the sheep-washing.</p> + +<p>All the way home we are regaled with impossible stories of big fish +taken in these waters, one of which, the keeper says, weighed five +pounds, "all but a penny piece." As a matter of fact, this fish was +taken out of a large spring close to the river; and it is very rarely +that a three-pounder is caught in the Coln above Bibury, whilst anything +over that weight is not caught once in a month of Sundays. Last January, +however, a dead trout, weighing three pounds eight ounces, was found at +Bibury Mill, and a few others about the same size have been taken during +recent years. At Fairford, where the stream is bigger, a five-pounder +was taken during the last may-fly.</p> + +<p>We are pleased to find that our friend from London, who has been fishing +the same water, has done splendidly; he has killed six brace of good +trout, besides returning a large number to the water. With a glow of +satisfaction he</p> + +<blockquote> +"Tells from what pool the noblest had been dragg'd;<br> + And where the very monarch of the brook,<br> + After long struggle, had escaped at last."<br><br> + + WORDSWORTH.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>We laid our combined bag on the cool stone floor in the game larder;</p> + +<blockquote> +"And verily the silent creatures made<br> + A splendid sight, together thus exposed;<br> + Dead, but not sullied or deformed by death,<br> + That seem'd to pity what he could not spare."<br><br> + + WORDSWORTH.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>But the killing of trout is only a small part of the pleasure of being +here when the may-fly is up. How pleasant to live almost entirely in the +open air! after the day's fishing is over to rest awhile in the cool +manor house hard by the stream, watching from the window of the +oak-panelled little room the wonders of creation in the garden through +which the river flows! Now, from the recesses of the overhanging boughs +on the tiny island opposite, a moorhen swims forth, cackling and pecking +at the water as she goes. She is followed by five little balls of black +fur--her red-beaked progeny; they are fairly revelling in the evening +sunlight, diving, playing with each other, and thoroughly enjoying life.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-172-190.jpg"> +<img src="fp-172-190.jpg" width = "35%" alt="A DISH OF FISH. CAUGHT BY THE VICAR OF FAIRFORD (WEIGHT 17 1/2 LBS.)"> +</a><br><b>"A DISH OF FISH. CAUGHT BY THE VICAR OF FAIRFORD (WEIGHT 17 1/2 LBS.)"</b> +</P> + +<p>Up on the bough of the old fir, bearing its heavy mantle of ivy from +base to topmost twig, and not twenty yards from the window, a thrush +sits and sings. You must watch him carefully ere you assure yourself +that those sweet, trilling notes of peerless music come from that tiny +throat. A rare lesson in voice production he will teach you. Deep +breathing, headnotes clear as a bell and effortless, as only three or +four singers in Europe can produce them, without the slightest sense of +strain or throatiness--such are the songs of our most gifted denizens of +the woods.</p> + +<p>What a wondrous amount of life is visible on an evening such as this! +Among the fast-growing nettles beyond the brook scores of rabbits are +running to and fro, some sitting up on their haunches with ears pricked, +some gamboling round the lichened trunk of the weeping ash tree.</p> + +<p>Out of the water may-flies are rising and soaring upwards to circle +round the topmost branches of the firs. Looking upwards, you may see +hundreds of them dancing in unalloyed delight, enjoying their brief +existence in this beautiful world.</p> + +<p>Birds of many kinds, swallows and swifts, sparrows, fly-catchers, +blackbirds, robins and wrens, all and sundry are busy chasing the poor +green-drakes. As soon as the flies emerge from their husks and hover +above the surface of the stream, many of them are snapped up. But the +trout have "gone down,"--they are fairly gorged for the day; they will +not trouble the fly any more to-night.</p> + +<p>And then those glorious bicycle rides in the long summer evenings, when, +scarcely had the sun gone down beyond the ridge of rolling uplands than +the moon, almost at the full, and gorgeously serene, cast her soft, +mysterious light upon a silent world. One such night two anglers, +gliding softly through the ancient village of Bibury, dismounted from +their machines and stood on the bridge which spans the River Coln. Below +them the peaceful waters flowed silently onwards with all the smoothness +of oil, save that ever and anon rays of silvery moonlight fell in +streaks of radiant whiteness upon its glassy surface.</p> + +<p>From beneath the bridge comes the sound of busy waters, a sound, as is +often the case with running water, that you do not hear unless you +listen for it carefully. Close by, too, at the famous spring, crystal +waters are welling forth from the rock, pure and stainless as they were +a thousand years ago. All else is silent in the village. The sky is +flecked by myriads of tiny cloudlets, all separate from each other, and +mostly of one shape and size; but just below the brilliant orb, which +floats serene and proud above the line of mackerel sky, fantastic peaks +of clouds, like far-off snow-capped heights of rugged Alps, are +pointing upwards.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there comes a change. A fairy circle of prismatic colour is +gathering round the moon, beautifying the scene a thousandfold; an inner +girdle of hazy emerald hue immediately surrounds the lurid orb, which is +now seen as "in a glass darkly"; whilst encircling all is a narrow rim +of red light, like the rosy hues of the setting sun that have scarcely +died away in the west. The beauty of this lunar rainbow is enhanced by +the framework of shapely ash trees through whose branches it is seen.</p> + +<p>Along the river bank, nestling under the hanging wood, are rows of old +stone cottages, with gables warped a little on one side. One light +shines forth from the lattice window of the ancient mill; but in the +cool thick-walled houses the honest peasants are slumbering in deep, +peaceful sleep.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep.<br> + The river glideth at his own sweet will:<br> + Dear God, the very houses seem asleep."<br><br> + + WORDSWORTH.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>We are in the very heart of England. What a contrast to London at night, +where many a poor fellow must be tossing restlessly in the stifling +atmosphere!</p> + +<p>As we return towards the old manor house the nightjar, or goatsucker, +is droning loudly, and a nightingale--actually a nightingale!--is +singing in the copse. These birds seldom visit us in the Cotswolds. In +the deserted garden the scent of fresh-mown hay is filling the air, and</p> + +<blockquote> +"The moping owl doth to the moon complain<br> + Of such as wander near her secret bower."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>As we go we pluck some sprigs of fragrant honeysuckle and carry them +indoors. And so to bed, passing on the broad oak staircase the weird +picture of the man who built this rambling old house more than three +hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>There is a plain everyday phenomenon connected with pictures, and more +especially photographs, which must have been noticed time after time by +thousands of people; yet I never heard it mentioned in conversation or +saw it in print. I allude to the extraordinary sympathy the features of +a portrait are capable of assuming towards the expression of countenance +of the man who is looking at it. There is something at times almost +uncanny in it. Stand opposite a photograph of a friend when you are +feeling sad, and the picture is sad. Laugh, and the mouth of your friend +seems to curl into a smile, and his eyes twinkle merrily. Relapse into +gloom and despondency, and the smile dies away from the picture. Often +in youth, when about to carry out some design or other, I used to glance +at my late father's portrait, and never failed to notice a look of +approval or condemnation on the face which left its mark on the memory +for a considerable time. The countenance of the grim old gentleman in +the portrait on the stairs ("AETATIS SUAE 92. 1614 A.D.") wore a +distinct air of satisfaction to-night as I passed by on my way to bed; +he always looks pleased after there has been a good day with the hounds, +and likewise in the summer when the may-fly is up.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX."></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>BURFORD, A COTSWOLD TOWN.</h3> + +<p>Burford and Cirencester are two typical Cotswold towns; and perhaps the +first-named is the most characteristic, as it is also the most remote +and old-world of all places in this part of England. It was on a lovely +day in June that we resolved to go and explore the ancient priory and +glorious church of old Burford. A very slow train sets you down at +Bampton, commonly called Bampton-in-the-Bush, though the forest which +gave rise to the name has long since given place to open fields.</p> + +<p>There are many other curious names of this type in Gloucestershire and +the adjoining counties. Villages of the same name are often +distinguished from each other by these quaint descriptions of their +various situations. Thus:</p> + +<blockquote> +Moreton-in-the-Marsh distinguishes from More-ton-on-Lug.<br> +Bourton-on-the-Water distinguishes from Bourton-on-the-Hill.<br> +Stow-on-the-Wold distinguishes from Stowe-Nine-Churches.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Then we find</p> + +<blockquote> +Shipston-on-Stour and Shipton-under-Whichwood.<br> +Hinton-on-the-Green and Hinton-in-the-Hedges.<br> +Aston-under-Hill and Aston-under-Edge.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It may be noted in passing that the derivation of the word +"Moreton-in-the-Marsh" has ever been the subject of much controversy. +But the fact that the place is on the ancient trackway from Cirencester +to the north, and also that four counties meet here, is sufficient +reason for assigning Morton-hen-Mearc (=) "the place on the moor by the +old boundary" as the probable meaning of the name.</p> + +<p>We were fortunate enough to secure an outside seat on the rickety old +"bus" which plies between Bampton and Burford, and were soon slowly +traversing the white limestone road, stopping every now and then to set +down a passenger or deposit a parcel at some clean-looking, stone-faced +cottage in the straggling old villages.</p> + +<p>It was indeed a glorious morning for an expedition into the Cotswolds. +The six weeks' drought had just given place to cool, showery weather. A +light wind from the west breathed the fragrance of countless wild +flowers and sweet may blossom from the leafy hedges, and the scent of +roses and honeysuckle was wafted from every cottage garden. After a +month spent amid the languid air and depressing surroundings of London, +one felt glad at heart to experience once again the grand, pure air and +rural scenery of the Cotswold Hills.</p> + +<p>What strikes one so forcibly about this part of England, after a sojourn +in some smoky town, is its extraordinary cleanliness.</p> + +<p>There is no such thing as <i>dirt</i> in a limestone country. The very mud +off the roads in rainy weather is not dirt at all, sticky though it +undoubtedly is. It consists almost entirely of lime, which, though it +burns all the varnish off your carriage if allowed to remain on it for a +few days, has nothing repulsive about its nature, like ordinary mud.</p> + +<p>How pleasant, too, is the contrast between the quiet, peaceful country +life and the restless din and never-ceasing commotion of the "busy +haunts of men"! As we pass along through villages gay with flowers, we +converse freely with the driver of the 'bus, chiefly about fishing. The +great question which every one asks in this part of the world in the +first week in June is whether the may-fly is up. The lovely green-drake +generally appears on the Windrush about this time, and then for ten days +nobody thinks or talks about anything else. Who that has ever witnessed +a real may-fly "rise" on a chalk or limestone stream will deny that it +is one of the most beautiful and interesting sights in all creation? +Myriads of olive-coloured, transparent insects, almost as large as +butterflies, rising out of the water, and floating on wings as light as +gossamer, only to live but one short day; great trout, flopping and +rolling in all directions, forgetful of all the wiles of which they are +generally capable; and then, when the evening sun is declining, the +female fly may be seen hovering over the water, and dropping her eggs +time after time, until, having accomplished the only purpose for which +she has existed in the winged state, she falls lifeless into the stream. +But though these lovely insects live but twenty-four hours, and during +that short period undergo a transformation from the <i>sub-imago</i> to the +<i>imago</i> state, they exist as larvae in the bed of the river for quite +two years from the time the eggs are dropped. The season of 1896 was one +of the worst ever known on some may-fly rivers; probably the great frost +two winters back was the cause of failure. The intense cold is supposed +to have killed the larvae.</p> + +<p>The Windrush trout are very large indeed; a five-pound fish is not at +all uncommon. The driver of the 'bus talked of monsters of eight pounds +having been taken near Burford, but we took this <i>cum grano salis</i>.</p> + +<p>After a five-mile drive we suddenly see the picturesque old town below +us. Like most of the villages of the country, it lies in one of the +narrow valleys which intersect the hills, so that you do not get a view +of the houses until you arrive at the edge of the depression in which +they are built.</p> + +<p>Having paid the modest shilling which represents the fare for the five +miles, we start off for the priory. There was no difficulty in finding +our way to it. In all the Cotswold villages and small towns the "big +house" stands out conspicuously among the old cottages and barns and +farmhouses, half hidden as it is by the dense foliage of giant elms and +beeches and chestnuts and ash; nor is Burford Priory an exception to the +rule, though its grounds are guarded by a wall of immense height on one +side. And then once more we get the view we have seen so often on +Cotswold; yet it never palls upon the senses, but thrills us with its +own mysterious charm. Who can ever get tired of the picture presented by +a gabled, mediaeval house set in a framework of stately trees, amid +whose leafy branches the rooks are cawing and chattering round their +ancestral nests, whilst down below the fertilising stream silently +fulfils its never-ceasing task, flowing onwards everlastingly, caring +nothing for the vicissitudes of our transitory life and the hopes and +fears that sway the hearts of successive generations of men?</p> + +<p>There the old house stands "silent in the shade"; there are the "nursery +windows," but the "children's voices" no longer break the silence of the +still summer day. Everywhere--in the hall, in the smoking-room, where +the empty gun-cases still hang, and in "my lady's bower,"</p> + +<blockquote> +"Sorrow and silence and sadness<br> + Are hanging over all."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Until we arrived within a few yards of the front door we had almost +forgotten that the place was a ruin; for though the house is but an +empty shell, almost as hollow as a skull, the outer walls are +absolutely complete and undamaged. At one end is the beautiful old +chapel, built by "Speaker" Lenthall in the time of the Commonwealth. +There is an air of sanctity about this lovely white freestone temple +which no amount of neglect can eradicate. The roof, of fine stucco work, +has fallen in; the elder shrubs grow freely through the crevices in the +broken pavement under foot,--and yet you feel bound to remove your hat +as you enter, for "you are standing on holy ground."</p> + +<blockquote> +"EXUE CALCEOS, NAM TERRA EST SANCTA."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Over the entrance stands boldly forth this solemn inscription, whilst +angels, wonderfully carved in white stone, watch and guard the sacred +precincts. At the north end of the chapel stands intact the altar, and, +strangely enough, the most perfectly preserved remnants of the whole +building are two white stone tablets plainly setting forth the Ten +Commandments. The sun, as we stood there, was pouring its rays through +the graceful mullioned windows, lighting up the delicate carving,--work +that is rendered more beautiful than ever by the "tender grace of a day +that is dead,"--whilst outside in the deserted garden the birds were +singing sweetly. The scene was sadly impressive; one felt as one does +when standing by the grave of some old friend. As we passed out of the +chapel we could not help reflecting on the hard-heartedness of men fifty +years ago, who could allow this consecrated place, beautiful and fair +as it still is, to fall gradually to the ground, nor attempt to put +forth a helping hand to save it ere it crumbles into dust. How +ungrateful it seems to those whose labour and hard, self-sacrificing +toil erected it two hundred and fifty years ago! Those men of whom +Ruskin wrote: "All else for which the builders sacrificed has passed +away; all their living interests and aims and achievements. We know not +for what they laboured, and we see no evidence of their reward. Victory, +wealth, authority, happiness, all have departed, though bought by many a +bitter sacrifice."</p> + +<p>It should be mentioned, however, that Mr. R. Hurst is at the present +time engaged in a laudable endeavour to restore this chapel to its +original state. Inside the house the most noteworthy feature of interest +is a remarkably fine ornamental ceiling. Good judges inform us that the +ballroom ceiling at Burford Priory is one of the finest examples of old +work of the kind anywhere to be seen. The room itself is a very large +and well-proportioned one; the oak panels, which completely cover the +walls, still bear the marks of the famous portraits that once adorned +them. Charles I. and Henry Prince of Wales, by Cornelius Jansen; Queen +Henrietta Maria, by Vandyke; Sir Thomas More and his family, by Holbein; +Speaker Lenthall, the former owner of the house; and many other fine +pictures hung here in former times. The staircase is a fine broad +one, of oak.</p> + +<p>But now let us leave the inside of the house, which <i>ought</i> to be so +beautiful and bright, and <i>is</i> so desolate and bare, for it is of no +great age, and let us call to mind the picture which Waller painted, +engravings of which used to adorn so many Oxford rooms: "The Empty +Saddle." For, standing in the neglected garden we may see the very +terrace and the angle of the house which were drawn so beautifully by +him. Then, as we stroll through the deserted grounds towards the +peaceful Windrush, where the great trout are still sucking down the poor +short-lived may-flies, let us try to recollect what manner of men used +to walk in these peaceful gardens in the old, stirring times.</p> + +<p>Little or nothing is known of the monastery which doubtless existed +somewhere hereabouts prior to the dissolution in Henry VIII.'s reign.</p> + +<p>Up to the Conquest the manor of Burford was held by Saxon noblemen. It +is mentioned in Doomsday Book as belonging to Earl Aubrey; but the first +notable man who held it was Hugh le Despencer. This man was one of +Edward II.'s favourites, and was ultimately hung, by the queen's +command, at the same time that Edward was committed to Kenilworth +Castle. Burford remained with his descendants till the reign of Henry +V., when it passed by marriage to a still more notable man, in the +person of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the "kingmaker." Space does +not allow us to romance on the part that this great warrior played in +the history of those times; Lord Lytton has done that for us in his +splendid book, "The Last of the Barons." Suffice it to say that he left +an undying fame to future generations, and fell in the Wars of the Roses +when fighting at the battle of Barnet against the very man he had set on +the throne. The almshouses he built for Burford are still to be seen +hard by the grand old church.</p> + +<blockquote> +"For who lived king, but I could dig his grave?<br> + And who durst smile, when Warwick bent his brow?<br> + Lo, now my glory's smear'd in dust and blood!<br> + My parks, my walks, my manors that I had,<br> + Even now forsake me; and of all my lands,<br> + Is nothing left me, but my body's length!"<br><br> + + 3 <i>King Henry VI</i>., V. ii.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>In the reign of Henry VIII. this manor, having lapsed to the Crown, was +granted to Edmund Harman, the royal surgeon. Then in later days Sir John +Fortescue, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth, got hold of +it, and eventually sold it to Sir Lawrence Tanfield, a great judge in +those times. The latter was buried "at twelve o'clock in the Night" in +the church of Burford; and there is a very handsome aisle there and an +immense monument to his memory. The Tanfield monument, though somewhat +ugly and grotesque, is a wonderful example of alabaster work. The cost +of erecting it and the labour bestowed must have been immense. It was +this knight who built the great house of which the present ruins form +part, and the date would probably be about 1600. But in 1808 nearly half +the original building is supposed to have been pulled down, and what was +allowed to remain, with the exception of the chapel, has been very +much altered.</p> + +<p>It was in the time of Lucius Carey's (second Lord Falkland) ownership of +this manor that the place was in the zenith of its fame. This +accomplished man, whose father had married Chief Justice Tanfield's +only daughter, succeeded his grandfather in the year 1625. He gathered +together, either here or at Great Tew, a few miles away, half the +literary celebrities of the day. Ben Jonson, Cowley, and Chillingworth +all visited Falkland from time to time. Lucius Carey afterwards became +the ill-fated King Charles's Secretary of State, an office which he +conscientiously filled until his untimely death.</p> + +<p>Falkland left little literary work behind him of any mark, yet of no +other man of those times may it be said that so great a reputation for +ability and character has been handed down to us. Novelists and authors +delight in dwelling on his good qualities. Even in this jubilee year of +1897 the author of "Sir Kenelm Digby" has written a book about the +Falklands. Whyte Melville, too, made him the hero of one of his novels, +describing him as a man in whose outward appearance there were no +indications of the intellectual superiority he enjoyed over his fellow +men. Indeed, as with Arthur Hallam in our own times, so it was with +Falkland in the mediaeval age. Neither left behind them any work of +their own by which future generations could realise their abilities and +almost godlike charm, yet each has earned a kind of immortality through +being honoured and sung by the pens of the greatest writers of his +respective age.</p> + +<p>That great, though somewhat bombastic, historian, Lord Clarendon, tells +us that Falkland was "a person of such prodigious parts of learning and +knowledge, of that inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation, of +so flowing and obliging a humanity and goodness to mankind, and of that +primitive simplicity and integrity of life, that if there were no other +brand upon this odious and accursed Civil War than that single loss, it +must be most infamous and execrable to all posterity." From the same +authority we learn that although he was ever anxious for peace, yet he +was the bravest of the brave. At the battle of Newbury he put himself in +the first rank of Lord Byron's regiment, when he met his end through a +musket shot. "Thus," says Clarendon, "fell that incomparable young man, +in the four-and-thirtieth year of his age, having so much despatched the +true business of life that the eldest rarely attain to that immense +knowledge, and the youngest enter not into the world with more +innocency."</p> + +<p>When it is remembered that Falkland was not a soldier at all, but a +learned scholar, whose natural proclivities were literature and the arts +of peace, his self-sacrifice and bravery cannot fail to call forth +admiration for the man, and we cannot but regret his untimely end.</p> + +<p>King Charles was several times at Burford, for it was the scene of much +fighting in the Civil Wars.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-186-204.jpg"> +<img src="fp-186-204.jpg" width = "35%" alt="BURFORD PRIORY."> +</a><br><b>"BURFORD PRIORY."</b> +</P> + +<p>It was in the year 1636 that Speaker Lenthall purchased Burford Priory. +He was a man of note in those troublous times, and even Cromwell seems +to have respected him; for, although the latter came down to the House +one day with a troop of musketeers, with the express intention of +turning the gallant Speaker out of his chair, and effected his object +amid the proverbial cries of "Make way for honester men!" yet we find +that within twelve months the crafty old gentleman had once more got +back again into the chair, and remained Speaker during the Protectorate +of Richard Cromwell. He declared on his deathbed that, although, like +Saul, he held the clothes of the murderers, yet that he never consented +to the death of the king, but was deceived by Cromwell and his agents.</p> + +<p>The priory remained in the Lenthall family up to the year 1821. At the +present time it belongs to the Hurst family.</p> + +<p>We have now briefly traced the history of the manor from the time of the +Conquest, and, doubtless, all the men whose names occur have spent a +good deal of time on this beautiful spot.</p> + +<p>Alas that the garden should be but a wilderness! The carriage drive +consists of rich green turf. In a summer-house in the grounds John +Prior, Speaker Lenthall's faithful servant, was murdered in the year +1697. The Earl of Abercorn was accused of the murder, but was acquitted.</p> + +<p>In addition to King Charles I., many other royal personages have visited +this place. Queen Elizabeth once visited the town, and came with +great pomp.</p> + +<p>The Burgesses' Book has a note to the effect that in 1663 twenty-one +pounds was paid for three saddles presented to Charles II. and his +brother the Duke of York. Burford was celebrated for its saddles in +those days. It was a great racing centre, and both here and at Bibury +(ten miles off) flat racing was constantly attracting people from all +parts. Bibury was a sort of Newmarket in old days. Charles II. was at +Burford on three occasions at least.</p> + +<p>It was in the year 1681 that the Newmarket spring meeting was +transferred to Bibury. Parliament was then sitting at Oxford, some +thirty miles away; so that the new rendezvous was more convenient than +the old. Nell Gwynne accompanied the king to the course. For a hundred +and fifty years the Bibury club held its meetings here. The oldest +racing club in England, it still flourishes, and will in future hold its +meetings near Salisbury.</p> + +<p>In 1695 King William III. came to Burford in order to influence the +votes in the forthcoming parliamentary election. Macaulay tells us that +two of the famous saddles were presented to this monarch, and remarks +that one of the Burford saddlers was the best in Europe. William III. +slept that night at the priory. The famous "Nimrod," in his "Life of a +Sportsman," gives us a picture, by Alken, of Bibury racecourse, and +tells us how gay Burford was a hundred years ago:</p> + +<p>"Those were Bibury's very best days. In addition to the presence of +George IV., then Prince of Wales, who was received by Lord Sherborne for +the race week at his seat in the neighbourhood, and who every day +appeared on the course as a private gentleman, there was a galaxy of +gentlemen jockeys, who alone rode at this meeting, which has never since +been equalled. Amongst them were the Duke of Dorset, who always rode for +the Prince; the late Mr. Delme-Radcliffe; the late Lords Charles +Somerset and Milsington; Lord Delamere, Sir Tatton Sykes, and many other +first-raters.</p> + +<p>"I well remember the scenes at Burford and all the neighbouring towns +after the races were over. That at Burford 'beggars' description; for, +independently of the bustle occasioned by the accommodation necessary +for the club who were domiciled in the town, the concourse of persons of +all sorts and degrees was immense."</p> + +<p>Old Mr. Peregrine told me the other day that during the race week the +shopkeepers at Bibury village used to let their bedrooms to the +visitors, and sleep on the shop board, while the rest of the family +slept underneath the counter.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>Ah well! <i>Tempora mutantur!</i> "Nimrod" and his "notables" are all gone.</p> + +<blockquote> +"The knights' bones are dust,<br> + And their good swords rust,<br> + Their souls are with the saints, I trust."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>And whereas up to fifty years ago Burford was a rich country town, +famous for the manufacture of paper, malt, and sailcloth--enriched, too, +by the constant passage of numerous coaches stopping on their way from +Oxford to Gloucester--it is now little more than a village--the +quietest, the cleanest, and the quaintest place in Oxfordshire. Perhaps +its citizens are to be envied rather than pitied:</p> + +<blockquote> + "bene est cui deus obtulit<br> +Parca, quod satis est, manu."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Let us go up to the top of the main street, and sit down on the ancient +oak bench high up on the hill, whence we can look down on the old-world +place and get a birdseye view of the quaint houses and the surrounding +country. And now we may exclaim with Ossian, "A tale of the times of +old! The deeds of days of other years!" For yonder, a mile away from the +town, the kings of Mercia and Wessex fought a desperate battle in the +year A.D. 685. Quite recently a tomb was found there containing a stone +coffin weighing nearly a ton. The bones of the warrior who fought and +died there were marvellously complete when disturbed in their +resting-place--in fact, the skeleton was a perfect one.</p> + +<p>"Whose fame is in that dark green tomb? Four stones with their heads of +moss stand there. They mark the narrow house of death. Some chief of +fame is here! Raise the songs of old! Awake their memory in the +tomb." <a name="FNanchor4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> Ossian. +</blockquote> + +<p>Tradition has it that this was the body of a great Saxon chief, +Aethelhum, the mighty standard-bearer of the Mercian King Ethelbald. It +was in honour of this great warrior that the people of Burford carried a +standard emblazoned with a golden dragon through the old streets on +midsummer eve, annually, for nigh on a thousand years. We are told that +it was only during last century that the custom died out.</p> + +<p>How beautiful are some of the old houses in the broad and stately High +Street!</p> + +<p>The ancient building in the centre of the town is called the "Tolsey"; +it must be more than four hundred years old. The name originated in the +custom of paying tolls due to the lord of the manor in the building. +There are some grand old iron chests here; one of these old boxes +contains many interesting charters and deeds, some of them bearing the +signatures of chancellors Morton, Stephen Gardiner, and Ellesmere. There +are letters from Elizabeth, and an order from the Privy Council with +Arlington's signature attached. "The stocks" used to stand on the north +side of this building, but have lately been removed. Then the houses +opposite the Tolsey are as beautiful as they possibly can be. They are +fifteenth century, and have oak verge-boards round their gables, carved +in very delicate tracery.</p> + +<p>Another house has a wonderful cellar, filled with grandly carved +stonework, like the aisle of a church; this crypt is probably more than +five hundred years old. Perhaps this vaulted Gothic chamber is a remnant +of the old monastery, the site of which is not known. Close by is an +ancient building, now turned into an inn; and this also may have been +part of the dwelling-place of the monks of Burford. From the vaulted +cellar beneath the house, now occupied by Mr. Chandler, ran an +underground passage, evidently connected with some other building.</p> + +<p>How sweetly pretty is the house at the foot of the bridge, as seen from +the High Street above! The following inscription stands out prominently +on the front:--</p> + +<blockquote> +"SYMON WYSDOM ALDERMAN<br> +THE FYRST FOUNDER OR THE SCHOLE<br> +IN BURFORD GAVE THE TENEMENES<br> +IN A.D. 1577."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The old almshouses on the green by the church have an inscription to +the effect that they were founded by Richard Earl of Warwick (the +kingmaker), in the year 1457. They were practically rebuilt about +seventy years ago; but remnants of beautiful Gothic architecture still +remain in the old stone belfry, and here and there a piece of tracery +has been preserved. In all parts of the town one suddenly alights upon +beautiful bits of carved stone--an Early English gateway in one street, +and lancet doorways to many a cottage in another. Oriel windows are also +plentiful. Behind the almshouses is a cottage with massive buttresses, +and everywhere broken pieces of quaint gargoyles, pinnacles, and other +remnants of Gothic workmanship are to be seen lying about on the walls +and in odd corners. A careful search would doubtless reveal many a fine +piece of tracery in the cottages and buildings. At some period, however, +vandalism has evidently been rampant. Happening to find our way into the +back premises of an ancient inn, we noticed that the coals were heaped +up against a wall of old oak panelling.</p> + +<p>And now we come to the most beautiful piece of architecture in the +place--the magnificent old church. It is grandly situated close to the +banks of the Windrush, and is more like a cathedral than a village +church. The front of the porch is worked with figures representing our +Lord, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. John the Evangelist; but the heads +were unfortunately destroyed in the Civil Wars. Inside the porch the +rich fan-tracery, which rises from the pilasters on each side, is carved +with consummate skill.</p> + +<p>Space does not allow us to dwell on the grandeur of the massive Norman +tower, the great doorway at the western entrance with its splendid +moulding, the quaint low arch leading from nave to chancel, and the +other specimens of Norman work to be seen in all parts of this +magnificent edifice. Nor can we do justice to the glorious nave, with +its roof of oak; nor the aisles and the chancel; nor the beautiful +Leggare chapel, with its oak screen, carved in its upper part in +fifteenth-century tracery, its faded frescoes and ancient altar tomb. +The glass of the upper portion of the great west window and the window +of St Thomas' chapel are indeed "labyrinths of twisted tracery and +starry light" such as would delight the fastidious taste of Ruskin. +Several pages might easily be written in describing the wonderful and +grotesque example of alabaster work known as the Tanfield tomb. The only +regret one feels on gazing at this grand old specimen of the toil of our +simple ancestors is that it is seldom visited save by the natives of +rural Burford, many of whom, alas! must realise but little the +exceptional beauty and stateliness of the lovely old church with which +they have been so familiar all their lives.</p> + +<p>A few years ago Mr. Oman, Fellow of All Souls', Oxford, made a curious +discovery. Whilst going through some documents that had been for many +years in the hands of the last survivor of the ancient corporation, and +being one of the few men in England in a position to identify the +handwriting, he came across a deed or charter signed by "the great +kingmaker" himself; it was in the form of a letter, and had reference +to the gift of almshouses he made to Burford in 1457 A.D. The boldly +written "R.I. Warrewyck" at the end is the only signature of the +kingmaker's known to exist save the one at Belvoir. In this letter +prayers are besought for the founder and the Countess Anne his wife, +whilst attached to it is a seal with the arms of Neville, Montacute, +Despencer, and Beauchamp.</p> + +<p>On the font in the church is a roughly chiselled name:</p> + +<blockquote> +"ANTHONY SEDLEY. 1649. Prisner."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Not only prisoners, but even their <i>horses</i>, were shut up in these grand +old churches during the Civil Wars. This Anthony Sedley must have been +one of the three hundred and forty Levellers who were imprisoned here +in 1649.</p> + +<p>The register has the following entry:--</p> + +<p>"1649. Three soldiers shot to death in Burford Churchyard, buried May +17th."</p> + +<p>Burford was the scene of a good deal of fighting during the Civil Wars. +On January 1st, 1642, in the dead of night, Sir John Byron's regiment +had a sharp encounter with two hundred dragoons of the Parliamentary +forces. A fierce struggle took place round the market cross, during +which Sir John Byron was wounded in the face with a poleaxe. Cromwell's +soldiers, however, were routed and driven out of the town.</p> + +<p>In the parish register is the following entry :--</p> + +<p>"1642. Robert Varney of Stowe, slain in Burford and buried January 1st.</p> + +<p>"1642. Six soldiers slain in Burford, buried 2nd January.</p> + +<p>"1642. William Junks slain with the shot of musket, buried January 10th.</p> + +<p>"1642. A soldier hurt at Cirencester road was buried."</p> + +<p>Many other entries of the same nature are to be seen in the parish +register.</p> + +<p>The old market cross of Burford has indeed seen some strange things. Mr. +W.J. Monk, to whose "History of Burford" I am indebted for valuable +information, tells us that the penance enjoined on various citizens of +Burford for such crimes as buying a Bible in the year 1521 was as +follows:--</p> + +<p>"Everyone to go upon a market day thrice about the market of Burford, +and then to stand up upon the highest steps of the cross there, a +quarter of an hour, with a faggot of wood upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Everyone also to beare a faggot of wood before the procession on a +certain Sunday at Burford from the Quire doore going out, to the quire +doore going in, and once to bear a faggot at the burning of a heretic.</p> + +<p>"Also none of them to hide their mark [+] upon their cheek (branded +in)," etc., etc.</p> + +<p>"In the event of refusal, they were to be given up to the civil +authorities to be burnt."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X."></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>A STROLL THROUGH THE COTSWOLDS.</h3> + +<blockquote> + "In Gloucestershire<br> +These high, wild hills and rough, uneven ways<br> +Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome."<br><br> + +<p><i>King Richard II</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>It cannot be said that there are many pleasant walks and drives in the +Cotswold country, because, as a rule, the roads run over the bleak +tableland for miles and miles, and the landscape generally consists of +ploughed fields divided by grey stone walls; the downs I have referred +to at different times are only to be met with in certain districts. Once +upon a time the whole of Cotswold was one vast sheep walk from beginning +to end. It was about a hundred and fifty years ago that the idea of +enclosing the land was started by the first Lord Bathurst. Early in the +eighteenth century he converted a large tract of downland round +Cirencester into arable fields; his example was soon followed by others, +so that by the middle of last century the transformation of three +hundred square miles of downs into wheat-growing ploughed fields had +been accomplished. It is chiefly owing to the depression in agricultural +produce that there are any downs now, for they merely exist because the +tenants have found during the last twenty years that it does not pay to +cultivate their farms, hence they let a large proportion go back +to grass.</p> + +<p>But there is one very pleasant walk in that part of the Cotswolds we +know best, and this takes you up the valley of the Coln to the Roman +villa at Chedworth.</p> + +<p>The distance by road from Fairford to the Chedworth woods is about +twelve miles; and at any time of the year, but more especially in the +spring and autumn, it is a truly delightful pilgrimage.</p> + +<p>And here it is worth our while to consider for a moment how tremendously +the abolition of the stage coach has affected places like Fairford, +Burford, and other Cotswold towns and villages. It was through these +old-world places, past these very walls and gables, that the mail +coaches rattled day after day when they "went down with victory" +conveying the news of Waterloo and Trafalgar into the heart of merry +England. In his immortal essay on "The English Mail Coach," De Quincey +has told us how between the years 1805 and 1815 it was worth paying +down five years of life for an outside place on a coach "going down with +victory." "On any night the spectacle was beautiful. The absolute +perfection of all the appointments about the carriages and the harness, +their strength, their brilliant cleanliness, their beautiful +simplicity--but more than all, the royal magnificence of the +horses--were what might first have fixed the attention. But the night +before us is a night of victory: and behold! to the ordinary display +what a heart-shaking addition! horses, men, carriages, all are dressed +in laurels and flowers, oak leaves and ribbons." The brilliancy of the +royal liveries, the thundering of the wheels, the tramp of those +generous horses, the sounding of the coach horn in the calm evening air, +and last, but not least, the intense enthusiasm of travellers and +spectators alike, as amid such cries as "Salamanca for ever!" "Hurrah +for Waterloo!" they cheered and cheered again, letting slip the dogs of +victory throughout those old English villages,--all these things must +have united the hearts of the classes and masses in one common bond, +rendering such occasions memorable for ever in the hearts of the simple +country folk. In small towns like Burford and Northleach, situated five +or six miles from any railway station, the prosperity and happiness of +the natives has suffered enormously by the decay of the stage coach; and +even in smaller villages the cheering sound of the horn must have been +very welcome, forming as it did a connecting link between these remote +hamlets of Gloucestershire and the great metropolis a hundred +miles away.</p> + +<p>Fairford Church is known far and wide as containing the most beautiful +painted glass of the early part of the sixteenth century to be found +anywhere in England. The windows, twenty-eight in number, are usually +attributed to Albert Dürer; but Mr. J.G. Joyce, who published a treatise +on them some twenty years ago, together with certain other high +authorities, considered them to be of English design and workmanship. +They would doubtless have been destroyed in the time of the Civil Wars +by the Puritans had they not been taken down and hidden away by a member +of the Oldysworth family, whose tomb is in the middle chancel.</p> + +<p>John Tame, having purchased the manor of Fairford in 1498, immediately +set about building the church. He died two years later, and his son +completed the building, and also erected two other very fine churches in +the neighbourhood--those at Rendcombe and Barnsley. He was a great +benefactor to the Cotswold country. Leland tells us that the town of +Fairford never flourished "before the cumming of the Tames into it."</p> + +<p>You may see John Tame's effigy on his tomb, together with that of his +wife, and underneath these pathetic lines:</p> + +<blockquote> +"For thus, Love, pray for me.<br> + I may not pray more, pray ye:<br> + With a pater noster and an ave:<br> + That my paynys relessyd be."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>If I remember rightly his helmet and other parts of his armour still +hang on the church wall. Leland describes Fairford as a "praty +uplandish towne," meaning, I suppose, that it is situated on high +ground. It is certainly a delightful old-fashioned place--a very good +type of what the Cotswold towns are like. Chipping-Campden and Burford +are, however, the two most typical Cotswold towns I know.</p> + +<p>In the year 1850 a remarkable discovery was made in a field close to +Fairford. No less than a hundred and fifty skeletons were unearthed, and +with them a large number of very interesting Anglo-Saxon relics, some of +them in good preservation. In many of the graves an iron knife was found +lying by the skeleton; in others the bodies were decorated with bronze +fibulae, richly gilt, and ornamented in front. Mr. W. Wylie, in his +interesting account of these Anglo-Saxon graves, tells us that some of +the bodies were as large as six feet six inches; whilst one or two +warriors of seven feet were unearthed. All the skeletons were very +perfect, even though no signs of any coffins were to be seen. Bronze +bowls and various kinds of pottery, spearheads of several shapes, a +large number of coloured beads, bosses of shields, knives, shears, and +two remarkably fine swords were some of the relics found with the +bodies. A glass vessel, coloured yellow by means of a chemical process +in which iron was utilised, is considered by Mr. Wylie to be of Saxon +manufacture, and not Venetian or Roman, as other authorities hold.</p> + +<p>Whether this is merely an Anglo-Saxon burial-place, or whether the +bodies are those of the warriors who fell in a great battle such as that +fought in A.D. 577, when the Saxons overthrew the Britons and took from +them the cities of Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath, it is impossible +to determine. The natives are firmly convinced that the skeletons +represent the slain in a great battle fought near this spot; but this is +only tradition. At all events, the words of prophecy attributed to the +old Scotch bard Ossian have a very literal application with reference to +this interesting relic of bygone times: "The stranger shall come and +build there and remove the heaped-up earth. An half-worn sword shall +rise before him. Bending above it, he will say, 'These are the arms of +the chiefs of old, but their names are not in song.'" The "heaped-up" +earth has long ago disappeared, for there are no "barrows" now to be +seen. Cottages stand where the old burial mounds doubtless once existed, +and all monumental evidences of those mighty men--the last, perhaps, of +an ancient race--have long since been destroyed by the ruthless hand +of time.</p> + +<p>The manor of Fairford now belongs to the Barker family, to whom it came +through the female line about a century ago.</p> + +<p>We must now leave Fairford, and start on our pilgrimage to the Roman +villa of Chedworth. At present we have not got very far, having lingered +at our starting-point longer than we had intended. The first two miles +are the least interesting of the whole journey; the Coln, broadened out +for some distance to the size of a lake, is hidden from our view by the +tall trees of Fairford Park. It was along this road that John Keble, the +poet used to walk day by day to his cure at Coln-St.-Aldwyns. His home +was at Fairford. Two eminent American artists have made their home in +Fairford during recent years--Mr. Edwin Abbey and Mr. J. Sargent, both +R.A's. Close by, too, at Kelmscott, dwelt William Morris, the poet.</p> + +<p>On reaching Quenington we catch a glimpse of the river, whilst high up +on the hill to our right stands the great pile of Hatherop Castle. This +place, the present owner of which is Sir Thomas Bazley, formerly +belonged to the nunnery of Lacock. After the suppression of the +monasteries it passed through various heiresses to the family of Ashley. +It was practically rebuilt by William Spencer Ponsonby, first Lord de +Mauley; his son, Mr. Ashley Ponsonby, sold it to Prince Duleep Singh, +from whom it passed to the present owner. Sir Thomas Bazley has done +much for the village which is fortunate enough to claim him as a +resident; his estate is a model of what country estates ought to be, +unprofitable though it must have proved as an investment.</p> + +<p>As we pass on through the fair villages of Quenington and +Coln-St.-Aldwyns we cannot help noticing the delightful character of the +houses from a picturesque point of view; in both these hamlets there are +the same clean-looking stone cottages and stone-tiled roofs. Here and +there the newer cottages are roofed with ordinary slate; and this seems +a pity. Nevertheless, there still remains much that is picturesque to be +seen on all sides. Roses grow in every garden, clematis relieves with +its rich purple shade the walls of many a cosy little dwelling-house, +and the old white mills, with their latticed windows and pointed +gables, are a feature of every tiny hamlet through which the +river flows.</p> + +<blockquote> +"How gay the habitations that adorn<br> + This fertile valley! Not a house but seems<br> + To give assurance of content within,<br> + Embosom'd happiness, and placid love."<br><br> + + WORDSWORTH.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The beautiful gabled house close to the Norman church of +Coln-St.-Aldwyns is the old original manor house. Inside it is an old +oak staircase, besides other interesting relics of the Elizabethan age. +For many years this has been a farmhouse, but it has recently been +restored by its owner, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the present Chancellor +of the Exchequer, who intends to make it his country abode. A piece of +carved stone with four heads was discovered by the workmen engaged in +the restoration, and is to be placed over the front door. It is +doubtless a remnant of an old monastery, and dates back to Norman times.</p> + +<p>Williamstrip House and Park lie on your right-hand side as you leave the +village of "Coln" behind you. This place also belongs to Sir Michael +Hicks-Beach; it has always seemed to us the <i>beau-ideal</i> of an English +home. A medium-sized, comfortable square house of the time of George I., +surrounded by some splendid old trees, in a park not too large, a couple +of miles or so of excellent trout-fishing, very fair shooting, and good +hunting would seem to be a combination of sporting advantages that few +country places enjoy. Williamstrip came into the family of the present +owner in 1784. The three parishes of Hatherop, Quenington, and +Coln-St.-Aldwyns practically adjoin each other. Each has its beautiful +church, the Norman doorways in that of Quenington being well worth a +visit. Close to the church of Quenington are the remnants of an ancient +monastery.</p> + +<p>The "Knights Templar" of Quenington were famous in times gone by. There +is a fine entrance gate and porch on the roadside, which no doubt led to +the abbey.</p> + +<p>There is little else left to remind us of these Knights Templar. Here +and there are an old lancet window or a little piece of Gothic tracery +on an ancient wall, an old worm-eaten roof of oak or a heap of ruined +stones on a moat-surrounded close,--these are all the remnants to be +found of the days of chivalry and the monks of old.</p> + +<p>We have now two rather uneventful miles to traverse between +Coln-St.-Aldwyns and Bibury, for we must once more leave the valley and +set out across the bleak uplands. On the high ground we have the +advantage of splendid bracing air at all events. The hills have a charm +of their own on a fine day, more especially when the fields are full of +golden corn and the old-fashioned Cotswold men are busy among +the sheaves.</p> + +<p>And very soon we get a view which we would gladly have walked twenty +miles to see. Down below us and not more than half a mile away is the +fine old Elizabethan house of Bibury, standing out from a background of +magnificent trees. Close to the house is the grey Norman tower of the +village church, which has stood there for mote than six centuries. +Nestling round about are the old stone-roofed cottages, like those we +have seen in the other villages we have passed through. A broad reach of +the Coln and a grand waterfall enhance the quiet and peaceful beauty of +the scene. But this description falls very short of conveying any +adequate idea of the truly delightful effect which the old grey +buildings set in a framework of wood and water present on a fine +autumnal afternoon.</p> + +<p>Never shall I forget seeing this old place from the hill above during +one September sunset. There was a marvellous glow suffused over the +western sky, infinitely beautiful while it lasted; and immediately below +a silvery mist had risen from the surface of the broad trout stream, and +was hanging over the old Norman tower of the church. Amid the rush of +the waterfall could be heard the distant voices of children in the +village street. Then on a sudden the church clock struck the hour of +six, in deep, solemn tones. Against the russet-tinted woods in the +background the old court house stood out grey and silent under the +shadow of the church tower, preaching as good a sermon as any I +ever heard.</p> + +<blockquote> +"An English home, grey twilight poured<br> + On dewy pastures, dewy trees,<br> + Softer than sleep,--all things in order stored,<br> + A haunt of ancient peace."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Bibury Court is a most beautiful old house. Some of it dates back to +Henry VIII.'s time. The most remarkable characteristic of its interior +is a very fine carved oak staircase. The greater part of this house was +built in the year 1623 by Sir Thomas Sackville. It was long the seat of +the Creswell family, before passing by purchase to the family of the +present owner--Lord Sherborne. The fine old church has some Saxon work +in it, whilst the doorways and many other portions are Norman. Its +delightful simplicity and brightness is what pleases one most. On coming +down into the village, one notices a little square on the left, not at +all like those one sees in London, but very picturesque and clean +looking. In the olden times were to be seen in many villages little +courts of this kind; in the centre of them was usually a great tree, +round which the old people would sit on summer evenings, while the +children danced and played around. Gilbert White speaks of one at +Selborne, which he calls the "Plestor." The original name was +"Pleystow," which means a play place. We have noticed them in many parts +of the Cotswold country. Here, too, children are playing about under the +shade of some delightful trees in the centre of the miniature square, +whilst the variegated foliage sets off the gabled cottages which form +three sides of it.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-206-224.jpg"> +<img src="fp-206-224.jpg" width = "35%" alt="BIBURY STREET."> +</a><br><b>"BIBURY STREET."</b> +</P> + +<p>I have often wondered, as I stood by these chestnut trees, whether there +is any architecture more perfect in its simplicity and grace than that +which lies around me here. Not a cottage is in sight that is not worthy +of the painter's brush; not a gable or a chimney that would not be +worthy of a place in the Royal Academy. The little square is bordered +for six months of the year with the prettiest of flowers. Even as late +as December you may see roses in bloom on the walls, and chrysanthemums +of varied shade in every garden. Then, as we passed onwards,</p> + +<blockquote> +"On the stream's bank, and everywhere, appeared<br> + Fair dwellings, single or in social knots;<br> + Some scattered o'er the level, others perch'd<br> + On the hill-sides--a cheerful, quiet scene."<br><br> + + WORDSWORTH.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>There is a Gothic quaintness about all the buildings in the Cotswolds, +great and small alike, which is very charming. Bibury is indeed a pretty +village. As you walk along the main street which runs parallel with the +river, an angler is busy "swishing" his rod violently in the air to +"dry" the fly, ere he essays to drop it over the nose of one of the +speckled fario which abound; so be careful to step down off the path +which runs alongside the stream, in case you should put the fish "down" +and spoil the sport. And now on our left, beyond the green, may be seen +a line of gabled cottages called "Arlington Row," a picture of which by +G. Leslie was hung at the Royal Academy this year (1898).</p> + +<p>A few hundred yards on you stop to inspect the spring which rises in the +garden of the Swan Hotel. It has been said that two million gallons a +day is the minimum amount of water poured out by this spring. It +consists of the rain, which, falling on a large area of the hill +country, gradually finds its way through the limestone rocks and +eventually comes out here. It would be interesting to trace the course +of some of these underground rivers; for a torrent of water such as this +cannot flow down through the soft rock without in the course of +thousands of years, producing caves and grottoes and underground +galleries and all the wonders of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, with its +stalactite pillars and fairy avenues and domes--though the Cotswold +caves are naturally on a much smaller scale. At Torquay and on the +Mendip Hills, as everybody knows, there are caves of wondrous beauty, +carved by the water within the living rock.</p> + +<p>Probably within a hundred yards of Bibury spring there are beautiful +hidden caves, such as those funny little "palaeolithic" men lived in a +few thousand years ago; but why there have not been more discoveries of +this nature in this part of the Cotswolds it is difficult to say. There +is a cave hereabouts, men say, but the entrance to it cannot now be +found. There is likewise a Roman villa on the hill here which has not +yet been dug out of its earthy bed. A hundred years ago a large number +of Roman antiquities were discovered near this village.</p> + +<p>We now leave Bibury behind us, and a mile on we pass through the hamlet +of Ablington, which is very like Bibury on a smaller scale, with its +ancient cottages, tithe barns and manor house; its springs of +transparent water, its brook, and wealth of fine old trees. We have no +time to linger in this hamlet to-day, though we would fain pause to +admire the old house.</p> + +<blockquote> +"The pillar'd porch, elaborately embossed;<br> + The low, wide windows with their mullions old;<br> + The cornice richly fretted of grey stone;<br> + And that smooth slope from which the dwelling rose<br> + By beds and banks Arcadian of gay flowers,<br> + And flowering shrubs, protected and adorned."<br><br> + + WORDSWORTH<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>After leaving Ablington we once more ascend the hill and make our way +along an old, disused road, probably an ancient British track, in +preference to keeping to the highway--in the first place because it is +by far the shortest, and secondly because we intend to go somewhat out +of our way to inspect two ancient barrows, the resting-place of the +chiefs of old, of whom Ossian (or was it Macpherson?)<a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5">[5]</a> sang: "If fall +I must in the field, raise high my grave. Grey stones and heaped-up +earth shall mark me to future times. When the hunter shall sit by the +mound and produce his food at noon, 'Some warrior rests here,' he will +say; and my fame shall live in his praise."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> In spite of Dr. Johnson and other eminent critics, one +cannot help believing in the genuineness of some of the poems attributed +to Ossian. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating"; and those +wonderful old songs are too wild and lifelike to have had their origin +in the eighteenth century. Macpherson doubtless enlarged upon the +originals, but he must have had a good foundation to work upon. +</blockquote> + +<p>A very large barrow lies about a mile out of our track to the right +hand; as it is somewhat different from the other barrows in the +neighbourhood, we will briefly describe it. It is a "long barrow," with +the two horns at one end that are usually associated with "long" +barrows. In the middle of the curve between these ends stands a great +stone about five feet square, not very unlike our own gravestones, +though worn by the rains of thousands of years. The mound is surrounded +by a double wall of masonry. At the north end, when it was opened forty +years ago, a chamber was found containing human bones. It is supposed +that this mound was the burying-place of a race which dwelt on Cotswold +at least three thousand years ago. From the nature of the stone +implements found, it is conjectured that the people who raised it were +unacquainted with the use of metal.</p> + +<p>Now we will have a look at another barrow a few fields away. This is a +mound of a somewhat later age; for it was raised over the ashes of a +body or bodies that had been cremated. It was probably the Celts who +raised this barrow. The other day it was opened for a distinguished +society of antiquaries to inspect; they found that in the centre were +stones carefully laid, encircling a small chamber, whilst the outer +portions were of ordinary rubble. Nothing but lime-dust and dirt was +found in the chamber; but in the course of thousands of years most of +these barrows have probably been opened a good many times by Cotswold +natives in search of "golden coffins" and other treasures.</p> + +<p>There is a small, round underground chamber within a short distance of +these barrows, which the natives consider to be a shepherd's hut, put up +about two centuries back, and before the country was enclosed, as a +retreat to shelter the men who looked after the flocks. It has been +declared, however, by those who have studied the question of burial +mounds, that it was built in very early times, and contained bodies that +had not been cremated. The antiquaries who came a short time back to +view these remains describe it as "an underground chamber, circular in +shape, and an excellent sample of dry walling. The roof is dome-shaped, +and gradually projects inwards." I narrowly escaped taking this +"society" for a band of poachers; for when out shooting the other day, +somebody remarked, "Look at all those fellows climbing over the wall of +the fox-covert."</p> + +<p>Now the fox-covert is a very sacred institution in these parts; for it +is a place of only four acres, standing isolated in the midst of a fine, +open country--so that no human being is allowed to enter therein save to +"stop the earth" the night before hunting. We rushed up in great haste, +fully prepared for mortal combat with this gang of ruffians, until, when +within a hundred yards, the thought crossed us that we had given leave +to the Cotswold Naturalist Society to make a tour of inspection, and +that one of the barrows was in our fox-covert.</p> + +<p>Labouring friends of mine often bring me relics of the stone age which +they have picked up whilst at work in the fields. Quite recently a +shepherd brought me a knife blade and two flint arrow-heads. He also +tells me they have lately found a "himmige" up in old Mr. Peregrine's +"barn-ground." Tom Peregrine possesses a bag of old coins of all dates +and sizes, which he tells you with great pride have been an heirloom in +his family for generations.</p> + +<p>When we once more resume our pilgrimage along the track which leads to +Chedworth we find ourselves in a country which is never explored by the +tourist. Far removed from railways and the "busy haunts of men," it is +not even mentioned in the guide-books. Our way lies along the edge of +the hill for the next few miles, and we look down upon the picturesque +valley of the Coln. Four villages, all very like those we have +described, are passed in rapid succession. Winson, Coln Rogers, +Coln-St.-Dennis, and Fossbridge all lie below us as we wend our way +westwards. But although the architecture is of the same massive yet +graceful style, and the old Norman churches still tower their grand old +heads and cast their shadows over the cottages and farm buildings, there +are no manor houses of note in any of these four villages, and no +well-timbered demesnes; so that they are not so interesting as some of +those we have passed through. In all, however, there dwell the good old +honest labouring folk, toiling hard day by day at "the trivial round, +the common task," just earning enough to scrape up a livelihood, but +enjoying few of the amenities of life. The village parsons--good, pious +men--share in the quiet, uneventful life of their flock. And who shall +contemn their lot? As Horace tells us:</p> + +<blockquote> +"Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum<br> + Splendet in mensa tenui salinum<br> + Nec leves somnos timor aut cupido<br> + Sordidus aufert."<br> +</blockquote> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-212-230.jpg"> +<img src="fp-212-230.jpg" width = "35%" alt="ARLINGTON ROW."> +</a><br><b>"ARLINGTON ROW."</b> +</P> + +<p>These four villages were all built two centuries or more ago, when the +Cotswolds were the centre of much life and activity and the days of +agricultural depression were not known. When we look down on their old, +grey houses nestling among the great trees which thrive by the banks of +the fertilising stream, we cannot but speculate on their future fate. +Gradually the population diminishes, as work gets scarcer and scarcer. +Unless there is an unexpected revival in prices through some measure of +"protection" being granted by law, or the medium of a great European +war, or some such far-reaching dispensation of Providence, terrible to +think of for those who live to see it, but with all its possibilities of +"good arising out of evil" for future generations, these old villages +will contain scarcely a single inhabitant in a hundred year's time. This +part of the Cotswold country will once more become a huge open plain, +retaining only long rows of tumbled-down stone walls as evidences of its +former enclosed state; no longer on Sundays will the notes of the +beautiful bells call the toilers to prayer and thanksgiving, and all +will be desolation. If only the capitalist or wealthy man of business +would take up his abode in these places, all might be well. But, alas! +the peace and quiet of such out-of-the-way spots, with all their +fascinating contrast to the smoke and din of a manufacturing town, have +little attraction for those who are unused to them. And yet there is +much happiness and content in these rural villages. The lot of those who +are able to get work is a thousand times more supportable than that of +the toiling millions in our great cities. There is less drinking and +less vice among these villagers than there is in any part of this world +that we are acquainted with; consequently you find them cheerful, +good-humoured, and, if they only knew it, happy. Grumble they must, or +they would not be mortal. Ah! if they could but realise the blessings of +the elixir of life--pure air, and fresh, clear, spring water, and +sunshine--three inestimable privileges that they enjoy all the year +round, and which are denied to so many of the inhabitants of this +globe--there would be little grumbling in the Cotswolds.</p> + +<blockquote> +"From toil he wins his spirits light,<br> + From busy day the peaceful night;<br> + Rich from the very want of wealth<br> + In heaven's best treasures, peace and health."<br><br> + + GRAY.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>"But these villages are so <i>dull</i>, and life is so monotonous there," is +the constant complaint. But what part of this earth is there, may I ask, +that is not dull to those who live there, unless we drive out dull care +and <i>ennui</i> by that glorious antidote to gloom and despondency, a fully +occupied mind? There are two chapters in Carlyle's "Past and Present" +that ought to be printed in letters of gold, set in an ivory frame, and +hung up in the sleeping apartment of every man, woman, and child on the +face of this earth. They are called "Labour" and "Reward." In those few +short pages is embodied the whole secret of content and happiness for +the dwellers in quiet country villages and smoky towns alike. They +contain the philosopher's stone, which makes men cheerful under all +circumstances, but especially those who are poor and down-trodden. The +secret is a very simple one; but if the educated classes are continually +losing sight of it, how much easier is it for those who have only the +bare necessaries of life and few of the comforts to become deadened to +its influence! It lies first of all in the realisation of the fact that +the object of life is not to get, still less to enjoy, riches and +pleasure. It teaches for the thousandth time that the humblest and the +highest of us alike are immortal souls imprisoned for threescore years +and ten in a tenement of clay, preparing for a better and higher +existence. It reverses the position of things on earth--placing the +crown of kings on the head of the toiling labourer, and making "the last +first and the first last." Its very essence lies in the dictum of the +old monks, "<i>Laborare est orare</i>" ("Work is worship").</p> + +<p>It was one of the chief characteristics of the Roman people in the time +of their greatness that their most successful generals were content to +return to the plough after their wars were over. Thus Pliny in his +"Natural History" remarks as follows: "Then were the fields cultivated +by the hands of the generals themselves, and the earth rejoiced, tilled +as it was by a ploughshare crowned with laurels, he who guided the wheel +being himself fresh from glorious victories." And no sooner did honest +hand labour become despised than effeminacy crept in, and this once +haughty nation was practically blotted out from the face of the earth.</p> + +<p>Let the Cotswold labourer realise that to work on the land, ploughing +and reaping, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, come weal, come +woe, is no mean destiny for an honest man; there is scope for the +display of a noble and generous spirit in the beautiful green fields as +well as in the smoky atmosphere of the east end of London, in a +Birmingham factory, or a Warrington forge.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of nobleness?" asks Carlyle. "In a valiant +suffering for others did nobleness ever lie. Every noble crown is, and +on earth will for ever be, a crown of thorns. All true work is sacred. +In all true work, were it but true hand labour, there is something of +divineness. Sweat of the brow; and up from that to sweat of the brain, +sweat of the heart; up to that 'agony of bloody sweat' which all men +have called divine. Oh, brother, if this is not worship, then, I say, +the more pity for worship: for this is the noblest thing yet discovered +under God's sky. Who art thou that complainest of thy life of toil? +Complain not. Look up, my wearied brother; see thy fellow workmen there +in God's eternity surviving those, they alone surviving; peopling, they +alone, the unmeasured solitudes of Time. To thee Heaven, though severe, +is not unkind. Heaven is kind, as a noble mother; as that Spartan +mother, saying, while she gave her son his shield, 'With it, my son, or +upon it, thou, too, shalt return home in honour--to thy far distant home +in honour--doubt it not--if in the battle thou keep thy shield!' Thou in +the eternities and deepest death kingdoms art not an alien; thou +everywhere art a denizen. Complain not; the very Spartans did not +complain."</p> + +<p>Would that the toiling labourer in the Cotswolds and in our great smoky +cities might keep these words continually before him, so that he might +grasp, not merely the secret of content and happiness in this life, but +the golden key to the immeasurable blessings of "the sure and certain +hope" of that life which is to come! Then shall he hear the words:</p> + +<blockquote> +"King, thou wast called Conqueror;<br> + In every battle thou bearest the prize."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Conqueror will he be in life's battle if he follow in the footsteps of +the Spartan of old or of Wordsworth's "Happy Warrior":</p> + +<blockquote> +"Who, doomed to go in company with pain,<br> + And fear, and bloodshed--miserable train!--<br> + Turns his necessity to glorious gain."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Finally, the countryman who feels discontented with his lot--and there +are few indeed who do not occasionally pine for a change of +employment--should go on a railway journey through "the black country" +at night, and mark the fierce light that reddens the murky skies as the +factory fires send forth their livid flames and clouds of sooty smoke. +He should watch the swarms of long-suffering human beings going to and +fro and in and out like busy bees around their hive, toiling, ever +toiling, round about the blazing fires. He should spend an hour in the +streets of Birmingham, where, as I passed through one fine September +morning recently on my way to Ireland, the atmosphere was darkened and +the human lungs stifled by a thick yellow fog. Or he should go down to +the engine-room of a mighty liner, when it is doing its twenty knots +across the seas, and then think of his own life in the happy hamlets and +the fresh, green fields of our English country.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>Coming once more down the hill into the valley of the Coln, we must +cross the old Roman road known as the Fossway, follow the course of the +stream, and, about a mile beyond the snug little village of Fossbridge, +we reach the great woods of Chedworth.</p> + +<p>These coverts form part of the property of Lord Eldon. His house of +Stowell stands well up on the hill. It is a grey, square building of +some size, placed so as to catch all the sun and the breezes too,--very +much more healthy and bright than most of the old houses we have passed, +which were built much too low down in the valley, where the winter +sunbeams seldom penetrate and the river mists rise damp and cold at +night. As we walk along the drive which leads through the woods to the +Roman villa, any amount of rabbits and pheasants are to be seen. And +here take place annually some of those big shoots which ignorant people +are so fond of condemning as unsportsmanlike, simply because they have +not the remotest idea what they are talking about. Why it should be +cruel to kill a thousand head in a day instead of two hundred on five +separate days, one fails to understand. As a matter of fact, the bigger +the "shoot" the less cruelty takes place, because bad shots are not +likely to be present on these occasions, whilst in small "shoots" they +are the rule rather than the exception. Instead of birds and ground game +being wounded time after time, at big <i>battues</i> they are killed stone +dead by some well-known and acknowledged good shot. To see a real +workman knocking down rocketer after rocketer at a height which would be +considered impossible by half the men who go but shooting is to witness +an exhibition of skill and correct timing which can only be attained by +the most assiduous practice and the quickest of eyes. No, it is the +pottering hedgerow shooter, generally on his neighbour's boundary, who +is often unsportsmanlike. We know one or two who would have no +hesitation in shooting at a covey of partridges on the ground, when they +were within shot of the boundary hedge; and if they wounded three or +four and picked them up, they would carry them home fluttering and +gasping, because they are too heartless to think of putting the wretched +creatures out of their sufferings.</p> + +<p>The extensive Roman remains discovered some years ago in the heart of +this forest doubtless formed the country house of some Roman squire. +They are well away from the river bank, and about three parts of the way +up the sloping hillside. The house faced as nearly as possible +south-east. In this point, as in many others, the Romans showed their +superiority of intellect over our ancestors of Elizabethan and other +days. Nowadays we begin to realise that houses should be built on high +ground, and that the aspect that gives most sun in winter is south-east. +The old Romans realised this fifteen hundred years ago. In other words, +our ancestors in the dark ages were infinitely behind the Romans in +intellect, and we are just reaching their standard of common sense. The +characteristics of the interior of these old dwellings are simplicity +combined with refinement and good taste. And it is worthy of remark that +the men who are ahead of the thought and feeling of the present day are +crying out for more simplicity in our homes and furniture, as well as +for more refinement and real architectural merit. No useless luxuries +and nick-nacks, but plenty of public baths, and mosaic pavements +laboriously put together by hard hand labour,--these are the points that +Ruskin and the Romans liked in common.</p> + +<p>With this grandly timbered valley spread beneath them, no more suitable +spot on which to build a house could anywhere be found. And though the +Romans who inhabited this villa could not from its windows see the sun +go down in the purple west, emblematic of that which was shortly to set +over Rome, they could see the glorious dawn of a new day--boding forth +the dawn that was already brightening over England, even as "The old +order changeth, yielding place to new";--and they could see the +splendours of the moon rising in the eastern sky.</p> + +<p>The principal apartment in this Roman country house measures about +thirty feet by twenty; it was probably divided into two parts, forming +the dining-room and drawing-room as well. The tessellated pavements are +wonderfully preserved, though not quite so perfect as a few others that +have been found in England. With all their beautiful colouring they are +merely formed of different shades of local stone, together with a little +terra-cotta. Perhaps these pavements, with their rich mellow tints of +red sandstone, and their shades of white, yellow, brown, and grey, +afforded by different varieties of limestone, are examples of the most +perfect kind of work which the labours of mankind, combined with the +softening influences of time, are able to produce. In one corner the +design is that of a man with a rabbit in his hand; and no doubt there +were lots of rabbits in these woods in those days, as well as deer and +other wild animals long since extinct.</p> + +<p>In these woods of Chedworth the rose bay willow herbs grow taller and +finer than is their wont elsewhere. In every direction they spring up in +hundreds, painting the woodlands with a wondrously rich purple glow. +Here, too, the bracken thrives, and many a fine old oak tree spreads its +branches, revelling in the clay soil. On the limestone of the Cotswolds +oaks are seldom seen; but wherever a vein of clay is found, there will +be the oaks and the bracken. Every forest tree thrives hereabouts; and +in the open spaces that occur at intervals in the forest there grow such +masses of wild flowers as are nowhere else to be seen in the Cotswold +district. White spiraea, or meadow-sweet, crowds into every nook and +corner of open ground, raising its graceful stems in almost tropical +luxuriance by the brook-side. Campanula and the blue geranium or meadow +crane's-bill, with flowers of perfect blue, grow everywhere amid the +white blossoms of the spiraea. St John's wort, with its star-shaped +golden flowers, white and red campion, and a host of others, are larger +and more beautiful on the rich loam than they are on the stony hills. +Even the lily-of-the-valley thrives here.</p> + +<p>In the bathroom may be seen an excellent example of the hypocaust--an +ingenious contrivance, by means of which the rooms were heated with hot +air, which passed along beneath the floors.</p> + +<p>In the museum are portions of the skulls of men and of oxen, the +antlers of red deer, oyster shells, knives, spear-heads, arrow-heads, +bits of locks with keys, and excellent horseshoes, not to speak of such +things as bronze spurs, spoons, part of a Roman weighing-machine, and a +splendid pair of compasses. There are pieces of earthenware with +potter's marks on them, and red tiles bearing unmistakable marks of +fingering, as well as footprints of dogs and goats; these impressions +must have been made when the tiles were in a soft state. But the most +interesting relics are three freestone slabs, on which are inscribed the +Greek letters [Greek: chi] and [Greek: rho]. It was Mr. Lysons who first +noticed this evidence of ancient faith, and he is naturally of the +opinion that the sacred inscription proves that the builder was a +Christian. Another stone in this collection has the word "PRASIATA" +roughly chiselled on it.</p> + +<p>There was a British king, by name Prasutagus, said to have been a +Christian, and possibly it was this man who built the old house in the +midst of the Chedworth woods. A mile beyond this interesting relic of +Roman times is the manor house of Cassey Compton, built by Sir Richard +Howe about the middle of the seventeenth century. It stands on the banks +of the Coln, and in olden times was approached by a drawbridge and +surrounded by a moat. The farmer by whom it is inhabited tells me that, +judging by the fish-ponds situated close by, he imagines it was once a +monastery. This was undoubtedly the case, for we find in Fozbrooke that +the Archbishop of York had license to "embattle his house" here in the +reign of Edward I.</p> + +<p>A mosaic pavement, discovered here about 1811, was placed in the +British Museum.</p> + +<p>It is very sad to come upon these remote manor houses in all parts of +the Cotswold district, and to find that their ancient glory is departed, +even though their walls are as good as they were two hundred years ago, +when the old squires lived their jovial lives, and those halls echoed +the mirth and merriment which characterised the life of "the good old +English gentleman, all of the olden time."</p> + +<p>Other fine old houses in this immediate district which have not been +mentioned are Ampney Park, a Jacobean house containing an oak-panelled +apartment, with magnificently carved ceiling and fine stone fireplace; +Barnsley and Sherborne, partly built by Inigo Jones; Missarden, +Duntisborne Abbots, Kemble, and Barrington. Rendcombe is a modern house +of some size, built rather with a view to internal comfort than external +grace and symmetry.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI."></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>COTSWOLD PASTIMES.</h3> + +<p>It is not surprising that in those countries which abound in sunshine +and fresh, health-giving air, the inhabitants will invariably be found +to be not only keen sportsmen, but also accomplished experts in all the +games and pastimes for which England has long been famous. Given good +health and plenty of work mankind cannot help being cheerful and +sociably inclined; for this reason we have christened the district of +which we write the "Merrie Cotswolds." From time immemorial the country +people have delighted in sports and manly exercises. On the north wall +of the nave in Cirencester Church is a representation of the ancient +custom of Whitsun ale. The Whitsuntide sports were always a great +speciality on Cotswold, and continue to the present day, though in a +somewhat modified form.</p> + +<p>The custom portrayed in the church of Cirencester was as follows:--</p> + +<p>The villagers would assemble together in one of the beautiful old barns +which are so plentiful in every hamlet. Two of them, a boy and a girl, +were then chosen out and appointed Lord and Lady of the Yule. These are +depicted on the church wall; and round about them, dressed in their +proper garb, are pages and jesters, standard-bearer, purse-bearer, +mace-bearer, and a numerous company of dancers.</p> + +<p>The reason that a representation of this very secular custom is seen in +the church probably arises from the fact that the Church ales were +feasts instituted for the purpose of raising money for the repair of the +church. The churchwardens would receive presents of malt from the +farmers and squires around; they sold the beer they brewed from it to +the villagers, who were obliged to attend or else pay a fine.</p> + +<p>The church house--a building still to be seen in many villages--was +usually the scene of the festivities.</p> + +<p>The "Diary of Master William Silence" tells us that the quiet little +hamlets presented an unusually gay appearance on these memorable +occasions. "The village green was covered with booths. There were +attractions of various kinds. The churchwardens had taken advantage of +the unusual concourse of strangers as the occasion of a Church ale. +Great barrels of ale, the product of malt contributed by the +parishioners according to their several abilities, were set abroach in +the north aisle of the church, and their contents sold to the public. +This was an ordinary way of providing for church expenses, against which +earnest reformers inveighed, but as yet in vain so far as Shallow was +concerned. The church stood conveniently near the village green, and the +brisk trade which was carried on all day was not interrupted by the +progress of divine service." The parson's discourse, however, appears to +have suffered some interruption by reason of the numbers who crowded +into the aisles to patronise the churchwardens' excellent ale.</p> + +<p>In the reign of James I. one, Robert Dover, revived the old Olympic +games on Cotswold. Dover's Hill, near Weston-under-Edge, was called +after him.</p> + +<p>These sports included horse-racing, coursing, cock-fighting, and such +games as quoits, football, skittles, wrestling, dancing, jumping in +sacks, and all the athletic exercises.</p> + +<p>The "Annalia Dubrensia" contain many verses about these sports by the +hand of Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, and others.</p> + +<blockquote> +"On Cotteswold Hills there meets<br> + A greater troop of gallants than Rome's streets<br> + E'er saw in Pompey's triumphs: beauties, too,<br> + More than Diana's beavie of nymphs could show<br> + On their great hunting days."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>That hunting was practised here in these days is evident, for Thomas +Randall, of Cambridge, writes in the same volume:</p> + +<blockquote> +"Such royal pastimes Cotteswold mountains fill,<br> + When gentle swains visit Anglonicus hill,<br> + When with such packs of hounds they hunting go<br> + As Cyrus never woon'd his bugle to."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Fozbrooke tells us that the Whitsuntide sports are the <i>floralia</i> of the +Romans. They are still a great institution in all parts of the +Cotswolds, though Church ales, like cock-fighting and other barbaric +amusements, have happily long since died out.</p> + +<p>Golf and archery are popular pastimes in the merry Cotswolds. It is +somewhat remarkable that this district has produced in recent years the +amateur lady champions of England in each of these fascinating pastimes, +Lady Margaret Scott, of Stowell, being <i>facile princeps</i> among lady +golfers, whilst Mrs. Christopher Bowly, of Siddington, even now holds +the same position in relation to the ancient practice of archery.</p> + +<p>The ancient art of falconry is still practised in these parts. Thirty +years ago, when Duleep Singh lived at Hatherop, hawking on the downs was +one of his chief amusements. But the only hawking club hereabouts that +we know of is at Swindon, in Wiltshire.</p> + +<p>Coursing is as popular as ever among the Cotswold farmers. These hills +have always been noted for the sport. Drayton tells us that the prize at +the coursing meetings held on the Cotswolds in his day was a +silver-studded collar. Shakespeare, in his <i>Merry Wives of Windsor</i> +alludes to the coursing on "Cotsall." There is an excellent club at +Cirencester. The hares in this district are remarkably big and +strong-running. The whole district lends itself particularly to this +sport, owing to the large fields and fine stretches of open downs.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>CRICKET.</h2> + +<p>In an agricultural district such as the Cotswolds it is inevitable that +the game of cricket should be somewhat neglected. Men who work day after +day in the open air, and to whom a half-holiday is a very rare +experience, naturally seek their recreations in less energetic fashion +than the noble game of cricket demands of its votaries. The class who +derive most benefit from this game spring as a rule from towns and +manufacturing centres and those whose work and interests confine them +indoors the greater part of their time. Among the Cotswold farmers, +however, a great deal of interest is shown; the scores of county matches +are eagerly pursued in the daily papers; and if there is a big match on +at Cheltenham or any other neighbouring town, a large number invariably +go to see it. There is some difficulty in finding suitable sites for +your ground in these parts, for the hill turf is very stony and shallow; +it is not always easy to find a flat piece of ground handy to the +villages. A cricket ground is useless to the villagers if it is perched +up on the hill half a mile away. It must be at their doors; and even +then, though they may occasionally play, they will never by any chance +trouble to roll it. We made a ground in the valley of the Coln some +years ago, and went to some expense in the way of levelling, filling up +gravel pits, and removing obstructions like cowsheds; but unless we had +looked after it ourselves and made preparations for a match, it would +have soon gone back to its original rough state again. And yet two of +the young Peregrines in the village are wonderfully good cricketers, and +as "keen as mustard" about it; though when it comes to rolling and +mowing the ground they are not quite as keen. They will throw you over +for a match in the most unceremonious way if, when the day comes, they +don't feel inclined to play. We have often tried to persuade these two +young fellows to become professional cricketers, there being such a poor +prospect in the farming line; but they have not the slightest ambition +to play for the county, though they are quite good enough; so they +"waste their sweetness on the desert air."</p> + +<p>Old Mr. Peregrine, a man of nearly eighty years of age, is splendid fun +when he is watching his boys play cricket. He goes mad with excitement; +and if you take them off bowling, however much the batsmen appear to +relish their attack, he won't forgive you for the rest of the day.</p> + +<p>His eldest son, Tom--our old friend the keeper--generally stands umpire; +he is not so useful to his side as village umpires usually are, because +he hasn't got the moral courage to give his side "in" when he knows +perfectly well they are "out." The other day, however, he made a slight +error; for, on being appealed to for the most palpable piece of +"stumping" ever seen in the cricket field, the ball bouncing back on to +the wicket from the wicket-keeper's pads while the batsman was two yards +out of his ground, he said, "Not out; it hit the wicket-keeper's pads." +He imagined he was being asked whether the batsman had been bowled, and +it never occurred to him that you could be "stumped out" in this way. +Altogether, Cotswold cricket is great fun.</p> + +<p>The district is full of memories of the prehistoric age, and in certain +parts of the country <i>prehistoric</i> cricket is still indulged in. Never +shall I forget going over to Edgeworth with the Winson Cricket XI. to +play a <i>grand</i> match at that seat of Roman antiquities. The carrier +drove us over in his pair-horse brake--a rickety old machine, with a +pony of fourteen hands and a lanky, ragged-hipped old mare over sixteen +hands high in the shafts together. A most useful man in the field was +the honest carrier, whether at point or at any other place where the +ball comes sharp and quick; for, to quote Shakespeare,</p> + +<blockquote> +"he was a man<br> +Of an unbounded stomach."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The rest of our team included the jovial miller; two of the village +carpenter's sons--excellent folk; the village curate, who captained the +side, and stood six feet five inches without his cricket shoes; one or +two farmers; a footman, and a somewhat fat and apoplectic butler.</p> + +<p>The colours mostly worn by the Winson cricketers are black, red, and +gold--a Zingaric band inverted (black on top); their motto I believe to +be "Tired, though united."</p> + +<p>As the ground stands about eight hundred feet above sea level, all of +us, but especially the fat butler, found considerable difficulty in +getting to the top of the hill, after the brake had set us down at the +village public. But once arrived, a magnificent view was to be had, +extending thirty miles and more across the wolds to the White Horse Hill +in Berkshire. However, we had not come to admire the view so much as to +play the game of cricket. We therefore proceeded to look for the pitch. +It was known to be in the field in which we stood, because a large red +flag floated at one end and proclaimed that somewhere hereabouts was the +scene of combat. It was the fat butler, I think, who, after sailing +about in a sea of waving buttercups like a veritable Christopher +Columbus, first discovered the stumps among the mowing grass.</p> + +<p>Evident preparations had been made either that morning or the previous +night for a grand match; a large number of sods of turf had been taken +up and hastily replaced on that portion of the wicket where the ball is +supposed to pitch when it leaves the bowler's hand. There had been no +rain for a month, but just where the stumps were stuck a bucket or two +of water had been dashed hastily on to the arid soil; while, to crown +all, a chain or rib roller--a ghastly instrument used by agriculturists +for scrunching up the lumps and bumps on the ploughed fields, and +pulverising the soil--had been used with such effect that the surface of +the pitch to the depth of about an inch had been reduced to dust.</p> + +<p>In spite of this we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Delightful +old-fashioned people, both farmers and labourers, were playing against +us; quaint (I use the word in its true sense) and simple folk, who +looked as if they had been dug up with the other Saxon and Roman +antiquities for which Edgeworth is so famous.</p> + +<p>I was quite certain that the man who bowled me out was a direct +descendant of Julius Caesar. He delivered the ball underhand at a rapid +rate. It came twisting along, now to the right, now to the left; seemed +to disappear beneath the surface of the soil, then suddenly came in +sight again, shooting past the block. Eventually they told me it removed +the left bail, and struck the wicket-keeper a fearful blow on the chest. +It was generally agreed that such a ball had never been bowled before. +"'Twas a <i>pretty</i> ball!" as Tom Peregrine pronounced it, standing umpire +in an enormous wideawake hat and a white coat reaching down to his +knees, and smoking a bad cigar. "A very pretty ball," said my fellow +batsman at the other wicket "A d--d pretty ball," I reiterated <i>sotto +voce</i>, as I beat a retreat towards the flag in the corner of the field, +which served as a pavilion.</p> + +<p>When I went on to bowl left-handed "donkey-drops," Tom Peregrine (my own +servant, if you please) was very nearly no-balling me. "For," said he, +"I 'ate that drabby-handed business; it looks so awkid. Muddling work, I +calls it." But I am anticipating.</p> + +<p>As I prepared myself for the fray, and carefully donned a pair of +well-stuffed pads and an enormously thick woollen jersey for protection, +not so much against the cold as against the "flying ball," it flashed +across me that I was about to personify the immortal Dumkins of Pickwick +fame; whilst in my companion, the stout butler, it was impossible not +to detect the complacent features and rounded form of Mr. Podder. Up to +a certain point the analogy was complete. Let the Winson Invincibles +equal the All Muggleton C.C., while the Edgeworth Daisy Cutters shall be +represented by Dingley Dell; then sing us, thou divine author of +Pickwick, the glories of that never-to-be-forgotten day.</p> + +<p>"All Muggleton had the first innings, and the interest became intense +when Mr. Dumkins and Mr. Podder--two of the most renowned members of +that distinguished club--walked bat in hand to their respective wickets. +Mr. Luffy, the highest ornament of Dingley Dell, was pitched to bowl +against the redoubtable Dumkins, and Mr. Struggles was selected to do +the same kind office for the hitherto unconquered Podder...The umpires +were stationed behind the wickets [Tom Peregrine had been suborned for +Winson, and proved the most useful man on the side], the scorers were +prepared to notch the runs. A breathless silence ensued. Mr. Luffy +retired a few paces behind the wicket of the passive Podder, and applied +the ball to his right eye for several seconds. Dumkins [the author] +confidently awaited its coming with his eyes fixed on the motions of Mr. +Luffy. 'Play!' suddenly cried the bowler. The ball flew from his hand +straight and swift towards the centre stump of the wicket. The wary +Dumkins was on the alert; it fell upon the tip of his bat...."</p> + +<p>Here, with deep sorrow, let it be stated that the writer failed to +evince the admirable skill displayed by his worthy prototype; the +Dumkins of grim reality was unable to compete with the Dumkins of +fiction. Instead of "sending the ball far away over the heads of the +scouts; who just stooped low enough to let it fly over them," I caught +it just as it pitched on a rabbit-hole, and sent it straight up into the +air like a soaring rocket. "Right, right, I have it!" yelled bowler and +wicket-keeper simultaneously. "Run two, Podder; they'll never catch it!" +shouted Dumkins with all his might. "Catch it in your 'at, Bill!" +screamed the Edgeworth eleven. Never was such confusion! I was already +starting for the second run, whilst my stout fellow batsman was halfway +through the first, when the ball came down like a meteor, and, narrowly +shaving the luckless "Podder's" head, hit the ground with a loud thud +about five yards distant from the outstretched hands of the anxious +bowler, who collided with his ally, the wicket-keeper, in the middle of +the pitch. Half stunned by the shock, and disappointed at his want of +success in his attempt to "judge" the catch, the bowler had yet presence +of mind enough to seize the ball and hurl it madly at the stumps. But +the wicket-keeper being still <i>hors de combat</i>, it flew away towards the +spectators, and buried itself among the mowing grass. "Come six, +Podder!" I shouted, amid cries of "Keep on running!" "Run it out!" etc., +from spectators and scouts alike. And run we did, for the umpire forgot +to call "lost ball," and we should have been running still but for the +ingenuity of one of our opponents; for, whilst all were busily engaged +in searching among the grass, a red-faced yokel stole up unawares, with +an innocent expression on his face, raced poor "Podder" down the pitch, +produced the ball from his trouser pocket, and knocked off the bails in +the nick of time. "Out," says Peregrine, amid a roar of laughter from +the whole field; and Mr. "Podder" had to go.</p> + +<p>Now came the question how many runs should be scored, for I had passed +my fellow batsman in the race, having completed seven runs to his five. +Eventually it was decided to split the difference and call it a sixer; +the suggestion of a member of our side that seven should be scored to me +and five to Mr. "Podder" (making twelve in all) being rejected after +careful consideration.</p> + +<p>Thus, from the first ball bowled in this historic match there arose the +whole of the remarkable events recorded above. Therein is shown the +complete performances with the bat of two renowned cricketers; for, alas +I in once more trying to play up to the form of Dumkins, I was bowled +"slick" the very next ball, "as hath been said or sung."</p> + +<p>There was much good-natured chaff flying about during the match, but no +fighting and squabbling, save when a boundary hit was made, when the +batsman always shouted "Three runs," and the bowler "No, only one." The +scores were not high; but I remember that we won by three runs, that the +carpenter's son got a black eye, that we had tea in an old manor house +turned into an inn, and drove home in the glow of a glorious sunset, not +entirely displeased with our first experience of "prehistoric" cricket.</p> + +<p>Some of the pleasantest matches we have ever taken part in have been +those at Bourton-on-the-Water. Owing to the very soft wicket which he +found on arriving, this place was once christened by a well-known +cricketer <i>Bourton-on-the-Bog</i>. Indeed, it is often a case of +Bourton-<i>under</i>-the-Water; but, in spite of a soft pitch, there is great +keenness and plenty of good-tempered rivalry about these matches. +Bourton is a truly delightful village. The Windrush, like the Coln at +Bibury, runs for some distance alongside of the village street.</p> + +<p>The M.C.C., or "premier club"--as the sporting press delight to call the +famous institution at Lord's--generally get thoroughly well beaten by +the local club. For so small a place they certainly put a wonderfully +strong team into the field; on their own native "bog" they are fairly +invincible, though we fancy on the hard-baked clay at Lord's their +bowlers would lose a little of their cunning.</p> + +<p>In the luncheon tent at Bourton there are usually more wasps than are +ever seen gathered together in one place; they come in thousands from +their nests in the banks of the Windrush.</p> + +<p>If you are playing a match there, it is advisable to tuck your trousers +into your socks when you sit down to luncheon. This, together with the +fact that the tent has been known to blow down in the middle of +luncheon, makes these matches very lively and amusing. What more lively +scene could be imagined than a large tent with twenty-two cricketers and +a few hundred wasps hard at work eating and drinking; then, on the tent +suddenly collapsing, the said cricketers and the said wasps, mixed up +with chairs, tables, ham, beef, salad-dressing, and apple tart, and the +various ingredients of a cricket lunch, all struggling on the floor, and +striving in vain to find their way out as best they can? Fortunately, on +the only occasion that the tent blew down when we were present, it was +not a good wasp year.</p> + +<p>Besides the matches at Bourton, there is plenty of cricket at +Cirencester, Northleach, and other centres in the Cotswolds. The "hunt" +matches are great institutions, even though hunting people as a rule do +not care for cricket, and invariably drop a catch. A good sportsman and +excellent fellow has lately presented a cup to be competed for by the +village clubs of this district. This, no doubt, will give a great +impetus to the game amongst all classes; our village club has already +been revived in order to compete. Our only fear with regard to the cup +competition is that when you get two elevens on to a ground, and two +umpires, none of whom know the rules (for cricket laws are the most +"misunderstandable" things in creation), the final tie will degenerate +into a free fight.</p> + +<p>Be this as it may, anything that can make the greatest pastime of this +country popular in the "merrie Cotswolds" is a step in the right +direction. It is pleasing to watch boys and men hard at work practising +on summer evenings. The rougher the ground the more they like it. +Scorning pads and gloves, they "go in" to bat, and make Herculean +efforts to hit the ball. And this, with fast bowling and the bumpy +nature of the pitch, is a very difficult thing to do. They play on, long +after sunset,--the darker it gets, and the more dangerous to life and +limb the game becomes, the happier they are. We are bound to admit that +when we play with them, a good pitch is generally prepared. It would be +bad policy to endeavour to compete in the game they play, as we should +merely expose ourselves to ridicule, and one's reputation as the man who +has been known "to play in the papers," as they are accustomed to call +big county matches, would very soon be entirely lost.</p> + +<p>I was much amused a few years ago, on arriving home after playing for +Somersetshire in some cricket matches, when Tom Peregrine made up to me +with "a face like a benediction," and asked if I was the gentleman who +had been playing "in the papers."</p> + +<p>While on the subject of cricket, for some time past we have made +experiments of all sorts of cricket grounds, and have come to the +conclusion that the following is the best recipe to prepare a pitch on a +dry and bumpy ground. A week before your match get a wheelbarrow full of +clay, and put it into a water-cart, or any receptacle for holding water. +Having mixed your clay with water, keep pouring the mixture on to your +pitch, taking care that the stones and gravel which sink to the bottom +do not fall out. When you have emptied your water-cart, get some more +clay and water, and continue pouring it on to the ground until you have +covered a patch about twenty-two yards long and three yards wide, always +remembering not to empty out the sediment at the bottom of the +water-cart, for this will spoil all. Then, setting to work with your +roller, roll the clay and water into the ground. Never mind if it picks +up on to the roller: a little more water will soon put that to rights. +After an hour's rolling you will have a level and true cricket pitch, +requiring but two or three days' sun to make it hard and true as +asphalt. You may think you have killed the grass; but if you water your +pitch in the absence of rain the day after you have played on it, the +grass will not die. It is chiefly in Australia that cricket grounds are +treated in this way; they are dressed with mud off the harbours, and +rolled simultaneously. Such grounds are wonderfully true and durable.</p> + +<p>If the pitch is naturally a clay one, it might be sufficient to use +water only, and roll at the same time; but for renovating a worn clay +pitch, a little strong loamy soil, washed in with water and rolled down +will fill up all the "chinks" and holes. It will make an old pitch as +good as new.</p> + +<p>The reason that nine out of ten village grounds are bad and bumpy is +that they are not rolled soon enough after rain or after being watered. +Roll and water them simultaneously, and they will be much improved.</p> + +<p>Another excellent plan is to soak the ground with clay and water, and +leave it alone for a week or ten days before rolling. Permanent benefit +will be done to the soil by this method. For golf greens and lawn-tennis +courts situated on light soil, loam is an indispensable dressing. Any +loamy substance will vastly improve the texture of a light soil and the +quality of the herbage. Yet it is most difficult to convince people of +this fact. We have known cases in which hundreds of pounds have been +expended on cricket grounds and golf greens when an application of clay +top-dressing would have put the whole thing to rights at the cost of a +few shillings. One committee had artificial wells made on every "putting +green" of their golf course, in order to have water handy for keeping +the turf cool and green. What better receptacle for water could they +have found than a top-dressing of half an inch of loam or clay, +retaining as it does every drop of moisture that falls in the shape of +dew or rain, instead of allowing it to percolate through like a sieve, +as is the case with an ordinary sandy soil? Yet this clay dressing, +while retaining water, becomes hard, firm, and as level as a billiard +table on the timely application of the roller.</p> + +<p>Those who look after cricket grounds and the like have seldom any +acquaintance with the constitution of soils; they are apt to treat all, +whether sand, light loam, strong loam, heavy clay, or even peat, in +exactly the same way, instead of recollecting that, as in agriculture, a +judicious combination will alone give us that <i>ideal loam</i> which +produces the best turf, and the best soil for every purpose. I am quite +convinced that our farmers do not realise how much worthless light land +may be improved by a dressing of clay or loam. Such dressings are +expensive without a doubt, but the amelioration of the soil is so marked +that in favourable localities the process ought to pay in the long run.</p> + +<p>Turning to cricket in general, perhaps the modern game, as played on a +good wicket, is in every respect, save one, perfection. If only +something could be done to curtail the length of matches, and rid us of +that awful nuisance the poking, time-wasting batsman, there would be +little improvement possible.</p> + +<p>"All the world's a stage," and even at cricket the analogy holds good. +Thus Shakespeare:</p> + +<blockquote> +"As in a theatre the eyes of men,<br> + After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,<br> + Are idly bent on him that enters next,<br> + Thinking his prattle to be tedious."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>So also one may say of some dull and lifeless cricketer who, after the +famous Gloucestershire hitter has made things merry for spectators and +scouts alike, "enters next":</p> + +<blockquote> +"As in a cricket field the eyes of men,<br> + After a well-<i>Graced</i> player leaves the <i>sticks</i>,<br> + Are idly bent on him that enters next,<br> + Thinking his <i>batting</i> to be tedious."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>On the other hand, if we sow the wild oats of cricket--in other words, +if we risk everything for the fleeting satisfaction of a blind +"slog"--we shall be bowled, stumped, or caught out for a moral +certainty. It is only a matter of time.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the addition of another stump might help towards the very +desirable end of shortening the length of matches, and thus enable more +amateurs to take part in them. I cannot agree with those who lament the +improved state of our best English cricket grounds; if only the batsmen +play a free game and do not waste time, the game is far more +entertaining for players and spectators alike, when a true wicket is +provided. The heroes of old,</p> + +<blockquote> +"When Bird and Beldham, Budd, and such as they,--<br> + Lord Frederick, too, once England's chief and flower,--<br> + Astonished all who came to see them play,"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>those "scorners of the ground" and of pads and gloves doubtless +displayed more <i>pluck</i> on their rough, bumpy grounds than is now called +forth in facing the attack of Kortright, Mold, or Richardson. But on the +other hand, on rough grounds much is left to chance and <i>luck</i>; cricket, +as played on a billiard-table wicket certainly favours the batsman, but +it admits of a brilliancy and finish in the matter of style that are +impossible on the old-fashioned wicket. Whilst the modern bowler has +learnt extraordinary accuracy of pitch, the batsman has perfected the +art of "timing" the ball. And what a subtle, delicate art is correct +"timing"!--the skilful embodiment of thought in action, depending for +success on that absolute sympathy of hand and eye which only assiduous +practice, confidence, and a good digestion can give. And on uncertain, +treacherous ground confident play is never seen. A ball cannot be "cut" +or driven with any real brilliancy of style when there is a likelihood +of its abruptly "shooting" or bumping. No; if we would leave as little +as possible to chance, our grounds cannot be too good. Even from a +purely selfish point of view, apart from the welfare of our side, the +pleasure derived from a good "innings" on a first-rate cricket ground +is as great as that bestowed by any other physical amusement.</p> + +<p>Perhaps one ought not to think of comparing the sport of fox-hunting, +with its extraordinary variety of incident and surroundings, the study +of a lifetime, to the game of cricket. At the same time, for actual +all-round enjoyment, and for economy, the game holds its own against all +amusements.</p> + +<p>Bromley-Davenport has said that given a <i>good</i> country and a <i>good</i> fox, +<i>and</i> a burning scent, the man on a <i>good</i> horse with a good <i>start</i>, +for twenty or thirty minutes absorbs as much happiness into his mental +and physical organisation as human nature is capable of containing at +one time. This is very true. But how seldom the five necessary +conditions are forthcoming simultaneously the keen hunting man has +learnt from bitter experience. You will be lucky if the real good thing +comes off once for every ten days you hunt. In cricket a man is +dependent on his own quickness of hand and eye; in hunting there is that +vital contingency of the well-filled purse. "'Tis money that makes the +mare to go."</p> + +<p>Then what a grand school is cricket for some of the most useful lessons +of life! Its extraordinary fluctuations are bound to teach us sooner +or later</p> + +<blockquote> +"Rebus angustis animosus atque<br> + Fortis appare."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The <i>rebus angustis</i> are often painfully impressed on the memory by a +long sequence of "duck's eggs"; and how difficult is the <i>animosus atque +fortis appare</i> when we return to the pavilion with a "pair of +spectacles" to our credit!</p> + +<p>Then, again, cricketers are taught to preserve a mind</p> + +<blockquote> +"Ab insolenti temperatam<br> + Laetitiâ."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>We must not permit the <i>laetitiâ insolenti</i> to creep in when we have +made a big score. How often do we see young cricketers over-elated under +these circumstances, and suffering afterwards from temporary +over-confidence and consequent carelessness!</p> + +<p>But we must have no more Horace, lest our readers exclaim, with Jack +Cade, "Away with him! away with him! he speaks <i>Latin</i>!"</p> + +<p>Hope, energy, perseverance, and courage,--all these qualities are learnt +in our grand English game. There is always hope for the struggling +cricketer. In no other pursuit are energy and perseverance so absolutely +sure of bearing fruit, if we only stick to it long enough.</p> + +<p>The fact is that cricket, like many other things, is but the image and +prototype of life in general. And the same qualities that, earnestly +cultivated in spite of repeated failure and disappointment, make good +cricketers lead ultimately to success in all the walks of life. In spite +of the improvement in grounds, cricket is still an excellent school for +teaching physical courage. Many grounds are somewhat rough and bumpy to +field on, beautifully smooth though they look from the pavilion. We have +only to stand "mid-off" or "point" on a cold day at the beginning of +May whilst a hard-hitting batsman, well set on a true wicket, is +driving or cutting ball after ball against our hands and shins, to +realise what a capital school for courage the game is!</p> + +<p>How exacting is the critic in this matter of fielding! and how +delightfully simple the bowling looks from that admirably safe +vantage-ground, the pavilion! Just as to a man comfortably stationed in +the grand-stand at Aintree nothing looks easier than the way in which +the best horses in the world flit over the five-foot fences, leaving +them behind with scarcely an effort, their riders sitting quietly in the +saddle all the while, so does the pavilion critic pride himself on the +way he would have "cut" that short one instead of merely stopping it, or +blocked that simple ball that went straight on and bowled the wicket. +Everything that is well and gracefully performed appears easy to the +looker-on. But that ease and grace, whether in the racehorse or in the +man, has only been acquired by months and years of training +and practice.</p> + +<p>It is seldom that the spectator is able to form a true and unbiassed +opinion as to the varied contingencies which lead to victory or defeat +in cricket. The actual players and the umpires are perhaps alone +qualified to judge to what extent the fluctuations of the game are +affected by the vagaries of weather and ground. For this reason it is +well to take newspaper criticism <i>cum grano salis</i>.</p> + +<p>What is the cause of the extraordinary fluctuations of form which all +cricketers, from the greatest to the least, are more or less subject to? +It cannot be set down altogether to luck, for a run of bad luck, such +as all men have at times experienced, is often compatible with being in +the very best form. A man who is playing very well at the net often gets +out directly he goes in to bat in a match, whilst many a good player, +who tells you "he has not had a bat in his hand this season," in his +very first innings for the year makes a big score. In subsequent +innings's, oddly enough, he feels the want of net practice. <i>Confidence</i> +would seem to be the <i>sine quâ non</i> for the successful batsman. Nothing +succeeds like success; and once fairly started on a sequence of big +scores, the cricketer goes on day by day piling up runs and <i>vires +acquirit eundo</i>.</p> + +<p>Perhaps "being in form" does not depend so much on the state of the +digestion as on the state of the <i>mind</i>. Anxiety or excitement, fostered +by over-keenness, usually results in a blank score-sheet. Some men, like +horses, are totally unable to do themselves credit on great occasions. +They go off their feed, and are utterly out of sorts in consequence. On +the other hand, sheer force of will has often enabled men to make a big +score. Many a good batsman can recall occasions on which he made a +mental resolve on the morning of a match to make a century, and did it.</p> + +<p>How curious it is that really good players, from staleness or some +unknown cause, occasionally become absolutely useless for a time! Every +fresh failure seems to bring more and more nervousness, until, from +sheer lack of confidence, their case becomes hopeless, and a child could +bowl them out. Ah well! we must not grumble at the ups and downs of the +finest game in creation: "every dog will have his day" sooner or later; +of that we may be sure.</p> + +<p>And not the least of the advantages of cricket is the large number of +friends made on the tented field. For this reason the jolliest cricket +is undoubtedly that which is played by the various wandering clubs. +Whether you are fighting under the banner of the brotherhood whose motto +is "United though untied," <a name="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a> or under the flag of the "Red, Black, and +Gold," <a name="FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7">[7]</a> or with any other of the many excellent clubs that abound +nowadays, you will have an enjoyable game, whether you make fifty runs +or a duck's egg.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> The Free Foresters. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> The I Zingari. +</blockquote> + +<p>County cricket is nowadays a little over done. Two three-day matches a +week throughout the summer don't leave much time for other pursuits. A +liberal education at a good public school and university seems to be +thrown away if it is to be followed by five or six days a week at +cricket all through the summer year after year. Most of our best +amateurs realise this, and, knowing that if they go in for county +cricket at all they must play regularly, they give it up, and are +content to take a back seat. They do wisely, for let us always remember +that cricket is a game and not a business.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, much good results from the presence in county cricket +of a leavening of gentle; for they prevent the further development of +professionalism. It is doubtless owing to the "piping times of peace" +England has enjoyed during the past fifty years that cricket has +developed to such an abnormal extent. The British public are +essentially hero worshippers, and especially do they worship men who +show manliness and pluck; and those feelings of respect and admiration +that it is to be hoped in more stirring times would be reserved for a +Nelson or a Wellington have been recently lavished on our Graces, our +Stoddarts, our Ranjitsinhjis, and our Steels.</p> + +<p>As long as war is absent, and we "live at home at ease," so long will +our sports and pastimes flourish and increase. And long may they +flourish, more especially those in which the quality of courage is +essential for success! It will be a bad day for England when success in +our sports and pastimes no longer depends on the exercise of pluck and +manliness; when hunting gives place to bicycling, and cricket to golf; +when, in fact, the wholesome element of <i>danger</i> is removed from our +recreation and pursuits. Should, in the near future, the long-talked-of +invasion of this country by a combination of European powers become an +accomplished fact, Englishmen may perchance be glad, as the cannon balls +and musket shots are whizzing round their heads, that on the mimic +battlefields of cricket, football, polo, and fox-hunting they learnt two +of the most useful lessons of life--coolness and courage.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII."></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE COTSWOLDS THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.</h3> + +<p>Nowadays, thanks in a great measure to Mr. Madden's book, the "Diary of +Master William Silence," it is beginning to dawn on us that the +Cotswolds are more or less connected with the great poet of +Stratford-on-Avon.</p> + +<p>Mr. Blunt, in his "Cotswold Dialect," gives no less than fifty-eight +passages from the works of Shakespeare, in which words and phrases +peculiar to the district are made use of. Up to the reign of Queen Anne +this vast open tract of downland formed a happy hunting ground for the +inhabitants of all the surrounding counties. Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, +and Wiltshire, as well as Gloucestershire folk repaired to the wolds for +hunting, coursing, hawking, and other amusements; and in olden times, +even more than to-day, Cotswold was, as Burton described it, "a type of +what is most commodious for hawking, hunting, wood, waters, and all +manner of pleasures." There never was a district so well adapted for +stag-hunting. Nowadays the Cotswold district falls short in one +desideratum, and that a most essential one, of being a first-rate +hunting country. The large extent of ploughed land and the extreme +dryness and poverty of the soil cause it on four days out of five to +carry a most indifferent scent. But to-day we pursue the fox; in +Shakespeare's time the stag was the quarry. And, as hunting men are well +aware, the scent given off by a stag is not only ravishing to hounds, +but it actually increases as the quarry tires, whilst that from a fox +"grows small by degrees and beautifully less."</p> + +<p>As with hunting, so also with coursing and hawking; the Cotswolds were +the grand centre of Elizabethan sport. Here it was that Shakespeare +marked the falcon "waiting on and towering in her pride of place." Here +he saw the fallow greyhounds competing for the silver-studded collar.</p> + +<p>What an interest and a dignity does a district such as this draw from +even the slenderest association with the splendid name of William +Shakespeare! For my part I freely confess that scenery, however grand +and sublime, appeals but little to the imagination unless it be hallowed +by association or blended in the thoughts with the recollection of those +we have either loved or admired. Thus in India, in Natal and Cape +Colony, in glorious Ceylon, I could admire those wonderful purple +mountains and that tropical luxuriance of fertility and verdure; but I +could not <i>feel</i> them. The boundless wolds of Africa, reminding one so +much of Gloucestershire, yet far grander and far finer than anything of +the kind in England, were to me a dreary wilderness. Passing through the +fine broken hill country of Natal was like visiting chaos, a waste, +inhospitable land,</p> + +<blockquote> + "Where no one comes<br> +Or hath come since the making of the world."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>How well I remember the first sight of the wolds of South Africa! It was +the hour of uncertain light that comes before the dawn; and as our +railway train wound its tortuous course like a snake up the awful +heights that would ultimately end in Majuba Hill--to which ill-fated +spot I was bound--the billowy waves of rolling down seemed gradually to +change to an immensely rough ocean running mountains high, and the +mimosa trees dotting the plain for hundreds of miles appeared like +armies of the souls of all the black men that ever lived on earth since +the world began. There were passes and chasms like the portals of +far-off, inaccessible Paradise,</p> + +<blockquote> +"With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>And then the scene changed. The hills rose like graves of white men and +barrows to the long-forgotten dead. Great oblong barrows, round Celtic +barrows, and stately sarcophagi. Monumental effigies in alabaster, +granite and porphyry; grim Gothic castles dating back to the foundation +of the world, and grim Gothic cathedrals with long-drawn aisles, where +the "great organ of Eternity" kept thundering ceaselessly. For the +lightning and the thunder are powers to be reckoned with in those awful +realms of chaos. And then the scene changed again. There suddenly uprose +weird shapes of giants and leviathans, huge mammoths and whole regiments +of fantastic monsters that looked like clouds and yet were mountains; +and there were fortresses and towers of silence, with vultures hovering +over them, and cliffs and crags and jutting promontories that looked +like mountains, but were really clouds: for the black clouds and the +frowning hills were so much alike that, save when the lightning shone, +you could not say where the sky ended and the land began. But there was +one gleam of hope in this weird and dismal scene, for on the farthest +verge of the horizon there appeared, as it were, a lake--such a lake as +saw the passing of Arthur, vanishing in mystery and silently floating +away upon a barge towards the east. It was a lake of beryl, whose +far-off golden shores were set with rubies and sardonyx, and beyond +these, again, were the more distant waters of the silver sea; and as +when Sir Bedivere</p> + +<blockquote> + "... saw,<br> +Straining his eyes beneath an arch of hand,<br> +Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King,<br> +Down that long water opening on the deep<br> +Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go<br> +From less to less and vanish into light.<br> +And the new sun rose bringing the new year,--"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>so over the plains of Africa rose the mighty Alchemist and great +revealer of truth, the scatterer of dreary darkness and secret night, +turning those shadowy hills to purple and those mystic waters in the +eastern sky to gold.</p> + +<p>How different are our feelings when we traverse, either in reality or in +fancy, such parts of the earth as are deeply blended in our hearts and +minds with old familiar associations! Whilst wandering through the Lake +District of England, how are we reminded of Wordsworth and the +"Excursion"! How can we visit Devonshire and the West Country without +summoning up pleasant thoughts of Charles Kingsley and Amyas Leigh; of +the men of Bideford, Sir Richard Grenville, Kt., and "The little +Revenge"? How vividly do the Trossachs recall "The Lady of the Lake" and +Walter Scott! How with Edinburgh do we connect the sad story of Mary, +the ill-fated queen! At Killarney, or standing amid the Gothic tracery +of Tintern, how do we think on Alfred Tennyson and "the days that are no +more"! These are only a few of the places in the British Isles that by +universal consent are hallowed by tender associations. Of those spots in +England which are dear to our hearts for personal reasons, there are of +course hundreds. Every man has his own peculiar prejudices in this +respect. To some London is the most sacred spot on earth. And who shall +deny that with all her faults London is not a vastly interesting place? +Is not every street hallowed by its associations with some great name or +some great event in English history? Which of us can stand amid the +Gothic tracery and the crumbling cloisters of Westminster, or under the +shadow of the old grey towers of Whitehall, without recalling +heart-stirring scenes and "paths of glory that lead but to the grave"? +Who can stand unmoved on any of the famous bridges that span the silent +river? Dr. Johnson, who acted up to Pope's well-known motto,</p> + +<blockquote> +"The proper study of mankind is man,"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>thought Fleet Street the most interesting place on the face of the +earth; and perhaps he was right. Let us hear what he has to say about +this halo of old association: "To abstract the mind from all local +emotion would be impossible if it were endeavoured; and would be foolish +if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; +whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the +present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and +from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent +and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, +or virtue."</p> + +<p>This, then, is the difference between the plains of Africa and the hills +and valleys of England. The one is at present a vast inhospitable chaos, +the other a land in which there is scarcely an acre that has not been +dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. Such are the signs by which we +are to distinguish Cosmos from Chaos.</p> + +<p>How far into the Cotswold Hills the halo of Stratford-on-Avon's glory +may be said to extend it is not easy to determine. Let us allow at all +events that the <i>reflection</i> from the arc reaches across the whole +extent of the wolds as far as Dursley. For here on the western edge of +the Cotswolds it is probable that Shakespeare spent that portion of his +life which has always been involved in obscurity--the interval between +his removal from Warwickshire and his arrival in London.</p> + +<p>On a fine autumnal evening in the year 1592 a horseman, mounted on a +little ambling nag, neared the Cotswold village of Bibury. Both man and +steed showed unmistakable signs of weariness. The horse especially, +though of that wiry kind known as the Irish hobby, hard as iron, and +accustomed to long journeys, evinced by that sober and even dejected +expression of countenance so well known to hunting men, that he had been +ridden both far and fast. The saddle too, as well as the legs, chest, +and flanks of the nag, appeared wet and mud-stained, as if some brook +had been swum or some deep and muddy river forded, whilst the left +shoulder and knee of the rider bore marks which told tales of a fall. +The personal appearance of the man was not such as to excite the +interest of the casual passer-by; for his dress, though extremly neat, +was that worn by clerks and other townsfolk of the day; yet a keen +observer might have noticed that the features were those of a man of +uncommon character, in whom, as Carlyle would have said, a germ of +irrepressible force had been implanted.</p> + +<p>It had indeed been a glorious day. The hounds, after meeting close to +Moreton-in-the-Marsh, in Warwickshire, had found a great hart in the +forest near Seizincote, and had hunted him "at force" over the deep +undrained vale up on to the Cotswold Hills, away past Stow-on-the-Wold +and Bourton-on-the-Water, towards the great woods of Chedworth. But the +stag, after crossing the Windrush close to Mr. Dutton's house at +Sherborne, had failed to make his point, and had "taken soil" in a deep +pool of the river Coln, near the little village of Coln-St-Dennis, where +eventually the mort had sounded. Such a run had not been seen for many a +long day; for it measured no less than fourteen miles "as the crow +flies," and about five-and-twenty as the hounds ran. The time occupied +had been close on seven hours. There had of course been several checks; +but so strong had been the scent of this hart that, in spite of two +"lets" of some twenty minutes' duration, the pack had been able to hunt +their quarry to the bitter end. Only two men had seen the end. The pride +and chivalry of Warwickshire, mounted on their high-priced Flanders +mares, their Galway nags, and their splendid Barbaries, had been +hopelessly thrown out of the chase; and besides the huntsman, on his +plain-bred little English horse, the only remnant of the field was our +friend with his tough and wiry Irish hobby.</p> + +<p>It is five o'clock, and the sun as it disappears beyond a high ridge of +the wolds, is tinging the grey walls of an ancient Gothic fane with a +rosy glow. This our sportsman does not fail to notice; but in spite of +his keen appreciation of the beauties of nature, the question uppermost +in his mind, as he jogs along the rough, uneven road or track which +leads to Bibury, is where to spend the night. The thought of returning +home at that late hour does not enter his head; for the stag having +gone away in exactly the opposite direction to that from which the +Warwickshire man had set out early in the morning, there are no less +than three-and-thirty long and weary miles between the hunter and his +home. In the days of good Queen Bess, however, hospitality was +proverbially free, and any decently set up Englishman was tolerably sure +of a welcome at any of the country houses which were then, as now, +scattered at long intervals over this wild, uncultivated district. And +as he rides round a bend in the valley, a fair manor house comes into +view, pleasantly placed in a sheltered spot hard by the River Coln. It +was built in the style which had just come into vogue--the Elizabethan +form of architecture; and in honour of the reigning monarch its front +presented the appearance of the letter E. The windows, instead of being +made of horn, were of glass; and tall stone chimneys (a modern luxury +but lately invented) carried away the smoke from the chambers within.</p> + +<p>It so happened that at the moment the stranger was passing, the owner of +the house--a squire of some sixty years of age, but hale and hearty--was +standing in front of his porch taking the evening air. This fact the +horseman did not fail to notice, and with a ready eye to the main +chance, which showed its possessor to be a man of no ordinary +apprehension, he glanced approvingly at the groined porch, the richly +carved pinnacles above it, and at the quaint belfry beyond, exclaiming +with great enthusiasm:</p> + +<p>"'Fore God, you have a goodly dwelling and a rich here. I do envy thee +thine house, sir."</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-258-276.jpg"> +<img src="fp-258-276.jpg" width = "35%" alt="BILBURY COURT."> +</a><br><b>"BILBURY COURT."</b> +</P> + +<p>"Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all," <a name="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8">[8]</a> was the reply, +to which, after a pause, the squire added, "Marry, good air."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> <i>2 Henry IV</i>, V. iii. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Ah, 'tis a good air up on these wolds," replied the sportsman. "But I +am a stranger here in Gloucestershire; these high wild hills and rough, +uneven ways draw out our miles and make them wearisome.<a name="FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9">[9]</a> How far is it +to Stratford?"</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> <i>King Richard II.</i>, II. iii. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Marry, 'tis nigh on forty mile, I warrant. Thou'll not see Stratford +to-night, sir; thy horse is wappered<a name="FNanchor10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10">[10]</a> out, and that I plainly see."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor10">[10]</a> <i>Wappered</i> = tired. A Cotswold word. +</blockquote> + +<p>To him replied the stranger wearily:</p> + +<blockquote> +Where is the horse that doth untread again<br> +His tedious measures with the unbated fire<br> +That he did pace them first? All things that are,<br> +Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed.<a name="FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11">[11]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor11">[11]</a> <i>Merchant of Venice</i>, II. vi. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Hast been with the hounds to-day?" enquired the honest squire.</p> + +<p>"Ah, sir, and that I have," was the reply; "and never have I seen such +sport before. For seven long hours they made the welkin ring, and ran +like swallows o'er the plain." <a name="FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12">[12]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor12">[12]</a> <i>Titus Andronicus</i>, II. ii. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Please to step in; we be just a-settin' down to supper--a cold capon +and a venison pasty. I'll tell my serving man to take thy nag to yonder +yard, and make him comfortable for the night."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, sir, I'll take him round myself, and give the honest beast a +drench of barley broth,<a name="FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13">[13]</a> and afterwards, to cheer him up a bit, a +handful or two of dried peas." <a name="FNanchor14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14">[14]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor13">[13]</a> <i>Henry V</i>., III. v. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor14">[14]</a> <i>Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, IV. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>Whilst the hunter was seeing to his nag, the squire thus addressed his +serving man:</p> + +<p>"Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, +and any pretty tiny kickshaws, tell William cook." <a name="FNanchor15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15">[15]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor15">[15]</a> 2 <i>Henry IV</i>., V. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>DAVY: "Doth the hunter stay all night, sir?"</p> + +<p>SQUIRE: "Yes, Davy. I will use him well; good sportsmen are ever welcome +on Cotswold."</p> + +<p>The wants of the Irish hobby having been thoroughly attended to, and the +game little fellow having recovered in some measure his natural gaiety +of spirits, the squire ushered the stranger into a long low hall, hung +with pikes and guns and bows, and relics of the chase as well as of the +wars. The stone floor was strewed with clean rushes, and lying about on +tables were trashes, collars, and whips for hounds, as well as hoods, +perches, jesses, and bells for hawks; whilst a variety of odds and ends, +such as crossbows and jumping-poles, were scattered about the apartment. +An enormous wood fire blazed at one end of the hall, and in the +inglenook sat a girl of some twenty summers.</p> + +<p>"My daughter, sir," exclaimed the squire; "as good a girl as ever lived +to make a cheese, brew good beer, preserve all sorts of wines, and cook +a capon with a chaudron! Marry! I forgot to ask thee thy name?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my name is Shakespeare--William Shakespeare, sir. I come from +Stratford-on-the-Avon, up to'rds Warwick."</p> + +<p>"Shakespy, Shakespy; a' don't know that name. Dost bear arms, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I am entitled to them--a spear on a bend sable, and a falcon for my +crest; but we have not yet applied to the heralds for the confirmation. +And you, sir?"</p> + +<p>"He writes himself <i>armigero</i> in any bill, warrant, quittance, or +obligation," here put in Davy the serving man.</p> + +<p>"Ah, that I do! and have done any time these three hundred years."</p> + +<p>"All his successors gone before him hath done it; and all his ancestors +that come after him may," added Davy, with pride.</p> + +<p>"To be sure, to be sure," said the squire. "Well, welcome to Cotswold, +Master Shakespeare; good sportsmen are ever welcome on Cotswold. But +tell me, how didst thou get thy downfall?"</p> + +<p>"The first was at the mound into the tyning by Master Blackett's house +at Iccomb; old Dobbin breasted it, and the stones did rattle round mine +ears like a house a-coming down. We made a shard<a name="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16">[16]</a> that let the rest +of 'em through. It was the only wall that came in the way of the chase +to-day. The second downfall was at the brook by Bourton-Windrush, I +think they call it. Dobbin being a bit short of wind, and quilting +sadly, stuck fast in the mire, and tumbled on to his nose in scrambling +out. Marry, sir, but 'twas a famous chase; the like of it I never saw +before. 'Twas grand at first to see the hart unharboured--a stag with +all his rights, 'brow, bay, and trey.'"</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor16">[16]</a> A Cotswold word = breach. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Thou shouldst know, our hounds at Warwick are a noted pack,</p> + +<blockquote> +So flew'd, so sanded, and their beads are hung<br> +With ears that sweep away the morning dew;<br> +Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;<br> +Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells,<br> +Each under each. A cry more tuneable<br> +Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn.'" <a name="FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17">[17]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor17">[17]</a> <i>Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, IV. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>Then he told how, after leaving behind the deep undrained grass country +round Moreton-in-the-Marsh, they rose the hills by Stow and came across +the moor. How the riders who spurred their horses up the steep uprising +ascent were soon left behind. For</p> + +<blockquote> + "To climb steep hills<br> +Requires slow pace at first; anger is like<br> +A full hot horse, who, being allowed his way,<br> +Self mettle tires him."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>He told how, after an hour's steady running over the wolds, a "let" <a name="FNanchor18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18">[18]</a> +occurred, and "the hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt";<a name="FNanchor19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19">[19]</a> +how Mountain, Fury, Tyrant, and Ringwood, who had been leading the rest +of the pack, strove in vain for a considerable time to pick out the cold +scent, until suddenly the cheery sound of the old huntsman's voice was +heard crying:</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor18">[18]</a> <i>Two Noble Kinsmen</i>, III. v. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor19">[19]</a> <i>Venus and Adonis</i>, 692. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Fury! Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark! Hark!" <a name="FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20">[20]</a></p> + +<p>and the whole pack went "yoppeting" off as happy as the hunt was long. +He told how Belman fairly surpassed himself, and "twice to-day picked +out the dullest scent";<a name="FNanchor21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21">[21]</a> and how little Dobbin, the Irish hobby, went +cantering on "as true as truest horse, that yet would never tire." <a name="FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22">[22]</a> +He told how, after running from scent to view, they came down into the +woodlands of the valley of the Coln, and awoke the echoes with their +"gallant chiding."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor20">[20]</a> <i>Tempest</i>, IV, i. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor21">[21]</a> <i>Taming of the Shrew</i>, Introduction. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor22">[22]</a> <i>Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, III. i. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + "... besides the groves,<br> +The skies, the fountains, every region near<br> +Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard<br> +So musical a discord, such sweet thunder." <a name="FNanchor23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23">[23]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor23">[23]</a> <i>Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, IV. +</blockquote> + +<p>And how the noble animal took soil in the Coln,</p> + +<blockquote> +"Under an oak whose antique root peeps out<br> + Upon the brook that brawls along this wood:<br> + To the which place our poor sequester'd stag<br> + Did come to languish; and indeed, my lord,<br> + The wretched animal heaved forth such groans<br> + That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat<br> + Almost to bursting, and the big round tears<br> + Coursed one another down his innocent nose<br> + In piteous chase.<br><br> + + Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends,<br> + ''Tis right,' quoth he: 'thus misery doth part<br> + The flux of company': anon a careless herd,<br> + Full of the pasture, jumps along by him,<br> + And never stays to greet him. 'Ah,' quoth Jaques,<br> + 'Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens;<br> + 'Tis just the fashion: wherefore do you look<br> + Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?'" <a name="FNanchor24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24">[24]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor24">[24]</a> <i>As You Like It</i>, II. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>And finally he told how the gallant beast died a soldier's death, +fighting to the bitter end.</p> + +<p>"Marry, 'twas a right good chase, and bravely must thy steed have borne +thee. But thou wast too venturesome, Master Shakespeare," exclaimed the +squire, "a-trying to jump that mound into the tyning by Master +Blackett's house."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, I prithee," answered Shakespeare, anxious to turn the +conversation from his own share in the day's proceedings, "whose dog won +the silver-studded collar this year in the coursing matches on +Cotswold?" <a name="FNanchor25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25">[25]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor25">[25]</a> <i>Merry Wives of Windsor</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Our Bill Peregrine, here, at the farm, carried it off. A prettier bit +of coursing I never did see!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! that was the country fellow that turned up when we sounded the mort +by Col-Dene. He seemed to spring up out of the ground. He is a snapper +up of unconsidered trifles, I'll be bound. The fellow claimed the hide: +he said the skin was the keeper's fee." <a name="FNanchor26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26">[26]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor26">[26]</a> 3 <i>Henry VI</i>, III. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>"That 'ould be he. I warrant he lent a hand in taking assay and +breaking up the deer. Tis just what he enjoys."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I marked him disembowelling the poor dead beast in right good will, +with hands besmeared with blood." <a name="FNanchor27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27">[27]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor27">[27]</a> <i>Henry IV.</i>, V. iv. +</blockquote> + +<p>Then they fell to talking of other things; and the honest old squire +began to brag about his London days, and how he was once of +Clement's Inn.</p> + +<p>"There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George +Barnes, and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele, a Cotswold man; you had +not four such swinge-bucklers in all the Inns o' Court again." <a name="FNanchor28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28">[28]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor28">[28]</a> <i>Henry IV.</i>, III. ii. +</blockquote> + +<p>But the old man was far too interested in his own doings to ask if his +guest had ever been in London. It is the prerogative of age to take for +granted that all younger men are of no account, and even as children, +"to be seen and not heard."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow," said the squire, "at break of day, we be a-going a-birding, +to try some young falcons Bill Peregrine has lately trained. Wilt join +us, Master Shakespeare?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that I will, sir! I know a hawk from a handsaw, or my name's not +William Shakespeare."</p> + +<p>By this time the cold capon and the venison pasty, as well as the +"little tiny kickshaws," together with a gallon of "good sherris-sack," +had been considerably reduced by the united efforts of the squire, the +famished hunter, and those below the salt. During the meal such scraps +of conversation as this might have been heard:</p> + +<p>"Will you please to take a bit of bacon, Master Shakespeare?"</p> + +<p>"Not any, I thank you," replied the poet.</p> + +<p>"What, no bacon!" put in the serving man from behind, in a voice of +surprise bordering on disappointment.</p> + +<p>"No bacon for me, I thank you; <i>I never take bacon</i>," repeated +Shakespeare, with some emphasis.</p> + +<p>Then the master of the house would occasionally address a remark to his +serving man about the farm, such as, "How a good yoke of bullocks at +Ciren Fair?" or, "How a score of ewes now?" meaning how much are they +worth. Once the serving man took the initiative, asking, "Shall we sow +the headlands with wheat?" receiving the reply, "With red wheat, +Davy." <a name="FNanchor29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29">[29]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor29">[29]</a> 2 <i>Henry IV</i>, V. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>Then there was some discussion concerning the stopping of William's +(Peregrine's?) wages, "About the sack he lost the other day at +Hinckley Fair."</p> + +<p>SHAKESPEARE: "This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving man +and your husbandman."</p> + +<p>SQUIRE: "A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet.... By the +mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper! A good varlet." <a name="FNanchor30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30">[30]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor30">[30]</a> 2 <i>Henry IV</i>, V. iii. +</blockquote> + +<p>These were the squire's last words that night. He soon slept peacefully, +as was his wont after his evening meal; whereupon the poet, with his +accustomed gallantry, commenced making love in right good earnest to the +fair daughter of the house.</p> + +<p>The Cotswold girls, like the Irish, have always been famous for their +beauty. Even amongst the peasants you may nowadays see the most +beautiful and graceful women in the world, though their attire is +usually of a plain and unbecoming character, and but ill adapted to set +off the features and form of the wearer. The squire's daughter, whom we +will call Jessica, was no exception to the rule. She was a handsome +brunette--indeed, the squire called her a "black ousel." Shakespeare +fell in love with her at once, and, forgetting all about the family at +Stratford, he plunged into the most desperate flirtation. The girl, with +that natural perception of the divine in man common to her sex, could +not help feeling a strange admiration for this unexpected, though not +unwelcome, guest. There was something about his countenance which +exercised a peculiar charm and fascination. The thoughtful brow, the +keen hazel eye, and the gentle bearing of the man were what at first +attracted attention. But it was his manner and speech, half serious and +half mirthful, which made such an impression on her mind; and perhaps +she felt that, "to the face whose beauty is the harmony between that +which speaks from within and the form through which it speaks, power is +added by all that causes the outer man to bear more deeply the impress +of the inner."</p> + +<p>The surroundings, too, were as romantic as they possibly could be. A +pair of rush candles were shedding their dim light through the long low +oak-panelled apartment; they were the only lights that were burning, and +even these flickered ominously at times, as if threatening to go out and +leave the place in total darkness. A full moon, however, was casting her +silvery beams through the great lattice casement, and in one of the +upper panes of this window were richly emblazoned the arms of which the +squire was so proud.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious evening. Opening the window, William Shakespeare +looked out upon the peaceful garden. The moon was shedding a pale light +upon the woods and the stream, "decking with liquid pearl the bladed +grass." A hundred yards away the silent Coln was gliding slowly onwards +towards the sea. Owls were breathing heavily in the hanging wood, and a +pair of otters were hunting in the pool.</p> + +<p>As the two sat by the open window, the poet's own life and its prospects +formed the principal topic of conversation. After years of toil in +London his fortunes were beginning at length to improve. He was manager +of a theatre, and was at length earning a moderate competency. He had +already saved a little money, and hoped soon to buy a house at +Stratford. He looked forward some day to returning to his native place +and living a country life. At present he was enjoying a short holiday, +the first for over a year.</p> + +<p>As they sat and talked over these matters, a minstrel began to play in +one of the cottages of the village; the sound of the harp added another +charm to the peaceful surroundings, and filled the poet's mind with a +strange delight.</p> + +<p>"I am never merry when I hear sweet music," said Jessica.</p> + +<p>Whereupon her companion replied:</p> + +<blockquote> +"' ... soft stillness and the night<br> +Become the touches of sweet harmony.<br> +Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven<br> +Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:<br> +There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st<br> +But in his motion like an angel sings,<br> +Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;<br> +Such harmony is in immortal souls;<br> +But whilst this muddy vesture of decay<br> +Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.'" <a name="FNanchor31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31">[31]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor31">[31]</a> <i>Merchant of Venice</i>, V. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>Sweet is the sound of soft melodious music on a moonlight night; sweet +the faint sigh of the breeze among the elms, and the light upon the +silent stream; but sweeter far is music on a moonlight night, sweeter +the faint sigh of the breeze, and the light upon the silent stream, when +hope, renewed after years of sorrow and sadness, flatters once again the +aims and objects of youth, gilding the landscape of life with wondrous +alchemy, shedding rays of happy sunshine on the vague, mysterious +yearnings of the soul of man towards the hidden destinies of the +boundless future.</p> + +<p>It was not long, however, before Shakespeare bade the fair Jessica +good-night and retired to his sleeping apartment; for a run of such +uncommon excellence as he had enjoyed that day was calculated to produce +the tired, though not unpleasant, sensation which even now sends the +hunting man sleepy, though happy, to bed.</p> + +<p>So, lulled by the strains of the minstrel's harp did William Shakespeare +seek his couch and sleep the sleep of the just But even while the body +was wrapped in slumber, the highly wrought, powerful mind, though yet +unconscious of its awful destiny, was hard at work, "moving about in +worlds not realised." Yonder on the turret of that grey Gothic castle, +whose pinnacles point ever upwards to the skies, they stand and wait, a +glorious throng; and as they stand they wave him onwards. Dante, Homer, +Virgil, Chaucer, Plutarch, Montaigne, and many another hero of old is +waiting there. See the sharp-pointed features of the Italian bard, and +Homer no longer blind! The two are holding animated converse, and ever +beckoning him on. And a voice seemed to speak out loud and clear amid +the solemn silence of eternity:</p> + +<blockquote> +"Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,<br> + Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues<br> + Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike<br> + As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd<br> + But to fine issues." <a name="FNanchor32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32">[32]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor32">[32]</a> <i>Measure for Measure</i>, I. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>Can he linger? Away with blank misgivings, fears, and doubts! He will +climb the rugged, steep ascent, and follow even unto the end.</p> + +<p>The following morning a little before sunrise saw a party of five +assembled for a hawking expedition on the downs. Besides the squire and +William Shakespeare, the parson had turned up, whilst Bill Peregrine +(ancestor of all the Peregrines, including, no doubt, the famous +Peregrine Pickle) brought one of his brothers from the farm to "help him +out" with the hawks. It was somewhat of a peculiar dawn--one of those +dull grey mornings which often bodes a fine day. The bard was much +interested in the glowing eastern sky, and as the sun began to appear he +turned to William Peregrine and enthusiastically exclaimed:</p> + +<blockquote> + "'.... what envious streaks<br> +Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:<br> +Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day<br> +Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.'" <a name="FNanchor33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33">[33]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor33">[33]</a> <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, III. v. +</blockquote> + +<p>"To be sure, to be sure, it do look a bit comical, don't it?" answered +the yeoman, with a cackle; and then, turning to his brother, he said, +"Ain't 'e ever seen the sun rise before?"</p> + +<p>"Please, squire, who be the gent from Warwickshire?" says Peregrine, +<i>sotto voce</i>; "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! 'is name's Shakespy, William Shakespy. A good un at his books, I'll +be bound. Get the hawks, Bill; the sun be up. A' must be off to +Stratford shortly," answered the squire, glancing at the poet.</p> + +<p>Whereupon the yeoman opened the door of a long covered shed commonly +called the "mews," and shortly appeared again with four hooded +hawks--two falcons, and two males or tiercel-gentles--placed on a wooden +frame or cadge. These he handed to a stout yokel to carry, and the whole +party sallied forth towards the downs. The squire and the parson were +mounted on their palfreys, the rest of the party being on foot.</p> + +<p>It was not long before William Peregrine started an interesting +conversation with the stranger somewhat after this manner:</p> + +<p>"Did you 'ave a pretty good day's spart yesterday, Master Quakespear?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that we had! I never saw such a day's sport in all my life!"</p> + +<p>"I thought ye did. I could see the 'art was tired smartish. I qeum along +by the bruk, and give un the meeting. When I sees un I says, 'I can see +you've 'ad a smartish doing, old boy.' Then the 'ounds qeum yoppeting +along as nice as could be. Then I sees you and the 'untsman lolloping +along arter the dogs, and soon arter I 'urd the trumpets goin'; and so +says I, 'It's a <i>case</i>,' and I qeums up and skins un. 'E did skin +beautiful to be sure! I never see a better job in all my life--never!"</p> + +<p>"'Twas a fine hart," replied Shakespeare, "and no dull and muddy-mettled +rascal!" <a name="FNanchor34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34">[34]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor34">[34]</a> <i>Hamlet</i>, II. ii. +</blockquote> + +<p>"I be fond of a bit of spart like that," continued Peregrine; "but I +never could away with books and larning. Muddling work, I calls it, +messing over books. Do you care for that kind of stuff, Master +Quakespear?"</p> + +<p>"I dabble in it when I am away from the country," was the reply.</p> + +<p>Then the Warwickshire man began soliloquising again, somewhat after this +manner:</p> + +<blockquote> + "'In his brain<br> +He hath strange places crammed with observation,<br> +The which he vents in mangled forms.'" <a name="FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35">[35]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor35">[35]</a> <i>As you Like It</i> vii. +</blockquote> + +<p>"Drat the fellow!" whispered Peregrine, turning to the parson, who +happened to be riding alongside "I don't like un, 'e's so unkit."</p> + +<p>PARSON: "What makes him talk so, William?"</p> + +<p>PEREGRINE (<i>touching his forehead</i>): "It's a case; I'll be bound it's a +case. 'E's unkit."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind saying that again, sir," said the bard, producing a +notebook.</p> + +<p>Peregrine goes into a fit of giggling, so Shakespeare writes down from +memory; whereupon the yeoman makes up to the squire, and says, "Hist, +squire, we must 'ave a care; 'e's takin' notes 'o anything we says. 'Tis +my belief 'e's got to do with that 'ere case of Tom Barton's they're +makin' such a fuss and do about at Coln. We shall all be 'ung for a set +o' sheep-stealing ruffians."</p> + +<p>"Thee be quite right, William," put in the parson "I thought a' looked a +bit suspicious. If I was you, squire, I'd clap the baggage into +Northleach gaol, and exercise the justice of the peace agin un for an +idle varmint."</p> + +<p>"Yet a milder mannered man I never saw," said the squire.</p> + +<p>PARSON: "Mild-mannered fiddlestick!" Then, raising his voice so that the +stranger should get the full benefit, he added, "He's as mild a mannered +man as ever scuttled ship or cut a throat!"</p> + +<p>Shakespeare hurriedly draws out notebook, and smilingly writes down the +parson's words; then, in perfect good humour, he says:</p> + +<p>"You must excuse me, gentlemen, but I have somewhat of a passion for +writing down such sayings as suit my humour, lest I forget what good +company I keep."</p> + +<p>SQUIRE (<i>excitedly</i>): "Let go the hawk, Tom; there's a great lanky +heron risin' at the withybed yonder."</p> + +<p>And here it is necessary to say something about the methods and language +of falconry as practised by our forefathers.</p> + +<p>Shakespeare tells us to choose "a falcon or tercel for flying at the +brook, and a hawk for the bush." In other words, we are to select the +nobler species, the long-winged peregrine falcon, the male of which was +called a tiercel-gentle, for flying at the heron or the mallard; and a +short-winged hawk, such as the goshawk or sparrow-hawk, for blackbirds +and other hedgerow birds. For as Mr. Madden explains, not only does the +true falcon, be she peregrine, gerfalcon, merlin, or hobby, differ in +size and structure of wing and beak from the short-winged hawks, but she +also differs in her method of hunting and seizing her prey.</p> + +<p>The falcons are "hawks of the tower and lure." They tower aloft and +swoop down on partridge, rabbit, or heron, finally returning to the +lure; and be it noted that the lure is a sham bird, with a "train" of +food to entice the falcons back to their master.</p> + +<p>The short-winged hawks, on the other hand, are birds of the fist or the +bush. Instead of "towering" and "stooping," they lurch after their prey +in wandering flight, finally returning to their master's fist.</p> + +<p>In <i>Macbeth</i> we find allusion to the "falcon towering in her pride of +place"; and indeed there is no prettier sport on a still day than a +flight at the partridge or the heron with the noble peregrine falcon or +her mate the tiercel-gentle.</p> + +<p>At the honest squire's word of command, a male peregrine is forthwith +despatched, and, soaring upwards into the air, he is almost lost to +sight in the clouds, though the faint tinkling of the bells attached to +his feet may yet be heard; then, stooping from the skies, the +tiercel-gentle descends from the heavens and strikes his long-beaked +adversary. Down, down they come, fighting and struggling in the air, +until, exhausted by the unequal combat, the heron gradually falls to the +ground, and receives from the falconer his final <i>coup de grâce</i>. +Sometimes a pair of hawks are thrown off against a heron.</p> + +<p>Now comes a flight at the partridge. First of all the spaniel is +despatched to search the fields for a covey of birds. The desired quarry +being found, he "points" to them, and this time the female peregrine or +true falcon is sent on her way. Away she soars upwards, "waiting on and +towering in her pride of place." Then the birds, lying like stones +beneath her savage ken, are flushed by the dog, and the cruel peregrine, +after selecting her bird, with her characteristic "swoop" brings it to +the ground. If she is unsuccessful in her first attempt, she will tower +again, and renew the attack. The riders have to gallop as fast as their +nags can go, if they would keep in with the sport, for as often as not a +mile or more of ground has to be covered in a long flight, ere the +falcon "souses" <a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36">[36]</a> her prey. After the flight, a well-trained falcon +will invariably return to the lure with its "train" of food.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor36">[36]</a> <i>King John</i>. V. ii. +</blockquote> + +<p>As Mr. Madden has proved, the whole of Shakespeare's works teem with +allusions to the art of falconry.</p> + +<blockquote> + "HENRY: But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,<br> +And what a pitch she flew above the rest!<br> +To see how God in all His creatures works!<br> +Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.<br><br> + + SUFFOLK: No marvel, an it like your majesty,<br> +My lord protector's hawks do tower so well;<br> +They know their master loves to be aloft<br> +And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch.<br><br> + + GLOUCESTER: My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind<br> +That mounts no higher than a bird can soar." <a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37">[37]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor37">[37]</a> 2 <i>Henry VI</i>., II. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>But it was not the death of the poor partridge that appealed to the +poet's mind so much as the pride and cunning of the mighty peregrine, +and the beauty and stillness of the autumnal morning. He loved to hear +the faint tinkling of the falcon's bells, the homely cry of the plover, +and the sweet carol of the lark; but more than all he felt the mystery +of the downs, wondering by what power and when those old seas were +converted into a sea of grass.</p> + +<p>But whilst the hawking party was moving slowly across the wolds to try +fresh ground an event occurred which had the effect of bringing the +morning's sport, as far as hawks were concerned, to an abrupt +conclusion. This was nothing more nor less than the sight of a great +Cotswold fox of the greyhound breed making his way towards a copse on +the squire's demesne. The quick eye of the Peregrine family was the +first to view him, and forthwith both Bill and his brother screamed in +unison: "What's that sneaking across Smoke Acre yonder? 'Tis a fox--a +great, lanky, thieving, villainous fox, darned if it ain't!"</p> + +<p>"Where?" said parson and squire excitedly.</p> + +<p>"There," said Peregrine, "over agin Smoke Acre."</p> + +<p>"By jabbers, so it be!" said the parson. "Now look thee here, Joe +Peregrine, go thee to the sexton and tell 'un to ring the church bells +for the folks to come for a fox; and be sure and tell the +churchwardens."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the poet, almost as excited as the rest of the party,</p> + +<blockquote> +"'And do not stand on quillets how to slay him:<br> + Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety,<br> + Sleeping or waking, 'tis no matter how,<br> + So he be dead.'" <a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38">[38]</a><br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor38">[38]</a> <i>2 Henry VI.</i>, III. i. +</blockquote> + +<p>Thus abruptly ended this hawking expedition on the Cotswolds; for the +whole party made off to the manor house to fetch guns, spades, pickaxes, +and dogs, as was the custom in those days, when a "lanky, villainous +fox" was viewed.</p> + +<p>As for Shakespeare, after bidding adieu to the old squire, and thanking +him for his hospitality, he mounted his game little Irish hobby and +steered his course due northward for Stow-on-the-Wold. His track lay +along the old Fossway, a road infested in those days by murderous +highwaymen; yet, unarmed and unattended, unknown and unappreciated, did +that mighty man of genius set cheerfully out on his long and +solitary way.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII."></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>CIRENCESTER.</h3> + +<p>The ancient town of Cirencester--the Caerceri of the early Britons, the +Corinium of the Romans, and the Saxon Cyrencerne--has been a place of +importance on the Cotswolds from time immemorial. The abbreviations +Cisetre and Cysseter were in use as long ago as the fifteenth century, +though some of the natives are now in the habit of calling it Ciren. The +correct modern abbreviation is Ciceter.</p> + +<p>The place is so rich in Roman antiquities that we must perforce devote a +few lines to their consideration. A whole book would not be sufficient +to do full justice to them.</p> + +<p>No less than four important Roman roads meet within a short distance of +Cirencester; and very fine and broad ones they are, generally running as +straight as the proverbial arrow.</p> + +<p>1. The Irmin Way, between Cricklade and Gloucester, <i>viâ</i> Cirencester.</p> + +<p>2. Acman Street connects Cirencester with Bath.</p> + +<p>3. Icknield Street, running to Oxford.</p> + +<p>4. The Fossway, extending far into the north of England. This +magnificent road may be said to connect Exeter in the south with Lincoln +in the north. It is raised several feet above the natural level of the +country, and in many places there still remain traces of the ancient +ditch which was dug on either side of its course.</p> + +<p>In the year 1849 two very fine tessellated pavements were unearthed in +Dyer Street, and removed to a museum which Lord Bathurst built purposely +for their reception and preservation. Another fine specimen of this kind +of work may be seen in its original position at a house called the +"Barton" in the park. It is a representation of Orpheus and his lute; +and the various animals which he is said to have charmed are wonderfully +worked in the coloured pavements. Even as far back as three hundred +years ago these beautiful relics were being discovered in this town; for +Leland in his "Itinerary," mentions the finding of some tesserae; +unfortunately but few have been preserved.</p> + +<p>There are two inscribed stones in this collection which deserve special +mention, as they are marvellously well preserved, considering the fact +that they are probably eighteen hundred years old. They are about six +feet in height and about half that breadth; on each is carved the figure +of a mounted soldier, spear in hand. On the ground lies his prostrate +foe, pierced by his adversary's spear. Underneath one of these carvings +are inscribed the following words:--</p> + +<blockquote> +DANNICVS. EQES. AIAE.<br> +INDIAN. TVR. ALBANI.<br> +STIP. XVI. CIVES. RAVR.<br> +CVR. FVLVIVS. NATALIS. IT.<br> +FVLIVS. BITVCVS. EX. TESTAME.<br> +H S E.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The meaning of the above words is as follows:--</p> + +<p>"Dannicus, a horseman of Indus's Cavalry, of the squadron of Albanus. He +had seen sixteen years' service. A citizen of Rauricum. Fulvius Natalis +and Fulvius Bitucus have caused this monument to be made in accordance +with his will. He is buried here."</p> + +<p>The other stone has a somewhat similar inscription.</p> + +<p>The Romans, who did not use wallpapers, were in the habit of colouring +their plaster with various pigments. Some very interesting specimens of +wall-painting are preserved at Cirencester, and may be seen in the +museum. The most remarkable example of the kind is a piece of coloured +plaster, with the following square scratched on its surface:--</p> + +<blockquote> +ROTAS<br> +OPERA<br> +TENET<br> +AREPO<br> +SATOR<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It will be noticed that these five words, the meaning of which is, +"Arepo, the sower, guides the wheels at work," form a kind of puzzle; +they may be read in eight different directions.</p> + +<p>A large variety of sepulchral urns have been found at Cirencester. When +dug up they usually contain little besides the ashes of the dead, though +a few coins are sometimes included. There is a very perfect specimen of +a glass urn--a large green bottle, square, wide-mouthed, and absolutely +intact--in this collection. It was found, wrapped in lead and enclosed +in a hollow stone, somewhere near the town about the year 1758.</p> + +<p>A fine specimen of a stone coffin is likewise to be seen. When +discovered at Latton it was found to contain an iron axe, a dish of +black ware of the kind frequently discovered at Upchurch in Kent, a +juglike-handled vase of a light red colour, and some human bones.</p> + +<p>The various kinds of pottery in the Corinium Museum are interesting on +account of the potters' marks found on them. There must be considerably +over a hundred different marks in this collection, chiefly of the +following kind:--</p> + +<p><i>Putri M</i>. (Manû Putri), by the hand of Putrus.</p> + +<p><i>Mara. F</i>. (Formâ Marci), from the mould of Marcus.</p> + +<p><i>Olini Off</i>. (Officinâ Olini), from the workshop of Olinus.</p> + +<p>The museum contains many good specimens of iron and bronze implements, +as well as coins and stonework, and is well worthy of the attention +bestowed on it, not only by antiquaries, but by the public at large.</p> + +<p>At a place called the Querns, a short distance from the town, is a very +interesting old amphitheatre called the Bull-ring. This is an ellipse of +about sixty yards long by forty-five wide; it is surrounded by mounds +twenty feet high. Originally the scene of the combats of Roman +gladiators, in mediaeval times it was probably used for the pastime of +bull-baiting, a barbarous amusement which has happily long since +died out.</p> + +<p>Amphitheatres of the same type are to be seen at Dorchester, Old Sarum, +Silchester, and other Roman stations.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilfred Cripps, C.B., the head of a family that has been seated at +Cirencester for many hundreds of years, has an interesting private +collection of Roman antiquities which have been found in the +neighbourhood from time to time. He has quite recently discovered the +remnants of the Basilica or Roman law-courts.</p> + +<p>Turning to the place as it now stands, one is struck on entering the +town by the breadth and clean appearance of the main street, known as +the market-place. The shops are almost as good as those to be found in +the principal thoroughfares of London.</p> + +<p>I have spoken before of the magnificent old church. There is, perhaps, +no sacred building, except St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol and Beverley +Minster, that we know of in England which for perfect proportion and +symmetry can vie with the imposing grandeur of this pile, as seen from +the Cricklade-street end of Cirencester market-place.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-282-300.jpg"> +<img src="fp-282-300.jpg" width = "35%" alt="MARKET-PLACE, CIRENCESTER."> +</a><br><b>"MARKET-PLACE, CIRENCESTER."</b> +</P> + +<p>The south porch is a very beautiful and ornamental piece of +architecture. The work is of fifteenth-century design, the interior of +the porch consisting of delicately wrought fan-tracery groining. The +carving outside is most picturesque, there being many handsome niches +and six fine oriel windows. The whole of the <i>façade</i> is crowned with +very large pierced battlements and crocketed pinnacles. Over this porch +is one of those grand old sixteenth-century halls such as were built in +former times in front of the churches. It is called the "Parvise," a +word derived from the same source as Paradise, which in the language of +architecture means a cloistered court adjoining a church. Many of these +beautiful old apartments existed at one time in England, but were pulled +down by religious enthusiasts because they were considered to be out of +place when attached to the church and used for secular purposes. This is +now known as the town hall, and contrasts very favourably with the +hideous erections built in modern times in some of our English towns for +this purpose.</p> + +<p>The church of Cirencester contains a large amount of beautiful +Perpendicular work.</p> + +<p>In the grand old tower are twelve bells of excellent tone. The Early +English stonework in the chancel and chapels is very curious, a fine +arch opening from the nave to the tower. There is, in fact, a great deal +to be seen on all sides which would delight the lover of architecture.</p> + +<p>Some ancient brasses of great interest and beautiful design in various +parts of this church claim attention; the earliest of them is as old as +1360; a pulpit cloth of blue velvet, made from the cape of one Ralph +Parsons in 1478 and presented by him, is still preserved.</p> + +<p>Cirencester House stands but a stone's throw from the railway station, +but is hidden from sight by a high wall and a gigantic yew hedge. Behind +it and on all sides, save one, the park--one of the largest in +England--stretches away for miles. So beautiful and rural are the +surroundings that the visitor to the house can hardly realise that the +place is not far removed from the busy haunts of men.</p> + +<p>The Cirencester estate was purchased by Sir Benjamin Bathurst rather +more than two hundred years ago. This family has done good service to +their king and country for many centuries. We read the other day that no +less than <i>six</i> of Sir Benjamin's brothers died fighting for the king in +the Civil Wars. Nor have they been less conspicuous in serving their +country in times of peace.</p> + +<p>The park, which was designed to a great extent by the first earl, with +the assistance of Pope, has been entirely thrown open to the people of +Cirencester; and "the future and as yet visionary beauties of the noble +scenes, openings, and avenues" which that great poet used to delight in +dwelling upon have become accomplished facts. The "ten rides"--lengthy +avenues of fine trees radiating in all directions from a central point +in the middle of the park--are a picturesque feature of the landscape.</p> + +<p>The lover of horses and riding finds here a paradise of grassy glades, +where he can gallop for miles on end, and tire the most obstinate of +"pullers."</p> + +<p>Picnic parties, horse shows, cricket matches, and the chase of the fox +all find a place in this romantic demesne in their proper seasons. The +enthusiast for woodland hunting, or the man who hates the sight of a +fence of any description, may hunt the fox here day after day and never +leave the recesses of the park.</p> + +<p>The antiquary will find much to delight him. Here is the ancient high +cross, erected in the fourteenth century, which once stood in front of +the old Ram Inn. The pedestal is hewn from a single block of stone, and +beautifully wrought with Gothic arcades and panelled quatrefoils; this +and the shaft are the sole relics of the old cross. We may go into +raptures over the ivy-covered ruin known as Alfred's Hall, fitted up as +it is with black oak and rusty armour and all the pompous simplicity of +the old baronial halls of England. Antiquaries of a certain order are +easily deceived; and this delightful old ruin, though but two hundred +years old, has been so skilfully put together as to represent an ancient +British castle. That celebrated, though indelicate divine, Dean Swift, +was, like Alexander Pope, deeply interested in the designing of +this park.</p> + +<p>As long ago as 1733 Alfred's Hall was a snare and delusion to +antiquaries. In that year Swift received a letter stating that "My Lord +Bathurst has greatly improved the Wood-House, which you may remember was +a cottage, not a bit better than an Irish cabin. It is now a venerable +castle, and has been taken by an antiquary for one of King Arthur's."</p> + +<p>The kennels of the V.W.H. hounds are in the park. Here the lover of +hounds can spend hours discussing the merits of "Songster" and +"Rosebud," or the latest and most promising additions to the families of +"Brocklesby Acrobat" or "Cotteswold Flier."</p> + +<p>In this house are some very interesting portraits. Full-length pictures +of the members of the Cabal Ministry adorn the dining-room--all fine +examples of Lely's brush; then there is a very large representation of +the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo mounted on his favourite charger +"Copenhagen" by Lawrence; two "Romneys," one "Sir Joshua," and several +"Knellers."</p> + +<p>Turning to the Abbey, the seat for the last three hundred and thirty +years of the Master family, we find another instance of a large country +house standing practically in a town. The house is situated immediately +behind the church and within a stone's throw of the market-place. But on +the side away from the town the view from this house extends over a +large extent of rural scenery. The site of the mitred Abbey of Saint +Mary is somewhere hereabouts, but in the time of the suppression of the +monasteries every stone of the old abbey was pulled down and carried +away; so that the twelfth-century gateway and some remnants of pillars +are the sole traces that remain. This gateway, which is a very fine one, +is still used as a lodge entrance. Queen Elizabeth granted this estate +to Richard Master in 1564. When King Charles was at Cirencester in the +time of the Rebellion he twice stayed at this house. In 1642 the +townspeople of Cirencester rose in a body, and tried to prevent the lord +lieutenant of the county, Lord Chandos, from carrying out the King's +Commission of Array. For a time they gained their ends, but in the +following year there was a sharp encounter between Prince Rupert's force +and the people of Cirencester, resulting in the total defeat of the +latter. Three hundred of them were killed, and over a thousand taken +prisoners. They were confined in the church, and eventually taken to +Oxford, where, upon their submitting humbly to the king, he pardoned +them, and they were released. This is one account. It is only fair to +state that another account is less complimentary to Charles.</p> + +<p>When Charles II. escaped from Worcester he put up at an old hostelry in +Cirencester called the Sun. King James and, still later, Queen Anne paid +visits to this town.</p> + +<p>Altogether the town of Cirencester is a very fascinating old place. The +lot of its inhabitants is indeed cast in pleasant places. The grand +bracing air of the Cotswold Hills is a tonic which drives dull care away +from these Gloucestershire people; and when it is remembered that they +enjoy the freedom of Lord Bathurst's beautiful park, that the +neighbourhood is, in spite of agricultural depression, well off in this +world's goods, it is not surprising that the pallid cheeks and drooping +figures to be met with in most of our towns are conspicuous by their +absence here. The Cotswold farmers may be making no profit in these days +of low prices and competition, but against this must be set the fact +that their fathers and grandfathers made considerable fortunes in +farming three decades ago, and for this we must be thankful.</p> + +<p>The merry capital of the Cotswolds abounds in good cheer and good +fellowship all the year round; and one has only to pay a visit to the +market-place on a Monday to meet the best of fellows and the most genial +sportsmen anywhere to be found amongst the farming community of England.</p> + +<p>One of the old institutions which still remain in the Cotswolds is the +annual "mop," or hiring fair. At Cirencester these take place twice in +October. Every labouring man in the district hurries into the town, +where all sorts of entertainments are held in the market-place, +including "whirly-go-rounds," discordant music, and the usual "shows" +which go to make up a country fair. "Hiring" used to be the great +feature of these fairs. In the days before local newspapers were +invented every sort of servant, from a farm bailiff to a +maid-of-all-work, was hired for the year at the annual mop. The word +"mop" is derived from an old custom which ordained that the +maid-servants who came to find situations should bring their badge of +office with them to the fair. They came with their brooms and mops, just +as a carter would tie a piece of whipcord to his coat, and a shepherd's +hat would be decorated with a tuft of wool. Time was when the labouring +man was never happy unless he changed his abode from year to year. He +would get tired of one master and one village, and be off to Cirencester +mop, where he was pretty sure to get a fresh job. But nowadays the +Cotswold men are beginning to realise that "Two removes are as bad as a +fire." The best of them stay for years in the same village. This is very +much more satisfactory for all concerned. Deeply rooted though the love +of change appears to be in the hearts of nine-tenths of the human race, +the restless spirit seldom enjoys real peace and quiet; and the +discontent and poverty of the labouring class in times gone by may +safely be attributed to their never-ceasing changes and removal of their +belongings to other parts of the country.</p> + +<p>Now that these old fairs no longer answer the purpose for which they +existed for hundreds of years, they will doubtless gradually die out. +And they have their drawbacks. An occasion of this kind is always +associated with a good deal of drunkenness; the old market-place of +Cirencester for a few days in each autumn becomes a regular pandemonium. +It is marvellous how quickly all traces of the great show are swept away +and the place once more settles down to the normal condition of an +old-fashioned though well-to-do country town.</p> + +<p>There are many old houses in Cirencester of more than average interest, +but there is nothing as far as we know that needs special description. +The Fleece Hotel is one of the largest and most beautiful of the +mediaeval buildings. It should be noted that some of the new buildings +in this town, such as that which contains the post office, have been +erected in the best possible taste. With the exception of some of the +work which Mr. Bodley has done at Oxford in recent years, notably the +new buildings at Magdalen College, we have never seen modern +architecture of greater excellence than these Cirencester houses. They +are as picturesque as houses containing shops possibly can be.</p> + +<p>HUNTING FROM CICETER.</p> + +<p>But it is as a hunting centre that Ciceter is best known to the world at +large, and in this respect it is almost unique. The "Melton of the +west," it contains a large number of hunting residents who are not mere +"birds of passage," but men who live the best part of the year in or +near the town. The country round about, from a hunting point of view, is +good enough for most people. Five days a week can be enjoyed, over a +variety of hill and vale, all of which is "rideable"; nor can there be +any question but that the sport obtainable compares favourably with that +enjoyed in the more grassy Midlands. Not that there is much plough round +about Cirencester nowadays; agricultural depression has diminished the +amount of arable in recent years. The best grass country round about, +however, with the exception of the Crudwell and Oaksey district, rides +decidedly deep. The enclosures are small and the fences rough and +straggling.</p> + +<p>A clever, bold horse, with plenty of jumping power in his quarters and +hocks, is essential. It may safely be said that a man who can command +hounds in the Braydon and Swindon district will find the "shires" +comparatively plain sailing. The wall country of the Cotswold tableland +is exactly the reverse of the vale. The pace there is often tremendous, +but the obstacles are not formidable enough to those accustomed to +walls to keep the eager field from pressing the pack, save on those rare +occasions when, on a burning scent, the hounds manage to get a start of +horses; and then they will never be caught. Well-bred horses are almost +invariably ridden in this wall country; if in hard condition, and there +are no steep hills to be crossed, they can go as fast and stay almost as +long as hounds, for the going is good, and they are always galloping on +the top of the ground.</p> + +<p>At the time of writing, there are over two hundred hunters stabled in +the little town of Cirencester, to say nothing of those kept at the +numerous hunting boxes around. More than this need not be said to show +the undoubted popularity of the place as a hunting centre. And a very +sporting lot the people are. Brought up to the sport from the cradle, +the Gloucestershire natives, squires, farmers, all sorts and conditions +of men, ride as straight as a die.</p> + +<p>From what has been said it will be readily gathered that the attraction +of the place as a hunting centre lies in the variety of country it +commands. Not only is a different stamp of country to be met with each +day of the week, but on one and the same day you may be riding over +banks, small flying fences, and sound grass, or deep ploughs and pasture +divided by hairy bullfinches, or, again, over light plough and stone +walls; and to this fact may be attributed the exceptional number of good +performers over a country that this district turns out. Both men and +horses have always appeared to us to reach a very high standard of +cleverness.</p> + +<p>To Leicestershire, Northants, Warwick, and the Vale of Aylesbury +belongs by undisputed right the credit of the finest grass country in +hunting England. But for Ireland and the rougher shires I claim the +honour of showing not only the straightest foxes, but also the best +sportsmen and the boldest riders. The reason seems to me to be this: in +Leicestershire you find the field composed largely of smart London men; +and after a certain age a man "goes to hounds" in inverse ratio to the +pace at which he travels as a man about town. The latter (with a few +brilliant exceptions to prove the rule) is not so quick and determined +when he sees a nasty piece of timber or an awkward hairy fence as his +reputation at the clubs would lead you to expect; whilst the rougher +countryman, be he yeoman or squire, farmer or peer, endowed with nerves +of iron, is able to cross a country with a confidence and a dash that +are denied to the average dandy, with his big stud, immaculate +"leathers," and expensive cigars. In Gloucestershire many an honest +yeoman goes out twice a week and endeavours to drown for a while all +thoughts of hard times and low prices, content for the day if the fates +have left him a sound horse and the consolation of a gallop over the +grass. Let it here be said that there are no grooms in the world who +better understand conditioning hunters than those of Leicestershire. +Nowhere can you see horses better bred or fitter to go; and he who rides +a-hunting on <i>fat</i> horses must himself be <i>fat</i>.</p> + +<p>The V.W.H. hounds, on Mr. Hoare's retirement in 1886, were divided into +two packs. Mr. T. Butt Miller hunts three days a week on the eastern +side, with Cricklade as his centre; whilst Lord Bathurst has sufficient +ground for two days on the west, where the country flanks with the Duke +of Beaufort's domain on the south and the Cotswold hounds on the north. +Mr. Miller retains the original pack, and a very fine one it is. Lord +Bathurst likewise, by dint of sparing no pains, and by bringing in the +best blood obtainable from Belvoir, Brocklesby, and other kennels, has +gradually brought his pack to a high state of excellence.</p> + +<p>Turning to the week's programme for a man hunting five or six days a +week from Cirencester, Monday is the day for the duke's hounds. Here you +may be riding over some of the best of the grass, where light flying +fences grow on the top of low banks, or else it will be a stone-wall +country of mixed grass and light plough. In either case the country is +very rideable, and sport usually excellent. The Badminton hounds and +Lord Worcester's skill as a huntsman are too well known to require any +description here.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday Lord Bathurst's hounds are always within seven miles of the +town, and the country is a very open one, but one that requires plenty +of wet to carry scent. Though on certain days there is but little scent, +in favourable seasons during recent years wonderful sport has been shown +in this country. In the season of 1895-6 especially, a fine gallop came +off regularly every Tuesday from October to the end of February. In '97, +on the other hand, little was done. There is far more grass than there +used to be, owing to so much of the land having gone out of cultivation. +The plough rides lighter than grass does in nine counties out of ten, +the coverts are small, and the pace often tremendous. Every country has +its drawback, and in this case it lies partly in bad scent and partly in +the fences being too easy. Men who know the walls with which the +Cotswold tableland is almost entirely enclosed, ride far too close to +hounds: thus, the pack and the huntsman not being allowed a chance, +sport is often spoiled. Occasionally, when a real scent is forthcoming, +the hounds can run right away from the field; but as a rule they are +shamefully over-ridden. The fact is that in the hunting field, as +elsewhere, John Wolcot's epigram, written a hundred years ago, exactly +hits the nail on the head:</p> + +<blockquote> +"What rage for fame attends both great and small!<br> + Better be d--d than mentioned not at all."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>We all want to ride in the front rank, and are, or ought to be, d--d +accordingly by the long-suffering M.F.H.</p> + +<p>On Wednesdays the Cotswold hounds are always within easy reach of +Cirencester. There are few better packs than the Cotswold. Started forty +years ago with part of the V.W.H. pack which Lord Gifford was giving up, +the Cotswold hounds have received strains of the best blood of the +Brocklesby, Badminton, Belvoir, and Berkeley kennels. They have +therefore both speed and stamina as well as good noses. Their huntsman, +Charles Travess, has no superior as far as we know; the result is that +for dash and drive these hounds are unequalled. Notwithstanding the +severe pace at which they are able to run, owing to the absence of high +hedges and other impediments--for most of the country is enclosed with +stone walls--they hunt marvellously well together and do not tail; they +are wonderfully musical, too,--more so than any other pack.</p> + +<p>Here it is worth our while to analyse briefly the qualities which +combine to make this huntsman so deservedly popular with all who follow +the Cotswold hounds. We venture to say that he pleases all and sundry, +"thrusters," hound-men, and <i>liver-men</i> alike, because he invariably has +a double object in view--he hunts his fox and he humours his field. And +firstly he hunts his fox in the best possible method, having regard to +the scenting capabilities of the Cotswold Hills.</p> + +<p>He is quick as lightning, yet he is never in a hurry--that is to say, in +a "<i>bad</i> hurry." When the hounds "throw up" or "check," like all other +good huntsmen he gives them plenty of time. He stands still and he +<i>makes his field stand still</i>; then may be seen that magnificent proof +of canine brain-power, the fan-shaped forward movement of a +well-drafted, old-established pack of foxhounds, making good by two +distinct casts--right-and left-handed--the ground that lies in front of +them and on each side. Should they fail to hit off the line, the +advantage of a brilliant huntsman immediately asserts itself. Partly by +certain set rules and partly by a knowledge of the country and the run +of foxes, but more than all by that <i>daring</i> genius which was the +making of Shakespeare and the great men of all time, he takes his hounds +admirably in hand, aided by two quiet, unassuming whippers-in, and in +four cases out of five brings them either at the first or second cast to +the very hedgerow where five minutes before Reynard took his sneaking, +solitary way. It may be "forward," or it may be down wind, right or +left-handed, but it is at all events the <i>right</i> way; thus, owing to +this happy knack of making the proper cast at a large percentage of +checks this man establishes his reputation as a first-class huntsman.</p> + +<p>Should the day be propitious, a run is now assured, unless some +unforeseen occurrence, such as the fox going to ground, necessitates a +draw for a fresh one; but in any case, owing to this marvellous knack of +hitting off the line at the first check, our huntsman generally +contrives to show a run some time during the day.</p> + +<p>So much for the methods by which this William Shakespeare of the hunting +field is wont to pursue his fox. But we have not done with him yet. What +does he do on those bad scenting days which on the dry and stony +Cotswold Hills are the rule rather than the exception? On such days, as +well as hunting his fox, he humours his field. In the first place, +unless he has distinct proof to the contrary, he invariably gives his +fox credit for being a straight-necked one. He keeps moving on at a +steady pace in the direction in which his instinct and knowledge lead +him, even though there may be no scent, either on the ground or in the +air, to guide the hounds. Every piece of good scenting ground--and he +knows the capabilities of every field in this respect--is made the most +of; "carrying" or dusty ploughs are scrupulously avoided. If he "lifts," +it is done so quietly and cunningly that the majority of the riders are +unaware of the fact; and the hounds never become wild and untractable. +It is this free and generous method of hunting the fox that pleases his +followers. Travess's casts are not made in cramped and stingy fashion, +but a wide extent of country is covered even on a bad day; there is no +rat-hunting. After a time all save a dozen sportsmen are left several +fields behind. "They won't run to-day," is the general cry; "there is no +hurry." But meantime some large grass fields are met with, or the +huntsman brings the pack on to better terms with the fox, or maybe a +fresh one jumps up, and away go the hounds for seven or eight minutes as +hard as they can pelt. Only a dozen men know exactly what has happened. +Most of the thrusters and all the <i>liver-men</i> have to gallop in earnest +for half an hour to come up with the hunt; indeed, on many days they +never see either huntsman or hounds again, and go tearing about the +country cursing their luck in missing so fine a run! It is the old story +of the hare and the tortoise. But herein lies the "humour" of it: the +hare is pleased and the tortoise is pleased. The former, as represented +by the field, has enjoyed a fine scamper, and lots of air (bother the +currant jelly!) and exercise; the tortoise, on the other hand, has had a +fine hunting run, and possibly by creeping slowly on for some hours it +has killed its fox; whilst several good sportsmen have enjoyed an +old-fashioned hunt in a wild country with a kill in the open.</p> + +<p><i>Verbum sap:</i> If you want to humour your field, you must leave them +behind. It must not be done intentionally, however; the riders must be +allowed, so to speak, to work out their own salvation in this respect.</p> + +<p>Major de Freville's country as a whole is more suited to the "houndman" +than for him who hunts to ride. The hills, save in one district, are so +severe that hounds often beat horses; the result is, many are tempted to +station themselves on the top of a hill, whence a wide view is +obtainable, and trust to the hounds coming back after running a ring. +Given the right sort of horse, however--short-backed, thoroughbred if +possible, and with good enough manners to descend a steep place without +boring and tearing his rider's arms almost out of their sockets--many a +fine run may be seen in this wild district. Much of the arable land has +gone back to grass, so that it is quite a fair scenting country; and the +foxes are stronger and more straight-necked than in more civilised +parts. One of the best days the writer ever had in his life was with +these hounds. Meeting at Puesdown, they ran for an hour in the morning +at a great pace, with an eight-mile point; whilst in the afternoon came +a run of one-and-a-half hours, with a point of somewhere about +ten miles.</p> + +<p>With the exception of a small vale between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, +which is very good indeed, the Puesdown country is about the best, the +undulations being less severe than in other parts.</p> + +<p>On Thursdays Cirencester commands Mr. Miller's Braydon country. This +country is a very great contrast to that which is ridden over on +Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and requires a very stout horse. It rides +tremendously deep at times; and the fences, which come very frequently +in a run, owing to the small size of the enclosures, are both big and +blind. It is practically all grass. But there are several large +woodlands, with deep clay rides, in which one is not unlikely to spend a +part of Thursday; and these woods, owing in part to the shooting being +let to Londoners, are none too plentifully provided with foxes. Wire, +too, has sprung up in some parts of Mr. Miller's Braydon country. Few +people have large enough studs to stand the wear and tear of this fine, +wild country; consequently the fields are generally small. Sport, though +not so good as it used to be, is still very fair, and to run down to +Great Wood in the duke's country is sufficient to tax the powers of the +finest weight-carrying hunter, whilst only the man with a quick eye to a +country can live with hounds. It is often stated that blood horses are +the best for galloping through deep ground. This is true in one way, +though not on the whole. Thoroughbred horses are practically useless in +this sort of country; their feet are often so small that they stick in +the deep clay. A horse with small feet is no good at all in Braydon. A +short-legged Irish hunter, about three parts bred, with tremendous +strength in hocks and quarters, and biggish feet, is the sort the writer +would choose. If up to quite two stone more than his rider's weight, +and a safe and temperate fencer, he will carry you well up with hounds +over any country. A fast horse is not required; for a racer that can do +the mile on the flat at Newmarket in something under two minutes is +reduced in really deep ground to an eight-mile-an-hour canter, and your +short-legged horse from the Emerald Isle will leave him standing still +in the Braydon Vale.</p> + +<p>Some countries never ride really deep. The shires, for instance, though +often said to be deep, will seldom let a horse in to any great +extent--the ridge and furrow drains the field so well; and in that sort +of deep ground which is met with in Leicestershire a thoroughbred one +will gallop and "stay" all day. But a ride in Braydon or in the Bicester +"Claydons" will convince us that a stouter stamp of horse is necessary +to combat a deep, undrained clay country.</p> + +<p>We must now leave the sporting Thursday country of the V.W.H. and turn +to Friday.</p> + +<p>Eastcourt, Crudwell, Oaksey, Brinkworth, Lea Schools--such are some of +Lord Bathurst's Friday meets; and the pen can hardly write fast enough +in singing the praises of this country. Strong, well-preserved coverts, +sound grass fields, flying fences, sometimes set on a low bank, +sometimes without a bank, varied by an occasional brook, with now and +then a fence big enough to choke off all but the "customers"--such is +the bill of fare for Fridays. To run from Stonehill Wood, <i>viâ</i> Charlton +and Garsdon, to Redborn in the duke's country, as the hounds did on the +first day of 1897, is, as "Brooksby" would say, "a line fit for a king, +be that king but well minded and well mounted."</p> + +<p>Stand on Garsdon Hill, and look down on the grassy vale mapped out +below, and tell me, if you dare, that you ever saw a pleasanter stretch +of country. How dear to the hunting man are green fields and +sweet-scenting pastures, where the fences are fair and clean and the +ditches broad and deep, where there is room to gallop and room to jump, +and where, as he sails along on a well-bred horse or reclines perchance +in a muddy ditch (Professor Raleigh! what a watery bathos!), he may +often say to himself, "It is good for me to be here!" For when the +hounds cross this country there are always "wigs on the green" in +abundance; and in spite of barbed wire we may still sing with Horace,</p> + +<blockquote> +"Nec fortuitum spernere caespitem<br> + Leges sinebant,"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>which, at the risk of offending all classical scholars, I must here +translate: "Nor do the laws allow us to despise a chance tumble on +the turf."</p> + +<p>Round Oaksey, too, is a rare galloping ground. Should you be lucky +enough to get a start from "Flistridge" and come down to the brook at a +jumpable place, in less than ten minutes you will be, if not <i>in</i> +Paradise, at all events as near as you are ever likely to be on this +earth. This is literally true, for half way between "Flistridge" and +Kemble Wood, and in the midst of Elysian grass fields, is a narrow strip +of covert happily christened "Paradise."</p> + +<p>Would that there was a larger extent of this sort of country, for it is +not every Friday that hounds cross it! The duke's hounds have a happy +knack of crossing it occasionally on a Monday, however, and on Thursdays +Mr. Miller's hounds may drive a fox that way.</p> + +<p>This district is not so easy for a stranger to ride his own line over as +the Midlands; it is not half so stiff, but it is often cramped and +trappy. But then you must "look before you leap" in most countries +nowadays. In this Friday country wire is comparatively scarce. The +fields run very large on this day,--quite two hundred horsemen are to be +seen at favourite fixtures. About half this number would belong to the +country, and the other half come from the duke's country and elsewhere. +These Friday fields are as well mounted and well appointed as any in +England. And to see a run one must have a good horse,--not necessarily +an expensive one, for "good" and "expensive" are by no means synonymous +terms with regard to horseflesh. It is with regret that we must add that +foxes were decidedly scarce here last season (1897-8).</p> + +<p>On Saturdays the Cirencester brigade will hunt with Mr. Miller. +Fairford, Lechlade, Kempsford, and Water-Eaton are some of the meets. +Here we have a totally different country from any yet considered. It is +a wonderfully sporting one; and last season these hounds never had a bad +Saturday, and often a 'clinker' resulted. Here again one can never +anticipate what sort of ground will be traversed; but the best of it +consists of a fine open country of grass and plough intermingled, the +fields being intersected by small flying fences and exceptionally wide +and deep ditches. "Snowstorm"--a small gorse half way between Fairford +and Lechlade stations on the Great Western Railway--is a favourite draw. +If a fox goes away you see men sitting down in their saddles and +cramming at the fences as hard as their horses can gallop. There appears +to be nothing to jump until you are close up to the fence; but +nevertheless pace is required to clear them, for there is hardly a ditch +anywhere round "Snowstorm" that is not ten feet wide and eight feet or +more deep, and if you are unlucky your horse may have to clear fourteen +feet. On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing that a horse going +fast cannot clear almost without an effort if he jumps at all. So you +may ride in confidence at every fence, and take it where you please. The +depth of the ditch is what frightens a timid horse and, I may add, a +timid rider; and if your horse stops dead, and then tries to jump it +standing, you are very apt to tumble in.</p> + +<p>A rare sporting country is this district; and as the horses and their +riders know it, there are comparatively few falls. Round Kempsford and +Lechlade the Thames and the canal are apt to get in the way, but once +clear of these impediments a very open country is entered, either of +grass and flying fences or light plough and stone walls. Another style +of country is that round Hannington and Crouch. In old days, before wire +was known, this used to be the best grass country in the V.W.H., but +nowadays you must "look before you leap." With a good fox, however, +hounds may take you into the best of the old Berkshire vale, and +perhaps right up to the Swindon Hills. Round Water-Eaton is a fine grass +country, good enough for anybody; but the increase of wire is becoming +more and more difficult to combat in this as in other grazing districts +of England.</p> + +<p>The very varied bill of fare we have briefly sketched for a man hunting +from Cirencester may include an occasional Wednesday with the Heythrop +at "Bradwell Grove." It is not possible to reach the choicest part of +this pleasant country by road from Cirencester, but some of the best of +the stone-wall country of the Cotswold tableland is included in the +Heythrop domain. Everybody who has been brought up to hunting has heard +of "Jem Hills and Bradwell Grove": rare gallops this celebrated huntsman +used to show over the wolds in days gone by; and on a good scenting day +it requires a quick horse to live with these hounds. A fast and +well-bred pack, established more than sixty years ago, they have been +admirably presided over by Mr. Albert Brassey for close on a quarter of +a century. Several pleasant vales intersect this country, notably the +Bourton and the Gawcombe Vale; and there is excellent grass round +Moreton-in-the-Marsh. As, however, the grass country of the Heythrop is +too far from Cirencester to be reached by road, it hardly comes within +our scope.</p> + +<p>If hunting is doomed to extinction in the Midlands, owing to the growth +of barbed wire, it is exceedingly unlikely ever to die out in the +neighbourhood of Cirencester; for there is so much poor, unprofitable +land on the Cotswold tableland and in the Braydon district that barbed +wire and other evils of civilisation are not likely to interfere to +deprive us of our national sport; Hunting men have but to be true to +themselves, and avoid doing unnecessary damage, to see the sport carried +on in the twentieth century as it has been in the past. If we conform to +the unwritten laws of the chase, and pay for the damage we do, there +will be no fear of fox-hunting dying out. England will be "Merrie +England" still, even in the twentieth century; the glorious pastime, +sole relic of the days of chivalry, will continue among us, cheering the +life in our quiet country villages through the gloomy winter months;--if +only we be true to ourselves, and do our uttermost to further the +interests of the grandest sport on earth.</p> + +<p>As I have given an account of a run over the walls, and as the Ciceter +people set most store on a gallop over the stiff fences and grass +enclosures of their vale, here follows a brief description in verse of +the glories of fifty minutes on the grass. I have called it "The +Thruster's Song," because on the whole I thoroughly agree with +Shakespeare that</p> + +<blockquote> +"Valour is the chietest virtue, and<br> + Most dignifies the haver."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Hard riding and all sports which involve an element of danger are the +best antidotes to that luxury and effeminacy which long periods of peace +are apt to foster. What would become of the young men of the present +day--those, I mean, who are in the habit of following the hounds--if +hard riding were to become unfashionable? I cannot conceive anything +more ridiculous than the sight of a couple of hundred well-mounted men +riding day after day in a slow procession through gates, "craning" at +the smallest obstacles, or dismounting and "leading over." No; hard +riding is the best antidote in the world for the luxurious tendency of +these days. A hundred years ago, when the sport of fox-hunting was in +its infancy and modern conditions of pace were unknown, there was less +need for this kind of recreation, "the image of war without its guilt, +and only twenty-five per cent of its danger." For there was real +fighting enough to be done in olden times; and amongst hunting folk, +though there was much drinking, there was little luxury. Therefore our +fox-hunting ancestors were content to enjoy slow hunting runs, and small +blame to them! But those who are fond of lamenting the modern spirit of +the age, which prefers the forty minutes' burst over a severe country to +a three hours' hunting run, are apt to lose sight of the fact that in +these piping times of peace, without the risks of sport mankind is +liable to degenerate towards effeminacy. For this reason in the +following poem I have purposely taken up the cudgels for that somewhat +unpopular class of sportsmen, the "thrusters" of the hunting field. They +are unpopular with masters of hounds because they ride too close to the +pack; but as a general rule they are the only people who ever see a +really fast run. In Shakespeare's time hounds that went too fast for the +rest of the pack were "trashed for over-topping," that is to say, they +were handicapped by a strap attached to their necks. In the same way in +every hunt nowadays there are half a dozen individuals who have reduced +riding to hounds to such an art that no pack can get away from them in a +moderately easy country. These "bruisers" of the hunting field ought to +be made to carry three stone dead weight; they should be "trashed for +overtopping." However, as Brooksby has tersely put it, "Some men hunt to +ride and some ride to hunt; others, thank Heaven! double their fun by +doing both." There are many, many fine riders in England who will not be +denied in crossing a stiff country, and who at the same time are +interested in the hounds and in the poetry of sport: men to whom the +mysteries of scent and of woodcraft, as well as the breeding and +management of hounds, are something more than a mere name: men who in +after days recall with pleasure "how in glancing over the pack they have +been gratified by the shining coat, the sparkling eye--sure symptoms of +fitness for the fight;--how when thrown in to covert every hound has +been hidden; how every sprig of gorse has bristled with motion; how when +viewed away by the sharp-eyed whipper-in, the fox stole under the hedge; +how the huntsman clapped round, and with a few toots of his horn brought +them out in a body; how, without tying on the line, they 'flew to head'; +how, when they got hold of it, they drove it, and with their heads up +felt the scent on both sides of the fence; how with hardly a whimper +they turned with him, till at the end of fifty minutes they threw up; +how the patient huntsman stood still; how they made their own cast: and +how when they came back on his line, their tongues doubled and they +marked him for their own." To such good men and true I dedicate the +following lines:--</p> + +<p>A DAY IN THE VALE; OR, THE THRUSTER'S SONG.</p> + +<p>You who've known the sweet enjoyment of a gallop in the vale, +Comrades of the chase, I know you will not deem my subject stale. +Stand with me once more beside the blackthorn or the golden gorse,-- +Don't forget to thank your stars you're mounted on a favourite horse; +For the hounds dashed into covert with a zest that bodes a scent, +And the glass is high and rising, clouded is the firmament. +When the ground is soaked with moisture, when the wind is in the east +Scent lies best,--the south wind doesn't suit the "thruster" in the least. +Some there are who love to watch them with their noses on the ground; +We prefer to see them flitting o'er the grass without a sound. +We prefer the keen north-easter; ten to one the scent's "breast high"; +With a south wind hounds can sometimes hunt a fox, but seldom fly. +Hark! the whip has viewed him yonder; he's away, upon my word! +If you want to steal a start, then fly the bullfinch like a bird; +Gallop now your very hardest; turn him sharp, and jump the stile, +Trot him at it--never mind the bough,--it's only smashed your tile! +Now we're with them. See, they're tailing, from the fierceness of the pace, +Up the hedgerow, o'er the meadow, 'cross the stubble see them race: +Governor--by Belvoir Gambler,--he's the hound to "run to head," +Tracing back to Rallywood, that fifty years ago was bred; +Close behind comes Arrogant, by Acrobat; and Artful too; +Rosy, bred by Pytchley Rockwood; Crusty, likewise staunch and true. +Down a muddy lane, in mad excitement, but, alas! too late, +Thunders half the field towards the portals of a friendly gate; +Sees a dozen red-coats bobbing in the vale a mile ahead; +Hears the huntsman's horn, and longs to catch those distant bits of red;-- +But in vain, for blind the fences, here a fall and there a "peck." +Some one cries, "An awful place, sir; don't go there, you'll break + your neck."<br> +Not the stiff, unbroken fences, but the treacherous gaps we fear; +"Though in front the post of honour, that of danger's in the rear." +Forrard on, then forrard onwards, o'er the pasture, o'er the lea, +Tossed about by ridge and furrow, rolling like a ship at sea; +Stake and binder, timber, oxers, all are taken in our stride,-- +Better fifty minutes' racing than a dawdling five hours' ride. +I am not ashamed to own, with him who loves a steeplechase, +That to me the charm in hunting is the ecstasy of <i>pace</i>,-- +This is what best schools the soldier, teaches us that we are men +Born to bear the rough and tumble, wield the sword and not the pen. +Some there are who dub hard riders worthless and a draghunt crew-- +Tailors who do all the damage, mounted on a spavined screw. +Well, I grant you, hunting men are sometimes narrow-minded fools; +Ignorant of all worth knowing, save what's learnt in riding-schools; +Careless of the rights of others, scampering over growing crops, +Smashing gates and making gaps and scattering wide the turnip tops;-- +But I hold that out of all the hunting fields throughout the land +I could choose for active service a large-hearted, gallant band; +I could choose six hundred red-coats, trained by riding in the van, +Fit to go to Balaclava under brave Lord Cardigan. +'Tis the finest school, the chase, to teach contempt of cannon balls, +If a man ride bravely onward, spite of endless rattling falls. +And to be a first-rate sportsman, not a man who merely "rides," +Is to be a perfect gentleman, and something more besides; +Fearing neither man nor devil, kind, unselfish he must be, +Born to lead when danger threatens--type of ancient chivalry. +When you hear a "houndman" jeering at the "customers" in front, +Saying they come out to ride a steeplechase and not to hunt, +You may bet the "grapes are sour," the fellow's smoked his nerve away; +Once he went as well as they do: "every dog will have his day." +Though to ride about the roads in state may do your liver good, +You see precious little "houndwork" either there or in the wood. +He who loves to mark the work of hounds must ride beside the pack, +Choosing his own line, or following others, if he's lost the knack. +Lookers-on, I grant you, often see the best part of the game,-- +Still, to ride the roads and live with hounds are things not quite + the same.<br> +Now a word to all those gallant chaps who love a hunting day: +In bad times you know that farming is a trade that doesn't pay, +Barbed wire's the cheapest kind of fence; the farmer can't afford +Tempting post-and-rails and timber--for he's getting rather bored. +Therefore, if we want to ride with our old devilry and dash, +We must put our hands in pockets deep and shovel out the cash. +When you want to hire a shooting you will gladly pay a "pony," +Yet when asked to give it to the hounds you're apt to say you're "stony." +Pay the piper, and the sport you love so well will flourish yet, +Flourish in the dim hereafter; and its sun will never set. +Help the noble cause of freedom; rich and poor together blend +Hands and hearts for ever working for a great and glorious end.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV."></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>SPRING IN THE COTSWOLDS.</h3> + +<p>Whilst walking by the river one day in May I noticed a brood of wild +ducks about a week old. The old ones are wonderfully tame at this time +of year. The mother evidently disliked my intrusion, for she started off +up stream, followed by her offspring, making towards a withybed a +hundred yards or so higher up, where a secluded spring gives capital +shelter for duck and other shy birds. What was my surprise a couple of +hours later to see the same lot emerge from some rushes three-quarters +of a mile up stream! They had circumvented a small waterfall, and the +current is very strong in places. Part of the journey must have been +done on dry land.</p> + +<p>At the same moment that I startled this brood out of the rushes a +moorhen swam slowly out, accompanied by her mate. It was evident, from +her cries and her anxious behaviour, that she too had some young ones in +the rushes; and soon two tiny little black balls of fur crawled out from +the bank and made for the opposite shore. Either from blindness or +fright they did not join their parents in mid stream, but hurried across +to the opposite bank and scrambled on to the mud, followed by the old +couple remonstrating with them on their foolishness. The mother then +succeeded in persuading one of them to follow her to a place of safety +underneath some overhanging boughs, but the other was left clinging to +the bank, crying piteously. I went round by a bridge in the hope of +being able to place the helpless little thing on the water; but, alas! +by the time I got to the spot it was dead. The exertion of crossing the +stream had been too much for it, for it was probably not twelve +hours old.</p> + +<p>When there are young ones about, moorhens will not dive to get out of +your sight unless their children dive too. It is pretty to see them +swimming on the down-stream side of their progeny, buoying them up in +case the current should prove too strong and carry them down. If there +are eggs still unhatched, the father, when disturbed, takes the little +ones away to a safer spot, whilst the mother sticks to the nest. But +they are rather stupid, for even the day after the eggs are hatched, on +being disturbed by a casual passer-by, the old cock swims out into mid +stream. He then calls to his tiny progeny to follow him, though they are +utterly incapable of doing so, and generally come to hopeless grief in +the attempt. Then the old ones are not very clever at finding children +that have been frightened away from the nest. I marked one down on the +opposite bank, and could see it crawling beneath some sticks; but the +old bird kept swimming past the spot, and appeared to neither hear nor +see the little ball of fur. Perhaps he was playing cunning; he may have +imagined that the bird was invisible to me, and was trying to divert my +attention from the spot.</p> + +<p>Moorhens are always interesting to watch. With a pair of field-glasses +an amusing and instructive half hour may often be spent by the stream in +the breeding season.</p> + +<p>I was much amused, while feeding some swans and a couple of wild ducks +the other day, to notice that the mallard would attack the swans if they +took any food that he fancied. One would have thought that such powerful +birds as swans--one stroke of whose wings is supposed to be capable of +breaking a man's leg--would not have stood any nonsense from an +unusually diminutive mallard. But not a bit of it: the mallard ruled the +roost; all the other birds, even the great swans, ran away from him when +he attacked them from behind with his beak. This state of things +continued for some days. But after a time the male swan got tired of the +game; his patience was exhausted. Watching his opportunity he seized the +pugnacious little mallard by the neck and gave him a thundering good +shaking! It was most laughable to watch them. It is characteristic of +swans that they are unable to look you in the face; and beautiful beyond +all description as they appear to be in their proper element, meet them +on dry land and they become hideous and uninteresting, scowling at you +with an evil eye.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-314-332.jpg"> +<img src="fp-314-332.jpg" width = "35%" alt="THE "PILL" BRIDGE."> +</a><br><b>"THE "PILL" BRIDGE."</b> +</P> + +<p>Sometimes as you are walking under the trees on the banks of the Coln +you come across a little heap of chipped wood lying on the ground. Then +you hear "tap, tap," in the branches above. It is the little nuthatch +hard at work scooping out his home in the bark. He sways his body with +every stroke of his beak, and is so busy he takes no notice of you. The +nuthatch is very fond of filberts, as his name implies. You may see him +in the autumn with a nut firmly fixed in a crevice in the bark of a +hazel branch, and he taps away until he pierces the shell and gets at +the kernel. Nuthatches, which are very plentiful hereabouts, are +sometimes to be found in the forsaken homes of woodpeckers, which they +plaster round with mud. The entrance to the hole in the tree is thus +made small enough to suit them. Sometimes when I have disturbed a +nuthatch at work at a hole in a tree, the little fellow would pop into +the hole and peep out at me, never moving until I had departed.</p> + +<p>Woodpeckers are somewhat uncommon here: I have not heard one in our +garden by the river for a very long time, though a foolish farmer told +me the other day that he had recently shot one. A mile or so away, at +Barnsley Park, where the oaks thrive on a vein of clay soil, green +woodpeckers may often be seen and heard. What more beautiful bird is +there, even in the tropics, than the merry yaffel, with his emerald back +and the red tuft on his head? The other two varieties of woodpeckers, +the greater and lesser spotted, are occasionally met with on the +Cotswolds. I do not know why we have so few green woodpeckers by the +river, as there are plenty of old trees there; but these birds, which +feed chiefly on the ground among the anthills, have a marked preference +for such woods in the neighbourhood as contain an abundance of oak +trees. The local name for these birds is "hic-wall," which Tom Peregrine +pronounces "heckle." There is no more pleasing sound than the long, +chattering note of the green woodpecker; it breaks so suddenly on the +general silence of the woods, contrasting as it does in its loud, +bell-like tones with the soft cooing of the doves and the songs of the +other birds.</p> + +<p>In various places along its course the river has long poles set across +it; on these poles Tom Peregrine has placed traps for stoats, weasels, +and other vermin. Recently, when we were fishing, he pointed out a great +stoat caught in one of these traps with a water-rat in its mouth--a very +strange occurrence, for the trap was only a small one, of the usual +rabbit size, and the rat was almost as big as the stoat. There is so +little room for the bodies of a stoat and a rat in one of these small +iron traps that the betting must be at least a thousand to one against +such an event happening. Unless we had seen it with our eyes we could +not have believed it possible. The stoat, in chasing the rat along the +pole, must have seized his prey at the very instant that the jaws of the +trap snapped upon them both. They were quite dead when we found them.</p> + +<p>Every one acquainted with gamekeepers' duties is well aware that the +iron traps armed with teeth which are in general use throughout the +country are a disgrace to nineteenth-century civilisation. It is a +terrible experience to take a rabbit or any other animal out of one of +these relics of barbarism. Sir Herbert Maxwell recently called the +attention of game preservers and keepers to a patent trap which Colonel +Coulson, of Newburgh, has just invented. Instead of teeth, the jaws of +the new trap have pads of corrugated rubber, which grip as tightly and +effectively as the old contrivance without breaking the bones or +piercing the skin. I trust these traps will shortly supersede the old +ones, so that a portion of the inevitable suffering of the furred +denizens of our woods may be dispensed with.</p> + +<p>In a hunting country where foxes occasionally find their way into vermin +traps, Colonel Coulson's invention should be invaluable. Instead of +having to be destroyed, or being killed by the hounds in covert, owing +to a broken leg, it is ten to one that Master Reynard would be released +very little the worse for his temporary confinement. Moreover, as Sir +Herbert Maxwell points out, dog owners will be grateful to the inventor +when their favourites accidentally find their way into one of these +traps and are released without smashed bones and bleeding feet. Any kind +of trap is but a diabolical contrivance at best, but these "humane +patents" are a vast improvement, and do the work better than the old, as +I can testify, having used them from the time Sir Herbert Maxwell first +called attention to them, and being quite satisfied with them.</p> + +<p>Badgers are almost as mysterious in their ways and habits as the otter. +Nobody believes there are badgers about except those who look for their +characteristic tracks about the fox-earths. Every now and then, however, +a badger is dug out or discovered in some way in places where they were +unheard of before. We have one here now.</p> + +<p>A few years ago I saw a pack of foxhounds find a badger in Chearsley +Spinneys in Oxfordshire. They hunted him round and round for about ten +minutes. I saw him just in front of the hounds; a great, fine specimen +he was too. As far as I remember, the hounds killed him in covert, and +then went away on the line of a fox.</p> + +<p>A year or two ago three fine young badgers were captured near +Bourton-on-the-Water, on the Cotswolds. When I was shown them I was told +they would not feed in confinement. Finding a large lobworm, I picked it +up and gave it to one of them. He ate it with the utmost relish. His +brown and grey little body shook with emotion when I spoke to him +kindly--just as a dog trembles when you pet him. I am not certain, +however, whether the badger trembled out of gratitude for the lobworm or +out of rage and disgust at being confined in a cage.</p> + +<p>Badgers would make delightful pets if they had a little less <i>scent</i>: +nature, as everybody knows, has endowed them with this quality to a +remarkable degree; they have the power of emitting or retaining it at +their own discretion.</p> + +<p>Badger-baiting with terriers is not an amusement which commends itself +to humane sportsmen. It is hard luck on the terriers, even more than on +the badger. The dogs have a very bad time if they go anywhere near him.</p> + +<p>Talking of terriers, how endless are the instances of superhuman +sagacity in dogs of all kinds! I once drove twenty-five miles from a +place near Guildford in Surrey to Windsor. In the cart I took with me a +little liver-coloured spaniel. When I had completed about half the +journey I put the spaniel down for a run of a few miles: this was all +she saw of the country. In Windsor, through some cause or other, I lost +her; but when I arrived home a day or two afterwards, she had arrived +there before me. It should be mentioned that the journey was not along a +high-road, but by cross-country lanes. How on earth she got home first, +unless she came back on my scent, then, finding herself near home, took +a short cut across country, so as to be there before me, it is +impossible to imagine.</p> + +<p>How curious it is that all animals seem to know when Sunday comes round!</p> + +<p>Fish and fowl are certainly much tamer on the seventh day of the week +than on any other. We had a terrier that would never attempt to follow +you when you were going to church so long as you had your Sunday clothes +on; whilst even when he was following you on a week day, if you turned +round and said "Church" in a decisive tone, he would trot straight back +to the house. As far as we know he had no special training in this +respect. This terrier, who was a rare one to tackle a fox, has on +several occasions spent the best part of a week down a rabbit burrow. +When dug out he seemed very little the worse for his escapade, though +decidedly emaciated in appearance. Poor little fellow! he died a +painless death not long ago from sheer old age. I was with him at the +time, and did not even know he was ill until five minutes before he +expired. The most obedient and faithful, as well as the bravest, little +dog in the world, he could do anything but speak. How much we can learn +from these little emblems of simplicity, gladness, and love. Implicit +obedience and boundless faith in those set over us, to forgive and +forget unto seventy times seven, to give gold for silver, nay, to +sacrifice all and receive back nothing in return,--these are some of the +lessons we may learn from creatures we call dumb. Perhaps they will have +their reward. There is room in eternity for the souls of animals as well +as of men; there is room for the London cab-horse after his life of +hardship and cruel sacrifice; there is room for the innocent lamb that +goes to the slaughter; there is room in those realms of infinity for +every bird of the air and every beast of the field that either the +necessity (that tyrant's plea) or the ignorance of man has condemned to +torture, injustice, or neglect!</p> + +<p>The most delightful of all dogs are those rough-haired Scotch deerhounds +the author of "Waverley" loved so well. How timid and subdued are these +trusty hounds on ordinary occasions! yet how fierce and relentless to +pursue and slay their natural quarry, the antlered monarch of the glen! +Once, in Savernake Forest, where the yaffels laugh all day amid the +great oak trees, and the beech avenues, with their Gothic foliations and +lichened trunks, are the finest in the world, a young, untried deerhound +of ours slipped away unobserved and killed a hind "off his own bat." +Though he had probably never seen a deer before, hereditary instinct was +too strong, and he succumbed to temptation. Yet he would not harm a fox, +for on another occasion, when I was out walking, accompanied by this +hound and a fox-terrier, the latter bolted a large dog fox out of a +drain. When the fox appeared the deerhound made after him, and, in his +attempt to dodge, reynard was bowled over on to his back. But directly +he was called, the deerhound came back to our heels, apparently not +considering the vulpine race fair game. I will not vouch for the +accuracy of the story, but our coachman asserts that he saw this +deerhound at play with a fox in our kitchen garden,--not a tame fox, but +a wild one. I believe, myself, that this actually did happen, as the man +who witnessed the occurrence is thoroughly reliable.</p> + +<p>There is no dog more knowing and sagacious in his own particular way +than a well-trained retriever. What an immense addition to the pleasure +of a day's partridge-shooting in September is the working of one of +these delightful dogs! Only the other day, when I was sitting on the +lawn, a retriever puppy came running up with something in his mouth, +with which he seemed very pleased. He laid it at my feet with great care +and tenderness, and I saw that it was a young pheasant about a +fortnight old. It ran into the house, and was rescued unharmed a few +hours afterwards by the keeper, who restored it to the hencoop from +whence it came. One could not be angry with a dog that was unable to +resist the temptation to retrieve, but yet would not harm the bird in +the smallest degree.</p> + +<p>One does not often see teams of oxen ploughing in the fields nowadays. +Within a radius of a hundred miles of London town this is becoming a +rare spectacle. They are still used sometimes in the Cotswolds, however, +though the practice of using them must soon die out. Great, slow, +lumbering animals they are, but very handsome and delightful beasts to +look upon. A team of brown oxen adds a pleasing feature to the +landscape.</p> + +<p>As we come down the steep ascent which leads to our little hamlet, we +often wonder why some of the cottage front doors are painted bright red +and some a lovely deep blue. These different colours add a great deal of +picturesqueness to the cottages; but is it possible that the owners have +painted their doors red and blue for the sake of the charming distant +effect it gives? These people have wonderfully good taste as a rule. The +other day we noticed that some of the dreadful iron sheeting which is +creeping into use in country places had been painted by a farmer a +beautiful rich brown. It gave quite a pretty effect to the barn it +adjoined. Every bit of colour is an improvement in the rather +cold-looking upland scenery of the Cotswolds.</p> + +<p>Cray-fishing is a very popular amusement among the villagers. These +fresh-water lobsters abound in the gravelly reaches of the Coln. They +are caught at night in small round nets, which are baited and let down +to the bottom of the pools. The crayfish crawl into the nets to feed, +and are hauled up by the dozen. Two men can take a couple of bucketfuls +of them on any evening in September. Though much esteemed in Paris, +where they fetch a high price as <i>écrevisse</i>, we must confess they are +rather disappointing when served up. The village people, however, are +very fond of them; and Tom Peregrine, the keeper, in his quaint way +describes them as "very good pickings for dessert." As they eat a large +number of very small trout, as well as ova, on the gravel spawning-beds, +crayfish should not be allowed to become too numerous in a trout stream.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to understand in what the great attraction of +rook-shooting consists. Up to yesterday I had never shot a rook in my +life. The accuracy with which some people can kill rooks with a rifle is +very remarkable. I have seen my brother knock down five or six dozen +without missing more than one or two birds the whole time. One would be +thankful to die such an instantaneous death as these young rooks. They +seem to drop to the shot without a flutter; down they come, as straight +as a big stone dropped from a high wall. Like a lump of lead they fall +into the nettles. They hardly ever move again. It is difficult work +finding them in the thick undergrowth.</p> + +<p>About eleven o'clock the evening after shooting the young rooks I was +returning home from a neighbouring farmhouse when I heard the most +lamentable sounds coming from the rookery. There seemed to be a funeral +service going on in the big ash trees. Muffled cawings and piteous cries +told me that the poor old rooks were mourning for their children. I +cannot remember ever hearing rooks cawing at that time of night before. +Saving the lark, "that scorner of the ground," which rises and sings in +the skies an hour before sunrise, the rooks are the first birds to +strike up at early dawn. One often notices this fact on sleepless +nights. About 2.30 o'clock on a May morning a rook begins the grand +concert with a solo in G flat; then a cock pheasant crows, or an owl +hoots; moorhens begin to stir, and gradually the woodland orchestra +works up to a tremendous burst of song, such as is never heard at any +hour but that of sunrise.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Now the rich stream of music winds along,<br> + Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong,<br> + Through verdant vales."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>How often one has heard this grand thanksgiving chorus of the birds at +early dawn!</p> + +<p>I wonder if the poor rooks caw all night long after the "slaughter of +the innocents?" They were still at it when I went to bed at 12.30, and +this was within two hours of their time of getting up.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Some say that e'en against that season cornea<br> + In which our Saviour's birth is celebrated,<br> + The bird of dawning singeth all night long."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Thus wrote Shakespeare of bold chanticleer; and perhaps the rooks when +they are grieving for their lost ones, hold solemn requiem until the +morning light and the cheering rays of the sun make them forget +their woes.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to understand what pleasure the farmers find in shooting +young rooks with twelve-bore guns. Ours are always allowed a grand +<i>battue</i> in the garden every year. They ask their friends out from +Cirencester to assist. For an hour or so the shots have been rattling +all round the house and on the sheds in the stable-yard. The horses are +frightened out of their wits. Grown-up men ought to know better than to +keep firing continually towards a house not two hundred yards away. A +stray pellet might easily blind a man or a horse.</p> + +<p>Farmers are sometimes very careless with their guns. Out +partridge-shooting one is in mortal terror of the man on one's right, +who invariably carries his gun at such a level that if it went off it +would "rake" the whole line. If you tell one of these gentry that he is +holding his gun in a dangerous way, he will only laugh, remarking +possibly that you are getting very nervous. The best plan is not to ask +these well-meaning, but highly dangerous fellows to shoot with you. +Unfortunately it is probably the eldest son of the principal tenant on +the manor who is the culprit. The best plan in such cases is to speak to +the old man firmly, but courteously, asking him to try to dissuade his +son from his dangerous practices.</p> + +<p>It is amusing to watch the jackdaws when they come from the ivy-mantled +fir trees to steal the food we throw every morning on to the lawn in +front of the house for the pheasants, the pigeons, and other birds. +They are the funniest rascals and the biggest thieves in Christendom. +Alighting suddenly behind a cock pheasant, they snatch the food from him +just as he imagines he has got it safely; and terribly astonished he +always looks. Then these greedy daws will chase the smaller birds as +they fly away with any dainty morsel, and compel them to give it up. A +curiously mixed group assembles on the lawn each morning at eight +o'clock in the winter. First of all there are the pheasants crowing +loudly for their breakfast, then come the stately swans, several +pinioned wild ducks, tame pigeons and wild and timid stock doves, four +or five moorhens, any number of daws, as well as thrushes, blackbirds, +starlings, house-sparrows, and finches. One day, having forgotten to +feed them, I was astonished at hearing loud quacks proceeding from the +dining-room, and was horrified to find that the ducks had come into the +house to look for me and demand their grub.</p> + +<p>Foxes give one a good deal of anxiety in May and June, when the cubs are +about half grown. On arriving home to-day the first news I hear is that +two dead cubs have been picked up: "one looks as if his head had been +battered in, and the other appears to have been worried by a dog." This +is the only information I can get from the keeper. It is really a +serious blow; for if two have been found dead, how many others may not +have died in their earth or in the woods?</p> + +<p>Two seasons ago six dead cubs were picked up here; they had died from +eating rooks which had been poisoned by some farmers. It took us a long +time to get to the bottom of this affair, for no information is to be +got out of Gloucestershire folk; you must ferret such matters +out yourself.</p> + +<p>There are still live cubs in the breeding-earth, for I heard them there +this afternoon; so there is yet hope. But twenty acres of covert will +not stand this sort of thing, considering that the hounds are "through" +them once in three weeks, on an average, throughout the winter. Only one +vixen survived at the end of last season, though another one has turned +up since. We have two litters, fortunately. Where you have coverts handy +to a stream of any kind, there will foxes congregate. They love +water-rats and moorhens more than any other food.</p> + +<p>A strange prejudice exists among hunting men against cleaning out +artificial earths. There was never a greater fallacy. Fox-earths want +looking to from time to time, say every ten years, for rabbits will +render them practically useless by burrowing out in different places. A +block is often formed in the drain by this burrowing, and the earth will +have to be opened and the channel freed.</p> + +<p>The best possible preventive measure against mange is to clear out your +artificial earths every ten years. As for driving the foxes away by this +practice, we cannot believe it. You cannot keep foxes from using a good +artificial drain so long as it lies dry and secluded and the entrance is +not too large. They prefer a small entrance, as they imagine dogs cannot +follow them into a small hole.</p> + +<p>A farmer made an earth in a hedgerow last year right away from any +coverts, and, one would have thought, out of the beaten track of +reynard's nightly prowls; yet the foxes took to this earth at the +beginning of the hunting season, and they were soon quite +established there.</p> + +<p>There is no mystery about building a fox-drain. Reynard will take to any +dry underground place that lies in a secluded spot. If it faces +south--that is to say, if your earth runs in a half circle, with both +entrances facing towards the south or south-west--so much the better. +The entrance should not be more than about six inches square. Such a +hole looks uncommonly small, no doubt, but a fox prefers it to a larger +one. About half way through the passage a little chamber should be made, +to tempt a vixen to lay up her cubs there. When there are lots of foxes +and not too many earths, they will very soon begin to work a new drain, +so long as it lies in a secluded spot and within easy distance of Master +Reynard's skirmishing grounds.</p> + +<p>We have lately made such an earth in a small covert, because the +original earth is the wrong side of the River Coln. All the good country +is on the opposite side of the river to that on which the old earth is +situated. Foxes will seldom cross the stream when they are first found. +It is hoped, therefore, that when they take to the new earth they will +lie in the wood on the right side of the stream. We shall then close the +old earth, and thus endeavour to get the foxes to run the good country. +Much may be done to show sport by using a little strategy of this kind. +Many a good stretch of grass country is lost to the hunt because the +earths are badly distributed. It must be remembered that a fox when +first found will usually go straight to his earth; finding that closed, +he will make for the next earths he is in the habit of using.</p> + +<p>The other day, while ferreting in the coverts previous to +rabbit-shooting, the keeper bolted a huge fox out of one burrow and a +cat out of the other. He also tells me that he once found a hare and a +fox lying in their forms, within three yards of one another, in a small +disused quarry. There is no doubt that, like jack among fish, the fox is +friendly enough on some days, when his belly is full. He then "makes up +to" rabbits and other animals, with the intent of "turning on them" when +they least expect it. Without this treacherous sort of cunning, reynard +would often have to go supperless to bed.</p> + +<p>In those drains and earths where foxes are known to lie you will often +see traces of rabbits. These little conies are wonderfully confiding in +the way they use a fox-earth. It is difficult to believe that they live +in the drain with the foxes, but they are exceedingly fond of making +burrows with an entrance to an earth. They are a great nuisance in +spoiling earths by this practice. Rabbits invariably establish +themselves in fox-drains which have been temporarily deserted.</p> + +<p>Foxes become very "cute" towards the end of the hunting season. They can +hear hounds running at a distance of four or five miles on windy days. +Knowing that the earths are stopped, they leave the bigger woods and +hide themselves in out-of-the-way fields and hedgerows. Last season a +fox was seen to leave our coverts, trot along the high-road, and +ensconce himself among some laurels near the manor house. He was so +easily seen where he lay in the shrubbery that a crowd of villagers +stood watching him from the road. He knew the hounds would not draw this +place, as it is quite small and bare, so here he stayed until dusk; +then, having assured himself that the hounds had gone home, he jumped up +and trotted back to the woods again.</p> + +<p>A flock of sheep are not always frightened at a fox. The other day an +old dog fox, the hero of many a good run in recent years from these +coverts (an "old customer," in fact), was observed by the keeper and two +other men trying to cross the river by means of a footbridge. A flock of +sheep, doubtless taking him for a dog, were frustrating his endeavours +to get across; directly he set foot on dry land they would bowl him over +on to his back in the most unceremonious way. This game of romps went on +for about ten minutes. Finally the fox, getting tired of trying to pass +the sheep, trotted back over the footbridge. Fifty yards up stream a +narrow fir pole is set across the water. The cunning old rascal made for +this, and attempted to get to the other side; but the fates were against +him. There was a strong wind blowing at the time, so that when he was +half way across the pool, he was actually blown off sideways into the +water. And a rare ducking he got! He gave the job up after this, and +trotted back into the wood. This is a very curious occurrence, because +the fox was perfectly healthy and strong. He is well known throughout +the country, not only for his tremendous cheek, but also for the +wonderful runs he has given from time to time. He will climb over a +six-foot wire fence to gain entrance to a fowl-run belonging to an +excellent sportsman, who, though not a hunting man, would never allow a +fox to be killed. He is reported to have had fifty, fowls out of this +place during the last few months. When caught in the act in broad +daylight, the fox had to be hunted round and round the enclosure before +he would leave, finally climbing up the wire fencing like a cat, instead +of departing by the open door.</p> + +<p>It is very rare that a mischievous fox, given to the destruction of +poultry, is also a straight-necked one. Too often these gentry know no +extent of country; they take refuge in the nearest farmyard when pressed +by the hounds. At the end of a run we have seen them on the roof of +houses and outbuildings time after time. On one occasion last season a +hunted fox was discovered among the rafters in the roof of a very high +barn. The "whipper-in" was sent up by means of a long ladder, eventually +pulling him out of his hiding-place by his brush. Poor brute! perhaps he +might have been spared after showing such marvellous strategy.</p> + +<p>It speaks wonders for the good-nature and unselfishness of the farmer +who owns the fowl-run above alluded to that he never would send in the +vestige of a claim to the hunt secretary for the poultry he has lost +from time to time. But he is one of the old-fashioned yeomen of +Gloucestershire--a gentleman, if ever there was one--a type of the best +sort of Englishman. Alas! that hard times have thinned the ranks of the +old yeoman farmers of the Cotswolds! They are the very backbone of the +country; we can ill afford to lose them, with their cheery, bluff +manners and good-hearted natures.</p> + +<p>Some of the people round about are not so scrupulous in the way of +poultry claims. We have had to investigate a large number in, recent +years. It is a difficult matter to distinguish <i>bonâ-fide</i> from "bogus" +claims; they vary in amount from one to twenty pounds. Once only have we +been foolish enough to rear a litter of cubs by hand, having obtained +them from the big woods at Cirencester. Before the hunting season had +commenced we had received claims of nineteen and fourteen pounds from +neighbouring farmers for poultry and turkeys destroyed. One bailiff +declared that the foxes were so bold they had fetched a young heifer +that had died from the "bowssen" into the fox-covert. Whether the +bailiff put it there or the foxes "fetched" it I know not, but the +white, bleached skull may be seen hard by the earth to this day.</p> + +<p>One of the claimants above named farms three hundred acres on strictly +economical principles. He has allowed the land to go back to grass, and +the only labour he employs on it is a one-legged boy, whom he pays "in +kind." This boy arrived the other day with another poultry claim, when +the following dialogue occurred:--</p> + +<p>"I see you have got down sixteen young ducklings on the list?"</p> + +<p>"Yaas, the jackdars fetched they."</p> + +<p>"How do you know the jackdaws took them?" "'Cos maister said so."</p> + +<p>"Do you shut up your fowls at night?"</p> + +<p>"Yaas, we shuts the daar, but the farxes gets in. It be all weared out. +There be great holes in the bowssen where they gets through and +fetches them."</p> + +<p>How can one pay poultry claims of this kind? It being absolutely +impossible to verify these accounts properly, the only way is to take +the general character of the claimant, paying according as you think him +straightforward or the reverse. It is an insult to an honest man to +offer him anything less than the amount he asks for; therefore claims +which have every appearance of being <i>bonâ fide</i> should be settled in +full. But the hunt can't afford it, one is told. In that case people +ought to subscribe more. If men paid ten pounds for every hunter they +owned, the income of most establishments would be more than doubled.</p> + +<p>The farmers are wonderfully long-suffering on the whole, but they cannot +be expected to welcome a whole multitude of strangers; nor can they +allow large fields to ride over their land in these bad times without +compensation of some sort. Slowly, but surely, a change is coming over +our ideas of hunting rights and hunting courtesy; and the sooner we +realise that we ought to pay for our hunting on the same scale as we do +for shooting and fishing, the better will it be for all concerned.</p> + +<p>Talking of hunting and foxes reminds me that a short time ago I went to +investigate an earth to see if a vixen was laid down there. Finding no +signs of any cubs, I was just going away when I saw a feather sticking +out of the ground a few yards from the fox-earth. I pulled four young +thrushes, a tiny rabbit, and two young water-rats out of this hole, and +re-buried them. The cubs, it afterwards appeared, were laid up in a +rabbit burrow some distance away. But the old vixen kept her larder near +her old quarters, instead of burying her supplies for a rainy day close +to the hole where she had her cubs. Perhaps she was meditating moving +the litter to this earth on some future occasion.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget discovering this litter. When looking down a +rabbit-hole I heard a scuffle. A young cub came up to the mouth of the +hole, saw me, and dashed back again into the earth. This was the +smallest place I ever saw cubs laid up in. The vixen happened to be a +very little one.</p> + +<p>It is amusing to watch the cubs playing in the corn on a summer's +evening. If you go up wind you can approach within ten yards of them. +Round and round they gambol, tumbling each other over for all the world +like young puppies. They take little notice of you at first; but after a +time they suddenly stop playing, stare hard at you for half a minute, +then bolt off helter-skelter into the forest of waving green wheat.</p> + +<p>One word more about the scent of foxes. Not long ago a man wrote to the +<i>Field</i> saying that he had proved by experiment that on the saturation +or relative humidity of the air the hunter's hopes depend: in fact, he +announced that he had solved the riddle of scent. It so happened that +for some years the present writer had also been amusing himself with +experiments of the same nature, and at one time entertained the hope +that by means of the hygrometer he would arrive at a solution of the +mystery. But alas! it was not to be. On several occasions when the air +was well-nigh saturated, scent proved abominable. That the relative +humidity of the air is not the all-important factor was often proved by +the bad scent experienced just before rain and storms, when the +hygrometer showed a saturation of considerably over ninety per cent. But +there are undoubtedly other complications besides the evaporations from +the soil and the relative humidity of the air to be considered in making +an enquiry into the causes of good and bad scent. The amount of moisture +in the ground, the state of the soil in reference to the all-important +question of whether it carries or not, the temperature of the air, and +last, but not by any means least, the condition of the quarry, be it +fox, stag, or hare, are all questions of vital importance, complicating +matters and preventing a solution of the mysteries of scent.</p> + +<p>As the atmosphere is variable, so also must scent be variable. The two +things are inseparably bound up with one another. For this reason, if +after a period of rainy weather we have an anti-cyclone in the winter +without severe frost, and an absence of bright sunny days, we can +usually depend on a scent. Instead of the air rising, there is during an +anti-cyclone, as we all know, a tendency towards a gentle down-flow of +air or at all events a steady pressure, and this causes smoke, whether +from a railway engine or a tobacco pipe, to hang in the air and scent to +lie breast high.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the normal state of the atmospheric fluid is a rushing in +of cold air and a rushing out or upwards of warmer air, causing +unsettled variable equilibrium and unsettled variable scent. The +barometer would be an absolutely reliable guide for the hunting man were +it not for the complications already named above, complications which +prevent either barometer or hygrometer from offering infallible +indications of good or bad scenting days. However, scent often improves +at night when the dew begins to form; and it may also suddenly improve +at any time of day should the dew point be reached, owing to the +temperature cooling to the point of saturation. This is always liable to +occur at some time, on days on which the hygrometer shows us that there +is over ninety per cent of moisture in the air. But here again radiation +comes in to complicate matters; for clouds may check the formation of +dew. It may safely be said, however, that other conditions being +favourable, a fast run is likely to occur at any time of day should the +dew point be reached. Thus the hygrometer is worthy to be studied on a +hunting morning.</p> + +<p>In May there is a good deal of weed-cutting to be done on a trout +stream. Our plan is to have a couple of big field days about May 12th. +The weeds on over two miles of water are all cut during that time. As +they are not allowed to be sent down the stream, we get them out in +several different places; they are then piled in heaps, and left to rot. +The operation is repeated at the end of the fishing season. About a +dozen scythes tied together are used. Two men hold the ends and walk up +the stream, one on each side of the river, mowing as they go.</p> + +<p>There is a certain amount of management required in weed-cutting. If +much weed is left uncut, the millers grumble; if you cut them bare, +there are no homes left for the fish. The last is the worse evil of the +two. The millers are usually kind-hearted men, whilst poachers can +commit fearful depredations in a small stream that has been cut +too bare.</p> + +<p>The way these limestone streams are netted is as follows: About two in +the morning, when there is enough light to commence operations, a net is +laid across the stream and pegged down at each end; the water is then +beaten with long sticks both above and below the net. Nor is it +difficult to drive the trout into the trap; they rush down +helter-skelter, and, failing to see any net, they soon become hopelessly +entangled in its meshes. The bobbing corks intimate to the poachers that +there are some good trout in the net; one end is then unpegged, and the +haul is made.</p> + +<p>About ten trout would be a good catch. The operation is repeated four or +five times, until some fifty fish have been bagged. The poachers then +depart, taking care to remove all signs of their night's work, such as +scales of fish, stray weeds, and bits of stick.</p> + +<p>In weed-cutting by hand, instead of with the long knives, it is +wonderful how many trout get cut by the scythes. There used to be +several good fish killed this way at each annual cutting, when the men +used to walk up the stream mowing as they went. One would have thought +trout would have been able to avoid the scythes, being such quick, +slippery animals.</p> + +<p>Until the present season otters have seldom visited our parts of the +Coln. Unfortunately, however, they have turned up, and are committing +sad havoc among the fish. It is such a terribly easy stream for them to +work. The water is very shallow, and the current is a slow one.</p> + +<p>We are not well up in otter-hunting in these parts, there being no +hounds within fifty miles. I have never seen an otter on the Coln. But +one day, at a spot near which we have noticed the billet of an otter and +some fishes' heads, I heard a noise in the water, and a huge wave seemed +to indicate that something bigger than a Coln trout was proceeding up +stream close to the bank all the way. On running up, of course I saw +nothing. But half an hour afterwards I saw another big wave of the same +kind. It was so close to me that if it had been a fish or a rat I must +have seen him. I had a terrier with me, but of course he was unable to +find an otter. A dog unbroken to the scent is worse than useless.</p> + +<p>On another occasion I saw a water-vole running away from some larger +animal under the opposite bank of the river. Some bushes prevented my +seeing very well, but I am almost certain it was an otter. "A Son of the +Marshes" mentions in one of his charming books that otters do kill +water-rats. I was not aware of this fact until I read it in the book +called "From Spring to Fall."</p> + +<p>The broad shallow reach of the Coln in front of the manor house seems +to be a favourite hunting-ground of the otter during his nocturnal +rambles; for sometimes one is awakened at night by a tremendous tumult +among the wild duck and moorhens that haunt the pool. They rush up and +down, screaming and flapping their wings as if they were "daft."</p> + +<p>A few weeks after writing the above we caught a beautiful female otter +in a trap, weighing some seventeen pounds. I have regretted its capture +ever since. Great as the number of trout they eat undoubtedly is, I do +not intend to allow another otter to be trapped, unless they become too +numerous. Such lovely, mysterious creatures are becoming far too scarce +nowadays, and ought to be rigidly preserved. Last October we were +shooting a withybed of two acres on the river bank, when the beaters +suddenly began shouting, "An otter! An otter!" And sure enough a large +dog otter ran straight down the line. This small withybed also contained +three fine foxes and a good sprinkling of pheasants.</p> + +<p>The number of water-voles in the banks of this stream seems to increase +year by year. The damage they do is not great; but the millers and the +farmers do not like them, because with their numerous holes they +undermine the banks of the millpound, and the water finds its way +through them on to the meadows. Country folk are very fond of an +occasional rat hunt: they do lay themselves out to be hunted so +tremendously. A rat will bolt out of his hole, dive half way across the +stream, then, taking advantage of the tiniest bit of weed, he will come +up to the surface, poke his nose out of the water and watch you +intently. An inexperienced eye would never detect him. But if a stone is +thrown at him, finding his subterfuge detected, he is apt to lose his +head--either coming back towards you, and being obliged to come up for +air before he reaches his hole, or else swimming boldly across to the +opposite bank. In the latter case he is safe.</p> + +<p>Tom Peregrine is a great hand at catching water-voles in a landing-net. +He holds the net over the hole which leads to the water, and pokes his +stick into the bank above. The rat bolts out into the net and is +immediately landed. House-rats--great black brutes--live in the banks of +the stream as well as water-voles. They are very much larger and less +fascinating than the voles. To see one of the latter species crossing +the stream with a long piece of grass in his mouth is a very pretty +sight They are rodents, and somewhat resemble squirrels.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV."></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THE PROMISE OF MAY.</h3> + +<blockquote> +"Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus<br> + Tam cari capitis?"<br><br> + + HORACE.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>About the middle of May the lovely, sweet-scenting lilac comes into +bloom. It brightens up the old, time-worn barns, and relieves the +monotony of grey stone walls and mossy roofs in the Cotswold village.</p> + +<p>The prevailing colour of the Cotswold landscape may be said to be that +of gold. The richest gold is that of the flaming marsh-marigolds in the +water meadows during May; goldilocks and buttercups of all kinds are +golden too, but of a slightly different and paler hue. Yellow charlock, +beautiful to look upon, but hated by the farmers, takes possession of +the wheat "grounds" in May, and holds the fields against all comers +throughout the summer. In some parts it clothes the whole landscape like +a sheet of saffron. Primroses and cowslips are of course paler still. +The ubiquitous dandelion is likewise golden; then we have birdsfoot +trefoil, ragwort, agrimony, silver-weed, celandine, tormentil, yellow +iris, St. John's wort, and a host of other flowers of the same hue. In +autumn comes the golden corn; and later on in mid winter we have pale +jessamine and lichen thriving on the cottage walls. So throughout the +year the Cotswolds are never without this colour of saffron or gold. +Only the pockets of the natives lack it, I regret to say.</p> + +<p>Every cottager takes a pride in his garden, for the flower shows which +are held every year result in keen competition. A prize is always given +for the prettiest garden among all the cottagers. This is an excellent +plan; it brightens and beautifies the village street for eight months in +the year. In May the rich brown and gold of the gillyflower is seen on +every side, and their fragrance is wafted far and wide by every breeze +that blows.</p> + +<p>Then there is a very pretty plant that covers some of the cottage walls +at this time of year. It is the wistaria; in the distance you might take +it for lilac, for the colours are almost identical.</p> + +<p>Then come the roses--the beautiful June roses--the <i>nimium breves +flores</i> of Horace. But the roses of the Cotswolds are not so short lived +for all that Horace has sung: you may see them in the cottage gardens +from the end of May until Christmas.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-342-360.jpg"> +<img src="fp-342-360.jpg" width = "35%" alt="SIDE VIEW OF MANOR HOUSE."> +</a><br><b>"SIDE VIEW OF MANOR HOUSE."</b> +</P> + +<p>How cool an old house is in summer! The thick walls and the stone floors +give them an almost icy feeling in the early morning. Even as I write my +thermometer stands at 58° within, whilst the one out of doors registers +65° in the shade. This is the ideal temperature, neither too hot nor too +cold. But it is not summer yet, only the fickle month of May.</p> + +<p>Tom Peregrine is getting very anxious. He meets me every evening with +the same story of trout rising all the way up the stream and nobody +trying to catch them. I can see by his manner that he disapproves of my +"muddling" over books and papers instead of trying to catch trout. He +cannot understand it all. Meanwhile one sometimes asks oneself the +question which Peregrine would also like to propound, only he dare not, +Why and wherefore do we tread the perilous paths of literature instead +of those pleasant paths by the river and through the wood? The only +answer is this: The <i>daemon</i> prompts us to do these things, even as it +prompted the men of old time.</p> + +<blockquote> +"There is a divinity that shapes our ends,<br> + Rough hew them how we will."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>If there is such a thing as a "call" to any profession, there is a call +to that of letters. So with an enthusiasm born of inexperience and +delusive hope we embark as in a leaky and untrustworthy sailing ship, +built, for ought we know, "in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark," +and at the mercy of every chance breeze are wafted by the winds of +heaven through chaos and darkness into the boundless ocean of words and +of books. When the waves run high they resemble nothing so much as lions +with arched crests and flowing manes going to and fro seeking whom they +may devour, or savage dogs rushing hither and thither foaming at the +mouth; and when old Father Neptune lets loose his hungry sea-dogs of +criticism, then look out for squalls!</p> + +<p>But again the <i>daemon</i>, that still small voice echoing from the far-off +shores of the ocean of time, whispers in our ear, "In the morning sow +thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest +not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both +shall be alike good."</p> + +<p>So we sow in weakness and in fear and trembling, "line upon line, line +upon line; here a little and there a little," sometimes in mirth and +laughter, sometimes in tears. Let us not ask to be raised in power. Let +us resign all glory and honour and power to the Ancient of Days, prime +source of the strength of wavering, weak mankind. Rather let us be +thankful that by turning aside from "the clamour of the passing day" to +tread the narrow paths of literature, however humble, however obscure +our lot may have been, we gained an insight into the nobler destinies of +the human soul, and learnt a lesson which might otherwise have been +postponed until we were hovering on the threshold of Eternity.</p> + +<p>In spite of complaints of east winds and night frosts, May is the nicest +month in the year take it all in all. In London this is the case even +more than in the country. The trees in the parks have then the real +vivid green foliage of the country. There is a freshness about +everything in London which only lasts through May. By June the smoke and +dirt are beginning to spoil the tender, fresh greenery of the young +leaves. In the early morning of May 12th, 1897, more than an inch of +snow fell in the Cotswolds, but it was all gone by eight o'clock. In +spite of the weather, May is "the brightest, merriest month of all the +glad New Year." Everything is at its best. Man cannot be morose and +ill-tempered in May. The "happy hills and pleasing shade" must needs "a +momentary bliss bestow" on the saddest of us all. Look at yonder +thoroughbred colt grazing peacefully in the paddock: if you had turned +him out a month ago he would have galloped and fretted himself to death; +but now that the grass is sweet and health-giving, he is content to +nibble the young shoots all day long. What a lovely, satin-like coat he +has, now that his winter garments are put off! There is a picture of +health and symmetry! He has just reached the interesting age of four +years, is dark chestnut in colour, and sixteen hands two and a half +inches in height; grazing out there, he does not look anything like that +size. Well-bred horses always look so much smaller than they really are, +especially if they are of good shape and well proportioned. Alas! how +few of them, even thoroughbreds, have the real make and shape necessary +to carry weight across country, or to win races! You do not see many +horses in a lifetime in whose shape the critical eye cannot detect a +fault. We know the good points as well as the bad of this colt, for we +have had him two years. Deep, sloping shoulders are his speciality; and +they cover a multitude of sins. Legs of iron, with large, broad knees; +plenty of flat bone below the knee, and pasterns neither too long nor +too upright. Well ribbed up, he is at the same time rather +"ragged-hipped," indicative of strength and weight-carrying power. How +broad are his gaskins! how "well let down" he is! What great hocks he +has! But, alas I as you view him from behind, you cannot help noticing +that his hindlegs incline a little outwards, even as a cow's do--they +are not absolutely straight, as they should be. Then as to his golden, +un-docked tail: he carries it well--a fact which adds twenty pounds to +his value; but, strange to say, it is not "well set on," as a +thoroughbred's ought to be. He does not show the quality he ought in his +hindquarters. Still his head, neck and crest are good, though his eye is +not a large one. How much is he worth--twenty, fifty, a hundred, or two +hundred pounds? Who can tell? Will he be a charger, a fourteen-stone +hunter, or a London carriage horse? All depends how he takes to jumping. +His height is against him,--sixteen hands two and a half inches is at +least two inches too big for a hunter. Nevertheless, there are always +the brilliant exceptions. Let us hope he will be the trump card in +the pack.</p> + +<p>Talking of horses, how admirable was that answer of Dr. Johnson's, when +a lady asked him how on earth he allowed himself to describe the word +<i>pastern</i> in his dictionary as the <i>knee</i> of a horse. "Ignorance, +madam, pure ignorance," was his laconic reply. So great a man could well +afford to confess utter ignorance of matters outside his own sphere. But +how few of mankind are ever willing to own themselves mistaken about any +subject under the sun, unless it be bimetallism or some equally +unfashionable and abstruse (though not unimportant) problem of the day!</p> + +<p>What beautiful shades of colour are noticeable in the trees in the early +part of May! The ash, being so much later than the other trees, remains +a pale light green, and shows up against the dark green chestnuts and +the still darker firs. But what shall I say of the great spreading +walnut whose branches hang right across the stream in our garden in the +Cotswold Valley?</p> + +<p>About the middle of May the walnut leaves resemble nothing so much as a +mass of Virginia creeper when it is at its best in September. Beautiful, +transparent leaves of gold, intermingled with red, glisten in the warm +May sunshine,--the russet beauties of autumn combined with the fresh, +bright loveliness of early spring!</p> + +<p>Not till the very end of May will this walnut tree be in full leaf. He +is the latest of all the trees. The young, tender leaves scent almost as +sweetly as the verbena in the greenhouse. It is curious that ash trees, +when they are close to a river, hang their branches down towards the +water like the "weeping willows." Is this connected, I wonder, with the +strange attraction water has for certain kinds of wood, by which the +water-finder, armed with a hazel wand, is able to divine the presence +of <i>aqua pura</i> hundreds of feet below the surface of the earth? What +this strange art of rhabdomancy is I know not, but the "weeping" ash in +our garden by the Coln is one of the most beautiful and shapely trees I +ever saw. It will be an evil day when some cruel hurricane hurls it to +the ground. We have lost many a fine tree in recent years, some through +gales, but others, alas I by the hand of man.</p> + +<p>A few years ago I discovered a spot about a quarter of a mile from my +home which reminded me of the beautiful Eton playing-fields,</p> + +<blockquote> +"Where once my careless childhood stray'd,<br> + A stranger yet to pain."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It consisted of a few grass fields shut off by high hedges, and +completely encircled by a number of fine elm trees of great age and +lovely foliage. At one end a broad and shallow reach of the Coln +completed the scene.</p> + +<p>Having obtained a long lease of the place, I grubbed up the hedges, +turned three small fields into one, and made a cricket ground in the +midst. My object was to imitate as far as possible the "Upper Club" of +the Eton playing-fields.</p> + +<p>I had barely accomplished the work, the cricket ground had just been +levelled, when the landlord's agent--or more probably his +"mortgagee"--arrived on the scene, accompanied by a hard-headed, +blustering timber merchant from Cheltenham. To my horror and dismay I +was informed that, money being very scarce, they contemplated making a +clean sweep of these grand old elms. On my expostulating, they merely +suggested that cutting down the trees would be a great improvement, as +the place would be opened up thereby and made healthier.</p> + +<p>In the hope of warding off the evil day we offered to pay the price of +some of the finest trees, although they could only legally be bought for +the present proprietor's lifetime.</p> + +<p>The contractor, however, rather than leave his work of destruction +incomplete, put a ridiculous price on them. He refused to accept a +larger sum than he could ever have cleared by cutting them down. This is +what Cowper would have stigmatised as</p> + +<blockquote> + "disclaiming all regard<br> +For mercy and the common rights of man,"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>and "conducting trade at the sword's point."</p> + +<p>We then resolved to buy the farm. But the stars in their courses fought +against us; we were unsuccessful in our attempt to purchase +the freehold.</p> + +<p>And so the contractor's men came with axes and saws and horses and +carts. For days and weeks I was haunted by that hideous nightmare, the +crash of groaning trees as they fell all around, soon to be stripped of +all their glorious beauty. The cruel, blasphemous shouts of the men, as +they made their long-suffering horses drag the huge, dismembered trunks +across the beautifully levelled greensward of the cricket ground, were +positively heart-rending. Ninety great elms did they strike down. A few +were left, but of these the two finest came down in the great gale of +March 1896.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Sic transit gloria mundi."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Trees are like old familiar friends, we cannot bear to lose them; every +one that falls reminds us of "the days that are no more." Struck down in +all the pride and beauty of their days, they remind us that</p> + +<blockquote> +"Those who once gave promise<br> + Of fruit for manhood's prime<br> + Have passed from us for ever,<br> + Gone home before their time."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>They remind me that four of my greatest friends at school, ten short +years ago, are long since dead. Like the trees felled by the woodman's +axe, they were struck down by the sickle of the silent Reaper, even as +the golden sheaves that are gathered into the beautiful barns. Other +trees will spring up and shade the naked earth in the woods with their +mantle of green: so, also,</p> + +<blockquote> +"Others will fill our places<br> + Dressed in the old light blue."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>And just as in the woods fresh young saplings are daily springing up, so +also the merry voices of happy, generous boys are ringing, as I write, +in the old, old courts and cloisters by the silvery Thames; their merry +laughter is echoed by the bare grey walls, whereon the names of those +who have long been dust are chiselled in rude handwriting on the +mouldering stone.</p> + +<p>Hundreds we knew have gone down. The fatal bullet, the ravaging fever, +the roaring torrent, and the sad sea waves; the slow, sure grip of +consumption, the fall at polo, and the iron hoofs of the favourite +hunter;--all claimed their victims.</p> + +<p>Perhaps this is why we love to linger in the woods watching the rays of +golden light reflected upon the warm, red earth, listening to the +heavenly voices of the birds and the hopeful babbling of the brook. +Those purple hills and distant bars of gold in the western sky at the +soft twilight hour are rendered ever so much more beautiful when we +dimly view them through a mist of tears.</p> + +<p>And now your thoughts are taken back five short years; you are once more +staying with your old Eton friend and Oxford comrade in his beautiful +home in far-off Wales. All is joy and happiness in that lovely, romantic +home, for in six weeks' time the young squire, the best and most popular +fellow in the world, is to be married to the fair daughter of a +neighbouring house. Is it possible that aught can happen in that short +time to mar the heavenly happiness of those two twin souls? Alas for the +gallant, chivalrous nature I Well might he have cried with his knightly +ancestor of the "Round Table," "Me forethinketh this shall betide, but +God may well foredoe destiny." He had gone down to the lake in the most +beautiful and romantic part of his lovely home, taking with him, as was +his wont, his fishing-rod and his gun. One shot was heard, and one only, +on that ill-fated afternoon, and then all, save for the songs of the +birds and the rippling of the deep waters of the lake, was wrapped in +silence. Then followed the report--whispered through the party assembled +to do honour to the future bride and bridegroom--that "Bill" was +missing. Then came the agonising suspense and the eight hours' search +throughout the long summer evening.</p> + +<p>Late that night the father found the fair young form of his boy in a +thick and tangled copse,--there it lay under the silent stars, the face +upturned in its last appeal to heaven; and close by lay the deadly +twelve-bore which had been the cause of all the misery and grief +that followed.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Solemn before us<br> + Veiled the dark portal--<br> + Goal of all mortal.<br> + Stars silent rest o'er us;<br> + Graves under us silent."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>He had evidently pursued game or vermin of some sort into the dense +undergrowth of the wood, and in his haste had slipped and fallen over +his gun, for the shot had just grazed his heart</p> + +<p>Who that knew him will ever forget Bill Llewelyn, prince of good +fellows, "truest of men in everything"? In all relations of life, as in +the hunting field, he went as straight as a die.</p> + +<p>The accidental discharge of a gun shortly after he came of age, and +within a few weeks of his wedding day, has made the England of to-day +the poorer by one of her most promising sons. Infinite charity! Infinite +courage! Infinite truth! Infinite humility! Who could do justice in +prose to those rare and godlike qualities? No: miserable, weak, and +ineffectual though my gift of poesy may be, yet I will not let those +qualities pass away from the minds of all, save the few that knew him +well, without following in the footsteps (though at an immeasurable +distance) of the divine author of "Lycidas," by endeavouring to render +to his cherished memory "the meed of some melodious tear." For as time +goes on, and the future unfolds to our view things we would have given +worlds to have known long before, when the events that influenced our +past actions and shaped our future destinies are seen through the dim +vista of the shadowy, half-forgotten past, we must all learn the hard +lesson which experience alone can teach, exclaiming with the "Preacher" +the old, old words, "I returned, and saw under the sun that the race is +not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.... but time and chance +happeneth to them all"</p> + +<blockquote> +LINES IN MEMORY OF<br><br> + +WILLIAM DILLWYN LLEWELYN.<br><br> + +It may be chance,--I hold it truth,--<br> +That of the friends I loved on earth<br> +The ones who died in early youth<br> +Were those of best and truest worth.<br><br> + +The swift, alas! the race must lose;<br> +The battle goes against the strong,--<br> +God wills it 'Tis for us to choose,<br> +Whilst life is given, 'twixt right and wrong<br><br> + +'Tis not for us to count the cost<br> +Of losing those we most do love;<br> +He grudgeth not life's battle lost<br> +Who wins a golden crown above.<br><br> + +And oft beneath the shades of night,<br> +When tempests howl around these walls,<br> +A vision steals upon my sight,<br> +A footstep on the threshold falls.<br><br> + +I see once more that graceful form,<br> +Once more that honest hand grasps mine.<br> +Once more I hear above the storm<br> +The voice I know so well is thine.<br><br> + +I see again an Eton boy,<br> +A gentle boy, divinely taught,<br> +And call to mind bow full of joy<br> +In friendly rivalry we sought<br><br> + +The "playing-fields." Then, as I yield<br> +To fancy's dreams, I see once more<br> +The hero of the cricket field,<br> +The oft-tried, trusty friend of yore.<br><br> + +What tender yearnings, fond regret,<br> +These thoughts of early friendship bring!<br> +None but the heartless can forget<br> +'Mid summer days the friends of spring.<br><br> + +Now thoughts of Oxford fill my mind:<br> +My Eton friend is with me still,<br> +But changed--from boy to man; yet kind<br> +And large of heart, and strong of will,<br><br> + +And blythe and gay. I recognise<br> +The athletic form, the comely face,<br> +The mild expression of the eyes,<br> +The high-bred courtesy and grace.<br><br> + +Once more with patient skill we lure<br> +The mighty salmon from the deep;<br> +Once more we tread the boundless moor,<br> +And wander up the mountain steep.<br><br> + +With gun in hand we scour the plain,<br> +Together climb the rocky ways;<br> +Regardless he of wind and rain<br> +Who loved to "live laborious days."<br><br> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +I see again fair Penllergare,<br> +Those woods and lakes you loved so well;<br> +It seems but yesterday that there<br> +I parted from you! Who can tell<br><br> + +The reason thou art gone before?<br> +It is not given to us to know,<br> +But doubtless thou wert needed more<br> +Than we who mourn thee here below.<br><br> + +Life's noblest lesson day by day<br> +Thy fair example nobly taught--<br> +Self-sacrifice--to point the way<br> +By which the hearts of men are brought<br><br> + +Nearer to God. This was thy task,<br> +Humbly, unknowingly fulfilled;<br> +And it were vain for us to ask<br> +Why now thy voice is hushed and stilled.<br><br> + +O gallant spirit, generous heart!<br> +If thou had'st lived in days gone by,<br> +Thou would'st have loved to bear thy part<br> +In glorious deeds of chivalry.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>I make no apology for this digression, nor for unearthing from the +bottom of my drawer lines that, written years ago, were never penned +with any idea of publication. For was not the subject of those verses +himself half a Cotswold man?</p> + +<p>But now to return once more to the trees, the loss of which caused me +to digress some pages back; there are compensations in all things. Not +every one who becomes a sojourner among the Cotswold Hills is fated to +undergo such a trial as the loss of these ninety elms. And, +notwithstanding this severe lesson, I am still glad that I alighted on +the spot from which I am now writing.</p> + +<p>I have learnt to find pleasure in other directions now that my "Eton +playing-fields" have passed away for ever. I have become infected by the +spirit of the downs. I love the pure, bracing air and the boundless +sense of space in the open hills as much as I ever loved the more +concentrated charms of the valley. And even in the valley I have +possessions of which no living man is able to deprive me. From my window +I can see the silvery trout stream, which, after thousands of years of +restless activity, is still slowly gliding down towards the sea; I can +listen on summer nights to the murmuring waterfall at the bottom of the +garden, the hooting of the owls, and the other sounds which break the +awful silence of the night.</p> + +<p>Nor can the hand of man disturb the glorious timber round the house; for +it is "ornamental," and therefore safe from the hands of the despoiler. +Storms are gradually levelling the ancient beech and ash trees in the +woods, but it will be many a long day before the hand of nature has +marred the beauty of what has always seemed to me to be one of the +fairest spots on earth.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI."></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>SUMMER DAYS ON THE COTSWOLDS</h3> + +<blockquote> +"What more felicitie can fall to creature<br> + Than to enjoy delight with libertie,<br> + And to be lord of all the workes of Nature?"<br><br> + + E. SPENSER.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The finest days, when the trees are greenest, the sky bluest, and the +clouds most snowy white are the days that come in the midst of bad +weather. And just as there is no rest without toil, no peace without +war, no true joy in life without grief, no enjoyment for the <i>blasé</i>, so +there can be no lovely summer days without previous storms and rain, no +sunshine till the tearful mists have passed away.</p> + +<p>There had been a week's incessant rain; every wild flower and every +blade of green grass was soaked with moisture, until it could no longer +bear its load, and drooped to earth in sheer dismay. But last night +there came a change: the sun went down beyond the purple hills like a +ball of fire; eastwards the woods were painted with a reddish glow, and +life and colour returned to everything that grows on the face of this +beautiful earth.</p> + +<blockquote> + "It seems a day<br> +(I speak of one from many singled out),<br> +One of those heavenly days which cannot die."<br> + WORDSWORTH.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>So it is pleasant to-day to wander over the fields; across the crisp +stubbles, where the thistledown is crowding in the "stooks" of black +oats; past stretches of uncut corn looking red and ripe under a burning +sun. White oxeye daisies in masses and groups, lilac-tinted thistles, +and bright scarlet poppies grow in profusion among the tall wheat +stalks. A covey of partridges, about three parts grown, rise almost at +our feet; for it is early August, and the deadly twelve-bore has not yet +wrought havoc among the birds. On the right is a field of green turnips, +well grown after the recent rains, and promising plenty of "cover" for +sportsmen in September. In the hedgerow the lovely harebells have +recovered from the soaking they endured, and their bell-shaped flowers +of perfect blue peep out everywhere. The sweetest flower that grows up +the hedgeside is the blue geranium, or meadow crane's-bill. The humble +yarrow, purple knapweed, field scabious, thistles with bright purple +heads, and St. John's wort with its clean-cut stars of burnished gold +and its pellucid veins, form a natural border along the hedge, where +wild clematis or traveller's joy entwines its rough leaf stalks round +the young hazel branches and among the pink roses of the bramble.</p> + +<p>By the roadside, where the dust blew before the rain and covered every +green leaf with a coating of rich lime, there grow small shrubs of +mallow with large flowers of pale purple or mauve; here, too, yellow +bedstraw and bird's-foot lotus add their tinge of gold to the lush green +grass, and the smaller bindweed, the lovely convolvulus, springs up on +the barrenest spots, even creeping over the stone heaps that were left +over from last winter's road mending.</p> + +<p>Many another species of wild flower which, "born to blush unseen and +waste its sweetness on the desert air," grows in the quiet Cotswold +lanes might here be named; but even though at times one may feel, with +Wordsworth,</p> + +<blockquote> +"To me the meanest flower that blows can give<br> + Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>I will leave the humble wayside plants and descend into the vale. For it +is along the back brook that the tallest and stateliest wild flowers may +best be seen. The scythes mowed them all down in May, and again in July, +in the broad "millpound," so that they do not grow so tall by the main +stream; but the back brook, the natural course of the river before the +mills were made, was left unmolested by the mowers, and is a mass of +life and colour.</p> + +<p>Here grows the graceful meadow-sweet, fair and tall, and white and +fragrant; here the willow-herb, glorious with pink blossoms, rears its +head high above your shoulders among the sword-flags and the green +rushes and "segs"; the whole bank is a medley of white meadow-sweet, +scorpion-grasses, forget-me-nots, pink willow-herbs, and lilac heads of +mint all jumbled up together. Never was such a delightful confusion of +colour! Great dock leaves two feet wide clothe the path by the +water-side with all the splendour of malachite.</p> + +<p>The breeze blows up stream, and the trout are rising incessantly, taking +something small. They will not look at any artificial fly, even in the +rippling breeze; there is nothing small enough in any fly-book to catch +them this afternoon. But when the sun gets low, and the great brown +moths come out and flutter over the water, the red palmer will catch a +dish of fish. Willow trees--"withies" they call them hereabouts--grow +along the brook-side. So white are the backs of their oval leaves that +when the breeze turns them back, the woods by the river look bright and +silvery. To-morrow, when the breeze has almost died away, only the tops +of the willows will be silvered; the next day, if all be calm and still, +all will be green as emerald. Such infinite variety is there in the +woods! Not only do the tints change month by month, but day by day the +colour varies; so that there is always something new, some fresh effect +of light and shade to delight the eye of man in the quiet English +country. Dotted about in the midst of the stream are little islands of +forget-me-nots. The lovely light blue is reflected everywhere in the +water. Very beautiful are the scorpion-grasses both on the banks among +the rushes and scattered about in mid stream.</p> + +<p>The meadows are full of life. There are sounds sweet to the ear and +sights pleasing to the eye. In the new-mown water-meadow +grasshoppers--such hosts of them that they could never be numbered for +multitude--are chirping and dancing merrily. "They make the field ring +with their importunate chink, whilst the great cattle chew the cud and +are silent. How like the great and little of mankind!" as Edmund Burke +said years ago. By catching one of these "meagre, hopping insects of the +hour," you will see that their backs are green as emerald and their +bellies gold: some have a touch of purple over the eyes; their thighs, +which are enormously developed for jumping purposes, have likewise a +delicate tinge of purple.</p> + +<p>Contrary to the saying of Izaak Walton, the trout do not seem to care +much for grasshoppers nowadays, although perhaps they may relish them in +streams where food is less plentiful. Our trout even prefer the tiny +yellow frogs that are to be found in scores by the brook-side in early +August. We have often offered them both in the deep "pill" below the +garden; and though they would come with a dart and take the little frog, +they merely looked at the grasshopper in astonishment, and seldom +took one.</p> + +<p>As we stand on the rustic bridge above the "pill" gazing down into the +smooth flowing water, dark trout glide out of sight into their homes in +the stonework under the hatch. These are the fish that rise not to the +fly, but prey on their grandchildren, growing darker and lankier and +bigger-headed every year. Wherever you find a deep hole and an ancient +hatchway there you will also find these great black trout, always lying +in a spot more or less inaccessible to the angler, and living for years +until they die a natural death.</p> + +<p>Was ever a place so full of fish as this "pill"? Looking down into the +deeper water, where the great iron hooks are set to catch the poachers' +nets, I could see dozens of trout of all sizes, but mostly small. At the +tail of the pool are lots of small ones, rising with a gentle dimple. As +the days became hotter and the stream ran down lower and lower, the +trout left the long shallow reaches, and assembled here, where there is +plenty of water and plenty of food.</p> + +<p>Standing on the bridge by the ancient spiked gate bristling with sharp +barbs of iron, like rusty spear and arrow-heads (our ancestors loved to +protect their privacy with these terrible barriers), I listened to the +waterfall three hundred yards higher up, with its ceaseless music; the +afternoon sun was sparkling on the dimpling water, which runs swiftly +here over a shallow reach of gravel--the favourite spawning-ground of +the trout. There is no peep of river scenery I like so much as this. +Thirty yards up stream a shapely ash tree hangs its branches, clothed +with narrow sprays, right across the brook, the fantastic foliage +almost touching the water. A little higher up some willows and an elm +overhang from the other side.</p> + +<p>There is something unspeakably striking about a country lane or a +shallow, rippling brook overarched with a tracery of fretted foliage +like the roof of an old Gothic building.</p> + +<p>Who that has ever visited the village of Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire +will forget the lane by which he approached the home and last +resting-place of the poet Gray? Perhaps you came from Eton, and after +passing along a lane that is completely overhung with an avenue of +splendid trees, where the thrushes sing among the branches as they sing +nowhere else in that neighbourhood, you turned in at a little rustic +gate. Straight in front of your eyes were very legibly written on grey +stone three of the finest verses of the "Elegy." The monument itself is +plain, not to say hideous, but the simple words inscribed thereon are +unspeakably grand when read amongst the surroundings of "wood" and +"rugged elm" and "yew-tree's shade," unchanged as they are after the +lapse of a century and a half. The place, and more especially the lane, +is a fitting abode for the spirit of the poet. One could almost hear the +song of him who, "being dead, yet speaketh":</p> + +<blockquote> + "And the birds in the sunshine above<br> +Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits departed."<br><br> + +LONGFELLOW.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Gray is a poet for whom, in common with most Englishmen, the present +writer has a sincere respect. It has been said, however, of the "Elegy" +by one critic that the subject of the poem gives it an unmerited +popularity, and by another--and that quite recently--that it is the +"high-water mark of mediocrity." Although Gray's own modest dictum was +the foundation of the first of these harsh criticisms, we are unable to +allow the truth of the one and must strongly protest against the other. +It has been reported that Wolfe, the celebrated general, after reciting +the "Elegy" on the eve of the assault on Quebec, declared that he would +sooner have written such a poem than win a victory over the French. This +was nearly a century and a half ago. Yet after so long a lapse of time +the verses still retain their hold on the minds of all classes. In spite +of the fact that Matthew Arnold and other admirers have declared that +the "Elegy" was not Gray's masterpiece, yet it was this poem that +brought a man who accomplished but a small amount of work into such +lasting fame. From beginning to end, as Professor Raleigh says of +Milton's work, the "Elegy" "is crowded with examples of felicitous and +exquisite meaning given to the infallible word." Was ever a poem more +frequently quoted or so universally plagiarised? In writing or speaking +about the country and its inhabitants, if we would express ourselves as +concisely as we possibly can, we are bound to quote the "Elegy"; it is +invariably the shortest road to a terse expression of our meaning. Who +can improve on "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," or "The +short and simple annals of the poor"? If Gray's "Elegy" is but "a mosaic +of the felicities" of those who went before, let it be remembered that +had he not laboriously pieced together that mosaic, these "felicities" +would have been a sealed book to the majority of Englishmen. Not one man +in a hundred now reads some of the authors from which they were culled. +And as Landor said of Shakespeare, "He is more original than his +originals." Even that strange individual, Samuel Johnson, who was +accustomed whenever Gray's poetry was mentioned either to "crab" it +directly or "damn it with faint praise," towards the end of his career +admitted in his "Lives of the Poets" that "the churchyard abounds with +images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which +every bosom returns an echo." But the chief value of the work seems +really to lie in this: it has dignified the rural scenes and the honest +rustics of England. It has invested every hoary-headed swain, every busy +housewife, and every little churchyard in the country with a special +dignity and a lasting charm. The traveller cannot look upon these scenes +and faces without unconsciously connecting them with the lines he knows +so well. Gray's "Elegy" will never be forgotten; for it has struck its +roots deep in the national language and far down into the +national heart.</p> + +<p>Very similar to the quiet and leafy lane at Stoke Poges is the brook +below the waterfall at A---- in the Cotswolds. On your left as you look +up stream from the bridge of the "pill," a moss-grown gravel path runs +alongside the water under a hanging wood of leafy elms and +smooth-trunked beech trees, where the ringdoves coo all day. A tangled +hedge filled with tall timber trees runs up the right-hand bank. Here +the great convolvulus, queen of wild flowers, twists her bines among the +hedge; the bell-shaped flowers are conspicuous everywhere, large and +lily-white as the arum, so luxuriant is the growth of wild flowers by +the brook-side.</p> + +<p>A silver stream is the Coln hereabouts, the abode of fairies and fawns, +and nymphs and dryads. But when the afternoon sun shines upon it, it +becomes a stream of diamonds set in banks of emeralds, with an arched +and groined roof of jasper, carved with foliations of graceful ash and +willow, and over all a sky of sapphire sprinkled with clouds of pearl +and opal. Later on towards evening there will be floods of golden light +on the grass and on the beech trees up the eastern slope of the valley +and on the bare red earth under the trees, red with fifty years' beech +nuts. And later still, when the distant hills are dyed as if with +archil, the sapphire sky will be striped with bars of gold and dotted +with coals of fire; rubies and garnets, sardonyx and chrysolite will all +be there, and the bluish green of beryl, the western sky as varied as +felspar and changing colour as quickly as the chameleon. And as the day +declines the last beams of the setting sun will find their way through +the tracery of foliage that overhangs the brook, and the waters will be +tinged with a rosy glow, even as in some ancestral hall or Gothic +cathedral the sun at eventide pours through the blazoned windows and +floods the interior with rays of soft, mysterious, coloured light.</p> + +<p>I have been trying to describe one of the loveliest bits of miniature +scenery on earth; yet how commonplace it all reads! Not a thousandth +part of the beauty of this spot at sunset is here set down, yet little +more can be said. How bitter to think that the true beauty of the trees, +the path by the brook, and the sunlight on the water cannot be passed on +for others to enjoy, cannot be stamped on paper, but must be seen to be +realised! Truly, as Richard Jefferies says somewhere, there is a layer +of thought in the human brain for which there are no words in any +language. We cannot express a thousandth part of the beauty of the woods +and the stream; we can but dimly feel it when we see it with our eyes.</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-366-384.jpg"> +<img src="fp-366-384.jpg" width = "35%" alt="BELOW THE "PILL.""> +</a><br><b>"BELOW THE "PILL.""</b> +</P> + +<p>Below the "pill"--for we have been gazing up stream--some sheep are +lying under a gnarled willow on the left bank; some are nibbling at the +lichen and moss on the trunk, others are standing about in pretty groups +of three and four. One of them has just had a ducking. Trying to get a +drink of water, he overbalanced himself and fell in. He walks about +shaking himself, and doubtless feels very uncomfortable. Sheep do not +care much for bathing in cold water. You have only to see the +sheep-washing in the spring to realise how they dislike it. There is a +place higher up the stream called the Washpool, where every day in May +you can watch the men bundling the poor old sheep into the water, one +after the other, and dipping them well, to free the wool from insects of +all kinds. And how the trout enjoy the ticks that come from their +thickly matted coats! One poor sheep is hopping about on the cricket +field dead lame. Perhaps that leg he drags behind is broken! Why does +not the farmer kill the poor brute? There is much misery of this kind +caused in country places by the thoughtlessness of farmers. How much has +yet to be learnt by the very men who love to describe the labourers as +"them 'ere ignorant lower classes"! Alas! that these things can happen +among the green fields and spreading elms and the heavenly sunshine of +summer days! We should have more moral courage, and do as Carlyle bids +us in his old solemn way: "But above all, where thou findest Ignorance, +Stupidity, Brute-mindedness, attack it, I say; smite it, wisely, +unwearily, and rest not while thou livest and it lives; but smite, smite +in the name of God. The Highest God, as I understand it, does audibly so +command thee, still audibly if thou hast ears to hear."</p> + +<p>On the cricket pitch, a bare hundred yards away from the river bank, is +a plentiful crop of dandelions, crow's-foot, clover, and, worst of all, +enormous plantains. A gravel soil is very favourable to plantains, for +stones work up and the grass dies. The dreadful plantain seems to thrive +anywhere and everywhere, and on bare spots where grass cannot live he +immediately appears. Rabbits have been making holes all over the pitch, +and red spikes of sorrel, wonderfully rich and varied in colour, rise +everywhere at the lower end of the field towards the river. The cricket +ground has been somewhat neglected of late.</p> + +<p>There is a great elm tree down close to the ground--the only tree that +the winter gales had left to shade us on hot summer days. It came down +suddenly, without the slightest warning; and underneath it that most +careless of all keepers, Tom Peregrine, had left the large +mowing-machine and the roller. So careless are some of these +Gloucestershire folk that sooner than do as I had ordered and put the +mowing-machine in the barn hard by, they must leave it in the open air +and under this ill-fated tree. Down came my last beloved elm, smashing +the mowing-machine and putting an end to all thoughts of cricket here +this summer. It will be ages before the village carpenter will come with +his timber cart and draw the tree away. A Gloucestershire man cannot do +a job like this in under two years; they are always so busy, you see, in +Gloucestershire--never a moment to spare to get anything done!</p> + +<p>There was a time when the chief delight of summer lay in playing +cricket. What ecstasy it was to be well set and scoring fast on the +hard-baked ground (the harder the better), cutting to the boundary when +the ball pitched short on the off, and driving her hard along the ground +when they pitched one up! What could surpass the joy of scoring a +century in those long summer days? Now we would as soon spend the +holidays in the woods and by the busy trout stream, reading and taking +note of the trees and the birds and the rippling of the waters as they +flow onwards, ever onwards, towards the sea. There comes a time to all +men, sooner or later, when we say to ourselves, <i>Cui bono?</i> In a few +short years I shall no longer be able to hit the ball so hard, and in +the "field" I am already becoming a trifle slow. Then do we take to +ourselves pursuits that we can follow until the limbs are stiffened with +age and the hair is white as snow.</p> + +<p>Having spent the best years of life in the pursuit of pleasures that, +however engrossing, nevertheless bore no real and lasting fruit, we +finally fall back on interests that will last a lifetime, perhaps an +eternity--for who knows how much of knowledge we shall take with us to +another world? Aristotle was not far wrong when he described earthly +happiness as a life of contemplation, with a moderate equipment of +external good fortune and prosperity. There is no book so well worthy to +be studied as the book of nature, no melodies like those of the field +and fallow, wood and wold, and the still small voice of the busy streams +labouring patiently onwards day by day.</p> + +<p>In the fields beyond the river haymakers are busy with the second crop. +Down to the ford comes a great yellow hay-cart, drawn by two strong +horses, tandem fashion. One small boy alone is leading the big horses. +Arriving at the ford, he jumps on to the leader's back and rides him +through. The horses strain and "scaut," and the cart bumps over the deep +ruts, nearly upsetting. Luckily there is no accident. So much is +entrusted to these little farm lads of scarce fifteen years of age it is +a wonder they do the work so well. From the tops of the firs comes the +sound of pigeons winging their way from the "grove" to the "conygers" +(the latter word means the "place of rabbits"; there are lots of woods +so called in Gloucestershire). It is a curious piping sound that +wood-pigeons make, and, not seeing the birds, you might think it came +from the throat instead of the wings. One day two of us were looking at +a wood-pigeon flying over, when we observed something drop from the +skies and fall into the stream. On going up we saw that it was an egg +she had dropped. There it lay at the bottom of the brook, apparently +unbroken by the fall. Floating on the soft south wind, a heron flies +over so quietly that unless he had given one of his characteristic +croaks it was a hundred to one you did not see him pass. Many a heron +and wild duck must pass over us unobserved on windy days. It is so +difficult to observe when you are thinking. A man absorbed in reverie +cannot see half the things that many country folk with less active +brains never fail to observe. When we find people who live in the +country unversed in the ways of birds, the knowledge of flowers and +trees, and the habits of the simple country folk, we need not +necessarily conclude that they are dull and empty-headed; the reverse is +often the case. A man absorbed in business or serious affairs may love +the country and yet know little of its real life. A good deal of time +must be spent in acquiring this kind of knowledge, and it is not +everybody who has the time or the opportunity to do it. If we come +across a man with plenty of leisure, yet knowing nothing of what is +going on around him, we may then perhaps have cause to complain of +his dulness.</p> + +<p>Mr. Aubrey De Vere relates an amusing story about Sir William Rowan +Hamilton which exactly illustrates my meaning: "When he had soared into +a high region of speculative thought he took no note of objects close +by. A few days after our first meeting we walked together on a road, a +part of which was overflowed by a river at its side. Our theme was the +transcendental philosophy, of which he was a great admirer. I felt sure +that he would not observe the flood, and made no remark on it. We walked +straight on till the water was half way up to our knees. At last he +exclaimed, 'What's this? We seem to be walking through a river. Had we +not better return to the dry land?'"</p> + +<p>There is a spot in the woods by the River Coln that is almost untrodden +by man. It is the favourite resort of foxes. Nobody but myself and the +earth-stopper has been there for years and years, save that when the +hounds come the huntsman rides through and cheers the pack. It is in the +conyger wood. No path leads through its quiet recesses, where ash and +elm and larch and spruce, mostly self-sown, are mingled together, with a +thick growth of elder spread beneath them. It was here, in an ancient, +disused quarry, that the keeper pointed out not long since the secret +dwelling-house of the kingfishers. A small crevice in the limestone +rock, from which a disagreeable smell of dried fish bones issued forth, +formed the outer entrance to the nest. One could not see the delicate +structure itself, for it appeared to be several feet within the rock. A +mass of powdered fish bones and the pungent odour from within were all +the outward signs of the inner nest. By standing on a jutting ledge of +the soft cretaceous rock, and holding on by another ledge, which +appeared not unlikely to come down and crush you, one could peep into +the hole and comfort oneself with the thought that one was nearer a +kingfisher's nest than is usually vouchsafed to mortal man. It would be +easy to get ladder and pickaxe and break open the rock until the nest +was reached, but why disturb these lovely birds? They have built here +year by year for centuries; even now some of this year's brood may be +seen among the willows by the back brook.</p> + +<p>From this quarry was dug in the year 1590 the stone to build the old +manor house yonder. A few miles away toward Burford is the quarry from +which men say Christopher Wren brought some of the stone to raise St. +Paul's Cathedral. Yet the local people do not care a bit for this +beautiful freestone of the Cotswold Hills. They want to bring granite +from afar for their village crosses, and ugly blue slates for the roofs +of the houses. At a parish council meeting the other day it was +seriously proposed to erect a "Jubilee Hall" of <i>red</i> brick in our +village. Anything for a change, you see; these people would not be +mortal if they did not love a change. The pure grey limestone is +commonplace hereabouts; I have actually heard it said that it will not +last. Yet in every village stand the old Norman churches, built entirely +of local stone, walls and roof; and many an old manor house as well lies +in our midst, as good as it was three hundred years ago. To me, this +limestone of the hills is one of the most beautiful features of the +Cotswold country. I love to stand in a limestone quarry and mark the +layers and ponderous blocks of clean white virgin rock--a tiny cleft in +"the great stone floor which stretches over the face of the earth and +under the limitless expanse of the sea." That solid cretaceous mass is +but the remnants of the countless inhabitants of the old seas,--life +changed into solid, hard rock; and even now, as the green grass and the +sweet sainfoin spring up on the surface, feeding the flocks and herds +that will soon in their turn feed mankind, earth is turning back again +into life. Thus onwards in an endless cycle, even as the earth goes +round, and the waters return to the place from whence they came, does +nature's work go on; and when we consider these things, eternity and +infinity lose part of their strangeness. Does it seem strange when we +look upon this glorious country?--in May a sea of golden buttercups, in +summer a sea of waving grass, and in the autumn a sea of golden corn; +once it was a sea of salt water. And these great rounded banks, these +hills and valleys, these billowy wolds,--could they but speak to us +might tell strange things of the passing of the waters and of the +inhabitants of the old ocean ages and ages ago; the mystery of the sea +would be sung in every vale and echoed back by every rolling down.</p> + +<p>A very wonderful matter it certainly is that the stone in which the +whole history of the country-side is writ, not only in rolling downs and +limestone streams, but even in church, tithe-barn, farm, and cottage, as +well as in the walls and the roads and the very dust that blows upon +them, should be nothing more nor less than a mass of dead animals that +lived generation after generation, thousands of years ago, at the bottom +of the sea.</p> + +<p>There is silence in the woods--the drowsy silence of summer. Most of +the birds have gone to the cornfields. An ash copse is never so full of +birds as the denser woodlands, where the oaks grow stronger on a stiff +clay soil. Here are no laughing yaffels, no cruel, murderous shrikes, +and very few song-birds. Still, there are always the pigeons and the +cushats, the wicked magpies and the screaming "jaypies," as the local +people call the jays. Then, too, there are the birds down among the +watercress and the brooklime in the clear pool below the spring, +moorhens occasionally awakening the echoes by running down a weird +chromatic scale or calling with their loud and mellow note to their +friends and relations over at the brook; here, too, the softer croak of +the mallard and the wild duck is also heard. A hawk, chasing some +smaller bird, is darting and hovering over the tops of the firs, but, +catching a glimpse of me, disappears from sight. Presently a little +bird, with an eye keener even than the cruel hawk's, comes out from the +hazels and perches on a post some ten yards away. It is a fly-catcher. +As he sits he turns his eyes in every direction, on the look-out for +dainty insects. He seems to have eyes at the back of his head, for +instantly he sees a fly in the air right behind him, makes a dash, +catches it, and flies on to the next post. He repeats the performance +there, then once more changes his ground. When he has made another +successful raid, he returns to his first post, always hunting in a +chosen circuit, and always catching flies. He was here yesterday, and +will be here again to-morrow. When you try to approach him, however, he +flies away and hides himself in the firs.</p> + +<p>If there are not many birds in the woods just now, still, there is +always the beauty of the trees. How marvellous is the symmetry of form +and colouring in the trunk and branches of a big ash tree! If you put +mercury into a solution of nitrate of silver, and leave them for a few +days to combine, the result will be a precipitation of silver in a +lovely arborescent form, the <i>arbor Dianae</i>, beautiful beyond +description. Such are my favourite ash trees when the summer sunshine +sparkles on them. It is their bare, silvered trunks that give the +special charm to these hanging woods. They stand out from dark recesses +filled with alder and beech and ivy-mantled firs, rising in bold but +graceful outline; columns of silver, touched here and there with the sad +gold and green shades of lichen and moss. The moss that mingles with +golden lichens is of a soft, velvety hue, like a mantle of half drapery +on a beautiful white statue. And, oddly enough, though ferns do not grow +on the limestone soil of the Cotswolds, yet on the first story so to +speak of every big ash tree by the river, as well as on the pollard +willows, there is a beautiful little fernery springing up out of the +moss and lichen, which seems to thrive most when the lichen thrives--in +the winter rather than in the summer. Then, too, the foliage of all +kinds of trees and shrubs is not only different in form, but the +minutest serrations vary; so that the leaves of two kinds of trees are +no more alike than any two human faces are alike. The elm leaves are +rough to the touch, like sandpaper, and their edges are clearly +serrated; those of the beeches are smooth as parchment, and though the +edges appear at first sight to be almost clean cut, they have very +slight serrations, as if nature had rounded them with a blunt knife. The +lobed ivy leaves are likewise highly polished, and they have sharp, +pointed tips. The leaves of the common stinging-nettle ("'ettles" the +labourers call them) have deep indents all round them. A great dock +leaf, in which the chives have a strange resemblance to the arteries in +the human frame, has small shallow indents all round it. Hazels are +rough and almost round in form, save for a pointed tip at the end; they +have ragged edges and ill-defined serrations. Everybody knows the +sycamore from its five lobed leaves; and the chestnuts and oaks are, +again, as different as possible. These are only a few instances; one +might go on for a long time showing the endless variations of form +in foliage.</p> + +<p>Then there is the remarkable difference in colour and shade; not only +are there a dozen different greens in one wood, but in one and the same +beech you may see a marked contrast in the tone of its leaves. For about +midsummer some trees put forth a second growth of foliage, so that there +is the vivid yellow tint of the fresh shoots and the dark olive of the +older leaves on one and the same branch. Of the rich autumnal shades I +am not speaking; they would require a chapter to themselves.</p> + +<p>There are other things to be noted in the woods besides the trees and +the birds: lots of rabbits and squirrels, not to mention an occasional +hedgehog. Squirrels are the most delightful of all the furred denizens +of the woods. Running up the trees, with their long brushes straight out +behind, they are not unlike miniature foxes. The slenderness of the +twigs on which they manage to find support is one of the greatest +wonders of the woods. The harmless hedgehog, as everybody is aware, +rolls himself up into a lifeless ball of bristles on being disturbed. By +staying quietly by him and addressing him in an encouraging tone, I +lately induced a very large hedgehog to unroll himself and creep slowly +along close to my feet.</p> + +<p>It is very extraordinary how all wild animals, especially when young, +can be won by kindness. I once came across a young hedgehog about +three-parts grown; he was running about on the grass in front of the +house in broad daylight, and kept poking his little nose into the earth +searching for emmets and grubs. I made friends with him, dug him up some +worms, and in less than half an hour he became as tame as possible. Tom +Peregrine, the keeper, stood by and roared with laughter at his antics, +saying he had never seen such a "comical job" in all his life. And it +really was a curious sight. The hedgehog, with the merriest twinkle in +his eyes, would take the worms out of my hand; and when I dangled them +five or six inches off the ground, he would rear up on his hindlegs and +snatch and grab until he secured them. Then he would sit up and scratch +himself like a dog. He would allow me to take him up in my hands and +stroke him, and yet not retire into his bristly shell. He ate a dozen +worms and a bumble-bee straight off the reel, and then with all the +gluttony of the pig tribe he went searching about for more food. I +noticed that he ate the grass, in the same way as dogs do, for medicinal +purposes. We put him into a large box with some hay in it, and as he +still seemed hungry that evening, we gave him a couple of cockchafers +from the kitchen, which he appeared to relish mightily. The little +fellow was as happy as a king, crying and squeaking whenever we went to +look at him, and hunting round the box for food. But, alas! we had +overfed him. To our intense regret he died the next day from acute +indigestion.</p> + +<p>There are but few snakes or vipers in the district of which I am +writing. But quite recently a man found a large trout about eighteen +inches in length lying dead in the Coln, and protruding from the mouth +of the fish was a large snake, also dead. The snake must have been +swimming in the water (as they are known to do occasionally), and the +trout being in a backwater, where food was scarce, must have seized the +snake and choked himself in his efforts to bolt it This was a remarkable +occurrence, because a Coln trout is most particular as to his bill of +fare, and snakes are certainly not usually included in the list. There +is such a plentiful supply of larvae, caddis, "stone-loach," fresh-water +shrimps, crayfish, and other crustaceans, to say nothing of flies, +minnows, and small fry, that a trout would very seldom attack a snake. A +large lobworm, however, as every one knows, is a very attractive bait +for any kind of fresh-water fish except pike.</p> + +<p>Stoats with reddish-brown backs and yellow bellies may often be seen +hunting the rabbits, and the little weasels may sometimes be drawn out +of their holes in the walls if one makes a squeaking noise with the +lips. Stoats usually hunt singly, weasels in packs and pairs.</p> + +<p>But we must leave the woods, for the evening shadows are lengthening and +the "golden evening brightens in the west." It is time to go up to the +cornfields on the hill and see the sun set. I have said that there is no +path through this wood; it is sacred to foxes. They are not here now, +however; they will not be back till all the corn is cut. The wheatfields +are their summer quarters.</p> + +<p>It is no easy matter to get out of a tangled wood in August. The +stinging-nettles are seven feet high in places; we must hold our hands +high above our heads and plough our way through them. When we finally +emerge we are covered from head to foot with large prickly burrs from +the seeding burdocks, as well as with the small round burrs of the +goose-grass. Then</p> + +<blockquote> +"On and up where nature's heart<br> + Beats strong amid the hills."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>As we pass onwards over the cornfields towards a piece of high ground +from which it is our wont to watch the sun set, a silvery half-moon +peeps out between the clouds. In the north-west the range of limestone +hills is already tinged with purple. In the highest heaven are bars of +distant cloud, so motionless that they appear to be sailing slowly +against the wind. Lower down, dusky, smoke-like clouds, tinged here and +there with a rosy hue, are flying rapidly onwards, ever onwards, in the +sky. Later on the higher clouds will turn deep red, whilst brighter and +brighter will glow the moon.</p> + +<p>Yonder, twenty-five miles away, the old White Horse is just visible upon +the distant chalk downs. Overhead the sky has the deep blue of mazarine, +but westwards and south-west the colour is light olive green, gradually +changing to an intensely bright yellow. Heavy banks of clouds are slowly +rising in the south-west; the bleating of sheep at the ancient homestead +half a mile away is the only sound to be heard. As the sun goes down +to-night it resembles a great ship on fire amidst the breakers on a +rockbound coast; for the western sky is dashed with fleecy clouds, like +the spray that beats against the chalk cliffs on the shore of the mighty +Atlantic; and amid the last plunges of the doomed vessel the spray is +tinged redder and redder, ere with her human cargo she disappears amid +the surf. But no sooner has she sunk into the abyss than the foam and +the fierce breakers die away, and a wondrous calm broods over all +things. In twenty minutes' time nothing is left in the western sky but a +tiny bar of golden cloud that cannot yet quite die away, reminding me, +as I still thought about the burning ship and her ill-fated crew, of</p> + +<blockquote> + "the golden key<br> +Which opes the palace of Eternity."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>But eastwards, above the old legendary White Horse, the "Empress of the +Night," serene and proudly pale, is driving her car across the +darkening skies.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII."></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>AUTUMN.</h3> + +<h4>I.</h4> + +<p>It is in the autumn that life in an old manor house on the Cotswolds has +its greatest charm; for one of the chief characteristics of a house in +the depths of the country surrounded by a broad manor is the game. The +whole atmosphere of such a place savours of rabbits and hares and +partridges. There may be no pheasant-rearing and comparatively little +game of any kind, yet the place is, nevertheless, associated with sport +with the gun. Ten to one there are guns, old and new, hanging up in the +hall or the smoking-room, and perhaps fishing-rods too. There is a bond +between the house and the fields around, and the connecting link is the +game. Time was when the squire in these English villages lived on the +produce of the estate: game, fish, and fowl, and the stock at the farm +supplied his simple wants throughout the year. Huge game larders are yet +to be seen in the lower regions of the manor house; you must pass +through them to reach the still more ample wine cellars. Nearer London +there is not much connection nowadays between the house and the +land--you must walk on the roads; but away in the country it is over the +broad fields that you roam. Even on a small manor of two thousand acres +you may walk a dozen miles in an afternoon and not pass the +boundary fence.</p> + +<p>It is very surprising that there is not more demand for country houses +in England when one considers that an extensive demesne may be rented at +a price which is paid for a small flat in unfashionable Kensington. The +local term in Gloucestershire for renting a manor is "holding the +liberty"--the old Saxon word. The term is singularly expressive of the +freedom possessed by the man who exchanges the life of the town or the +villa for a manor in one of the remote counties. He who enjoys the +sporting rights, with license (as the leases run) to hunt, fish, course, +hawk, or sport without the labour and loss of farming the land, +possesses all the pleasures of the squire's existence with few of its +drawbacks and responsibilities. Yet many a fine old house in the country +remains unlet because the life is considered a dull one by those who +have not been brought up to it. With nature's book spread so amply +before our eyes, the country is never dull. At no time of life is it too +late to commence the study of this book of nature. The faculty of +observation is one that is easily acquired. It is not a case of +<i>nascitur non fit</i>. With tolerably good eyesight and a determination to +learn, a man soon</p> + +<blockquote> +"Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,<br> + Sermons in stones, and good in everything."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>And the habit of observing once acquired, we can never lose it till we +die.</p> + +<p>Of course those who rent a place in preference to purchasing it miss one +of the greatest and most useful privileges the country can confer--that +of following in the footsteps of him who</p> + +<blockquote> +"Strove for sixty widow'd years to help his homelier brother<br> + man,<br> + Served the poor and built the cottage, rais'd the school<br> + and drained the fen."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>These are the true delights of a country existence; and it is, I think, +incumbent on the really rich men of England, if they have the welfare of +the nation at heart, to hold a stake, however small, in the land, even +at a sacrifice of income. I refer to men with incomes ranging from ten +to a hundred thousand pounds per annum, who would not feel the loss of +interest that would possibly accrue on an exchange of investment from +"the elegant simplicity of the three per cents." to an agricultural +estate in the country. They may be giving gold for silver in the +transaction, but will be amply repaid in a thousand different ways. How +infinitely preferable the existence of the poor countryman, even though +times be hard, to that of the misguided being of whom it may be said:</p> + +<blockquote> +"Through life's dark road his sordid way he wends--<br> + An incarnation of fat dividends "!<br><br> + + C. SPRAGUE.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It is probable that the bicycle will cause a larger demand for remote +country houses. To the writer, who, previous to this summer, had never +experienced the poetry of motion which a bicycle coasting downhill, with +a smooth road and a favourable wind, undoubtedly constitutes, the +invention seems of the greatest utility. It brings places sixty miles +apart within our immediate neighbourhood. Let the south wind blow, and +we can be at quaint old Tewkesbury, thirty miles away, in less than +three hours. A northerly gale will land us at the "Blowing-stone" and +the old White House of Berkshire with less labour than it takes to walk +a mile. Yet in the old days these twenty miles were a great gulf fixed +between the Gloucestershire natives and the "chaw-bacons" over the +boundary. Their very language is as different as possible. To this day +the villagers who went to the last "scouring of the horse" and saw the +old-fashioned backsword play, talk of the expedition with as much pride +as if they had made a pilgrimage to the Antipodes.</p> + +<p>As September draws nigh and the days rapidly shorten, the merry hum of +the thrashing machine is heard all day long. The sound comes from the +homestead across the road, and buzzes in my ears as I sit and write by +the open window. How wonderful the evolution of the thrashing machine! +How rough-and-ready the primitive methods of our forefathers! First of +all there was the Eastern method of spreading the sheaves on a floor of +clay, and allowing horses and oxen to trample on the wheat and tread out +the corn. Not less ancient was the use of the old-fashioned flail--an +instrument only discarded within the memory of living man. Yet what a +wonderful difference there is between the work accomplished in a day +with the flails and the daily output of the modern thrashing machine!</p> + +<p>In the porch of the manor house, amid an accumulation of old traps and +other curious odds and ends there hangs an ancient and much-worn flail. +Two stout sticks, the handstaff and the swingle, attached to each other +by a strong band of gut, constitute its simple mechanism. The wheat +having been strewn on the barn floor, the labourer held the handstaff in +both hands, swung it over his head, and brought the swingle down +horizontally on to the heads of ripe corn. Contrast this fearfully +laborious process with the bustling, hurrying machine of to-day. And yet +with all this improvement the corn can scarcely be thrashed out at a +profit. So out of joint are the times and seasons that the foreigner is +allowed to cut out the home producer. Half the life of the country-side +has gone, and no man dare whisper "Protection."</p> + +<p>Even in these bad times the man with a head on his shoulders above the +average of his neighbours comes forth to show what can be done with +energy and pluck. Twenty years ago a labouring man, who "by crook or by +hook" had saved a hundred pounds, bought a thrashing machine (probably +second-hand) He took it round to the various farms, and did the +thrashing at so much per day. By and by he had saved enough money to +take a farm. A few years later he had two thrashing machines travelling +the country, and in this poor district is now esteemed a wealthy man. I +always found him an excellent game-preserver and a most straightforward +fellow. Another farming neighbour of mine, however, was always talking +about his ignorance and lack of caste. All classes, from the peer to the +peasant, seem to resent a man's pushing his way from what they are +pleased to consider a lower station into their own.</p> + +<p>In the autumn gipsies are to be seen travelling the roads, or sitting +round the camp fire, on their way to the various "feasts" or harvest +festivals. "Have you got the old gipsy blood in your veins?" I asked the +other day of a gang I met on their way to Quenington feast "Always +gipsies, ever since we can remember," was the reply. Fathers, +grandfathers were just the same,--always living in the open air, winter +and summer, and always moving about with the vans. In the winter hawking +is their occupation. "Oh no! they never felt the cold in winter; they +could light the fire in the van if they wanted it."</p> + +<p>Although many of the farmers here have given up treating their men to a +spread after the harvest is gathered in, there is still a certain amount +of rejoicing. The villagers have a little money over from extra pay +during the harvest, so that the gipsies do not do badly by going the +round of the villages at this time. The village churches are decorated +in a very delightful manner for these feasts: such huge apples, carrots, +and turnips in the windows and strewn about in odd places; lots of +golden barley all round the pulpit and the font; and perhaps there will +be bunches of grapes, such as grow wild on the cottage walls, hung round +the pulpit. Then what could look prettier against the white carved stone +than the russet and gold leaves of the Virginia creeper? and these they +freely use in the decorations. If one wants to see good taste displayed +in these days, one must go to simple country places to find it. At +Christmas the old Gothic fane is hung with festoons of ivy and of yew in +the old fashion of our forefathers.</p> + +<p>I paid a visit to my old friend John Brown the other day, as I thought +he would be able to tell me something about the harvest feasts of bygone +days. He is a dear old man of some seventy-eight summers, though +somewhat of the <i>laudator temporis acti</i> school; but what good-nature +and sense of humour there is in the good, honest face!</p> + +<p>"Fifty year ago 'twere all mirth and jollity," he replied to our enquiry +as to the old times. "There was four feasts in the year for us folk. +First of all there was the sower's feast,--that would be about the end +of April; then came the sheep-shearer's feast,--there'd be about fifteen +of us as would sit down after sheep-shearing, and we'd be singing best +part of the night, and plenty to eat and drink; next came the feast for +the reapers, when the corn was cut about August; and, last of all, the +harvest home in September. Ah! those were good times fifty years ago. My +father and I have rented this cottage eighty-six years come Michaelmas; +and my father's grandfather lived in that 'ere housen, up that 'tuer' +there, nigh on a hundred years afore that. I planted them ash trees in +the grove, and I mind when those firs was put in, near seventy years +ago. Ah! there <i>was</i> some foxes about in those days; trout, too, in the +'bruk'--it were full of them. You'll have very few 'lets' for hunting +this season; 'twill be a mild time again. Last night were Hollandtide +eve, and where the wind is at Hollandtide there it will stick best part +of the winter. I've minded it every year, and never was wrong yet The +wind is south-west to-day, and you'll have no 'lets' for hunting +this time."</p> + +<p>"Lets" appear to be hindrances to hunting in the shape of frosts. It is +an Anglo-Saxon word, seldom used nowadays, though it is found in the +dictionary; and our English Prayer Book has the words "we are sore let +and hindered in running the race," etc. Shakespeare too employs it to +signify a "check" with the hounds.</p> + +<p>As I left, and thanked John Brown for his information, he handed me a +little bit of paper, whereon was written: "to John Brown 1 day minding +the edge at the picked cloos 2s three days doto," etc. I found that this +was his little account for mending the hedge at the "picket close."</p> + +<P class=ctr> +<a href="fp-388-406.jpg"> +<img src="fp-388-406.jpg" width = "35%" alt="AN OLD-FASHION LABOURING COUPLE."> +</a><br><b>"AN OLD-FASHION LABOURING COUPLE."</b> +</P> + +<p>A fine stamp of humanity is the Cotswold labourer; and may his shadow +never grow less.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,<br> + A breath can make them, as a breath has made;<br> + But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,<br> + When once destroyed can never be supplied."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Fresh and health-giving is the breeze on the wolds in autumn, like the +driest and oldest iced champagne. In the rough grass fields tough, wiry +bents, thistles with purple flowers, and the remnants of oxeye daisies +on brittle stalks rise almost to the height of your knees. Lovely blue +bell-flowers grow in patches; golden ragwort, two sorts of field +scabious, yellow toad-flax, and occasionally some white campion remain +almost into winter. Where the grass is shorter masses of shrivelled wild +thyme may be seen. The charlock brightens the landscape with its mass of +colour among the turnips until the end of November, if the season be +fairly mild. But the hedges and trees are the glory of "the happy autumn +fields." The traveller's joy gleams in the September sunlight as the +feathery awns lengthen on its seed vessels. What could be more +beautiful! Later on it becomes the "old man's beard," and the hedges +will be white with the snowy down right up to Christmas, until the +winter frosts have once more scattered the seeds along the hedgerow. Of +a rich russet tint are the maple leaves in every copse and fence. On the +blackthorn hang the purple sloeberries, like small damsons, luscious and +covered with bloom. Tart are they to the taste, like the crab-apples +which abound in the hedges. These fruits are picked by the poor people +and made into wine. Crab-apples may be seen on the trees as late as +January. Blackberries are found in extraordinary numbers on this +limestone soil, and the hedges are full of elder-berries, as well as the +little black fruit of the privet. Add to these the red berries of the +hawthorn or the may, the hips and haws, the brown nuts and the succulent +berries of the yew, and we have an extraordinary variety of fruits and +bird food. Woodbine or wild honeysuckle may often be picked during +October as well as in the spring. By the river the trout grow darker and +more lanky day by day as the nights lengthen. The water is very, very +clear. "You might as well throw your 'at in as try to catch them," says +Tom Peregrine. The willows are gold as well as silver now, for some of +the leaves have turned; while others still show white downy backs when +the breeze ruffles them. In the garden by the brook-side the tall +willow-herbs are seeding; the pods are bursting, and the gossamer-like, +grey down--the "silver mist" of Tennyson--is conspicuous all along the +brook. The water-mint and scorpion-grasses remain far into November, and +the former scents more sweetly as the season wanes. But</p> + +<blockquote> +"Heavily hangs the broad sunflower,<br> + Over its grave in the earth so chilly;<br> + Heavily hangs the hollyhock;<br> + Heavily hangs the tiger lily."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>An old wild duck that left the garden last spring to rear her progeny in +a more secluded spot half a mile up stream has returned to us. Every +morning her ten young ones pitch down into the water in front of the +house, and remain until they are disturbed; then, with loud quacks and +tumultuous flappings, they rise in a long string and fly right away for +several miles, often returning at nightfall. Such wild birds are far +more interesting as occasional visitors to your garden than the fancy +fowl of strange shape and colouring often to be seen on ornamental +water. A teal came during the autumn of 1897 to the sanctuary in front +of the house, attracted by the decoys; she stayed six weeks with us, +taking daily exercise in the skies at an immense height, and circling +round and round. Unfortunately, when the weeds were cut, she left us, +never to return.</p> + +<p>By the end of October almost all our summer birds have left us. First of +all, in August, went the cuckoo, seeking a winter resort in the north of +Africa. The swifts were the next to go. After a brief stay of scarce +three months they disappeared as suddenly in August as they came in May. +The long-tailed swallows and the white-throated martins were with us for +six months, but about the middle of October they were no more seen. All +have gone southwards towards the Afric shore, seeking warmth and days of +endless sunshine. Gone, too, the blackcap, the redstart, and the little +fly-catcher; vanishing in the dark night, they gathered in legions and +sped across the seas. One night towards the end of September, whilst +walking in the road, I heard such a loud, rushing sound in front, beyond +a turning of the lane, that I imagined a thrashing machine was coming +round the corner among the big elm trees. But on approaching the spot, I +found the noise was nothing more nor less than the chattering and +clattering of an immense concourse of starlings. The roar of their wings +when they were disturbed in the trees could be heard half a mile away. +Although a few starlings remain round the eaves of the houses throughout +the winter, vast flocks of them assemble at this time in the fields, and +some doubtless travel southwards and westwards in search of warmer +quarters. The other evening a large flock of lapwings, or common plover, +gave a very fine display--a sort of serpentine dance to the tune of the +setting sun, all for my edification. They could not quite make up their +minds to settle on a brown ploughed field. No sooner had they touched +the ground than they would rise again with shrill cries, flash here and +flash there, faster and faster, but all in perfect time and all in +perfect order--now flying in long drawn out lines, now in battalions; +bowing here, bowing there; now they would "right about turn" and curtsey +to the sun. A thousand trained ballet dancer; could not have been in +better time. It was as if all joined hands, dressed in green and white; +for at every turn a thousand white breasts gleamed in the purple sunset. +The restless call of the birds added a peculiar charm to the scene in +the darkening twilight.</p> + +<p>Of our winter visitants that come to take the place of the summer +migrants the fieldfare is the commonest and most familiar. Ere the leaf +is off the ash and the beeches are tinged with russet and gold, flocks +of these handsome birds leave their homes in the ice-bound north, and +fly southwards to England and the sunny shores of France. Such a +<i>rara avis</i> as the grey phalarope--a wading bird like the +sandpiper--occasionally finds its way to the Cotswolds. Wild geese, +curlews, and wimbrels with sharp, snipe-like beaks, are shot +occasionally by the farmers. A few woodcocks, snipe, and wildfowl also +visit us. In the winter the short-eared owls come; they are rarer than +their long-eared relatives, who stay with us all the year. The common +barn owl, of a white, creamy colour, is the screech owl that we hear on +summer nights. Brown owls are the ones that hoot; they do not screech.</p> + +<p>Curiously enough I missed the corncrake's well-known call in the meadows +by the river in the springtime of 1897; and not one was bagged in +September by the partridge-shooters. This is the first year they have +been absent. I always looked for their pleasing croak in May by the +trout stream, and invariably shot several while partridge-shooting in +former years.</p> + +<p>The earthquake of 1895 was very severely felt in the Cotswolds. Next to +an earthquake a bad thunderstorm is the most awe inspiring of all things +to mortals. During last autumn the Cotswold district was visited by a +thunderstorm of short duration, but great severity. A gale was blowing +from the south; thunder and lightning came up from the same direction, +and, travelling at an immense speed, passed rapidly over our house about +ten p.m. The shocks became louder and louder; and whilst five or six of +us were watching the lightning from a large window in the hall, there +was a deafening report as of a dozen canons exploding simultaneously at +close quarters. At the same time a flame of blue fire of intense +brilliancy seemed to fall like a meteor a few yards in front of our +eyes. At first we were sure the house had been struck, so that the first +impulse was to rush out of doors; but the succeeding report being much +less severe, confidence was restored. The general conclusion was that a +thunderbolt had fallen, and, missing the house by a few yards, had +disappeared in the earth. A search next morning on the lawn did not +throw any light on the matter. Probably, if there was a thunderbolt, it +fell into the river; for it is well known that water is a great +conductor of the electric fluid, and thunderstorms often seem to follow +the course of a stream. The summer lightning, which kept the sky in a +blaze of light for two hours after the storm had passed away, was the +finest I remember.</p> + +<p>It is a pity mankind is so little addicted to being out of doors after +sunset. Some of the most beautiful drives and walks I have ever enjoyed +have been those taken at night. Driving out one evening from +Cirencester, the road on either side was illuminated with the fairy +lights of countless glow-worms. It is the female insect that is usually +responsible for this wonderful green signal taper; the males seldom use +it. Whereas the former is merely an apterous creeping grub, the latter +is an insect provided with wings. Flying about at night, he is guided to +his mate by the light she puts forth; and it is a peculiar +characteristic of the male glow-worm, that his eyes are so placed that +he is unable to view any object that is not immediately beneath him.</p> + +<p>It is early in summer that these wonderful lights are to be seen; June +is the best month for observing them. During July and August glow-worms +seem to migrate to warmer quarters in sheltered banks and holes, nor is +their light visible to the eye after June is out, save on very warm +evenings, and then only in a lesser degree.</p> + +<p>The glow-worms on this particular night were so numerous as to remind +one of the fireflies in the tropics. At no place are these lovely +insects more numerous and resplendent than at Kandy in Ceylon. Myriads +of them flit about in the cool evening atmosphere, giving the appearance +of countless meteors darting in different directions across the sky.</p> + +<p>In the clear Cotswold atmosphere very brilliant meteors are observable +at certain seasons of the year. Never shall I forget the strange variety +of phenomena witnessed whilst driving homewards one evening in autumn +from the railway station seven miles away. There had been a time of +stormy, unsettled weather for some weeks previously, and the +meteorological conditions were in a very disturbed state. But as I +started homewards the stars were shining brightly, whilst far away in +the western sky, beyond the rolling downs and bleak plains of the +Cotswold Hills, shone forth the strange, mysterious, zodiacal light, +towering upwards into a point among the stars, and shaped in the form of +a cone. It was the first occasion this curious, unexplained phenomenon +had ever come under my notice, and it was awe inspiring enough in +itself. But before I had gone more than two miles of my solitary +journey, great black clouds came up behind me from the south, and I knew +I was racing with the storm. Then, as "the great organ of eternity +began to play" and the ominous murmurs of distant thunder broke the +silence of the night, a stiff breeze from the south seemed to come from +behind and pass me, as if travelling quicker than my fast-trotting nag. +Like a whisper from the grave it rustled in the brown, lifeless leaves +that still lingered on the trees, making me wish I was nearer the old +house that I knew was ready to welcome me five miles on in the little +valley, nestling under the sheltering hill. And soon more clouds seemed +to spring up suddenly, north, south, east, and west, where ten minutes +before the sky had been clear and starry. And the sheet lightning began +to play over them with a continuous flow of silvery radiance, north +answering south, and east giving back to west the reflected glory of the +mighty electric fluid. But the centre of the heavens was still clear and +free from cloud, so that there yet remained a large open space in +front of me, wherein the stars shone brighter than ever. And as I +gazed forward and upward, and urged the willing horse into a +twelve-mile-an-hour trot, the open space in the heavens revealed the +glories of the finest display of fireworks I have ever seen. First of +all two or three smaller stars shot across the hemisphere and +disappeared into eternal space. But suddenly a brilliant light, like an +enormous rocket, appeared in the western sky, far above the clouds. +First it moved in a steady flight, hovering like a kestrel above us; +then, with a flash which startled me out of my wits and brought my horse +to a standstill, it rushed apparently towards us, and finally +disappeared behind the clouds. It was some time before either horse or +driver regained the nerve which had for a time forsaken them; and even +then I was inclined to attribute this wonderful meteoric shower to a +display of fireworks in a neighbouring village, so close to us had this +last rocket-like shooting star appeared to be. A meteor which is +sufficiently brilliant to frighten a horse and make him stop dead is of +rare occurrence. I was thankful when I reached home in safety that I had +not only won my race against the storm, but that I had seen no more +atmospheric phenomena of so startling a nature.</p> + +<p>In addition to the wonders of the heaven there are many other +interesting features connected with a drive or walk by the light of the +stars or the moon. A Cotswold village seen by moonlight is even more +picturesque than it is by day. The old, gabled manor houses are a +delightful picture on a cold, frosty night in winter; if most of the +rooms are lit up, they give one the idea of endless hospitality and +cheerfulness when viewed from without. To walk by a stream such as the +Coln on such a night is for the time like being in fairyland. Every eddy +and ripple is transformed into a crystal stream, sparkling with a +thousand diamonds. The sound of the waters as they gurgle and bubble +over the stones on the shallows seems for all the world like children's +voices plaintively repeating over and over again the old strain:</p> + +<blockquote> +"I chatter, chatter as I flow<br> +To join the brimming river,<br> +For men may come and men may go,<br> +But I go on for ever."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Now is the time to discover the haunts of wild duck and other shy birds +like the teal and the heron. In frosty weather many of these visitors +come and go without our being any the wiser, unless we are out at night. +Before sunrise they will be far, far away, and will probably never +return any more. Time after time we have been startled by a flight of +duck rising abruptly from the stream, in places where by day one would +never dream of looking for them. Foxes, too, may be seen within a +stone's throw of the house on a moonlight evening. They love to prowl +around on the chance of a dainty morsel, such as a fat duck or a +semi-domestic moorhen. Nor will they take any notice of you at such +a time.</p> + +<p>I made a midnight expedition once last hunting season to see that the +"earths" were properly stopped in some small coverts situated on a bleak +and lonely spot on the Cotswold Hills. On the way I had to pass close to +a large barrow. Weird indeed looked the old time-worn stone that has +stood for thousands of years at the end of this old burial mound. A +small wood close by rejoices in the name of "Deadman's Acre." The moon +was casting a ghastly light over the great moss-grown stone and the +deserted wolds. The words of Ossian rose to my lips as I wondered what +manner of men lay buried here. "We shall pass away like a dream. Our +tombs will be lost on the heath. The hunter shall not know the place of +our rest. Give us the song of other years. Let the night pass away on +the sound, and morning return with joy." Then, as the rustling wind +spoke in the lifeless leaves of the beeches, the plain seemed to be +peopled with strange phantasies--the ghosts of the heroes of old. And a +voice came back to me on the whispering breeze:</p> + +<blockquote> +"Thou, too, must share our fate; for human life is short.<br> + Soon will thy tomb be hid, and the grass grow rank on thy grave."<br><br> + + MACPHERSON'S <i>Ossian</i>.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>And sometimes when I have been up on the hills by night, and, looking +away over the broad vale stretched out below, have seen in the distance +the gliding lights of some Great Western express--a trusty +weight-carrier bearing through the darkness its precious burden of +humanity--I thought of the time when the old seas ran here. And then +there seemed to come from the direction of the old White Horse and +Wayland Smith's cave the faint murmuring sound of the "Blowing-stone" +("King Alfred's bugle-horn")--that summoner of men to arms a thousand +years ago, like the beacons of later days that "shone on Beachy Head"; +and I felt like a man standing at the prow of a mighty liner, "homeward +bound," on some fine though dark and starless evening, when no sound +breaks upon his ear but the monotonous beating of the screw and the +ceaseless flow of unfathomed waters, save that ever and anon in the far +distance the moaning foghorn sounds its note of warning; whilst as he +stands "forward" and inhales the pure health-giving salt distilled from +balmy vapours that rise everlastingly from the surface of the deep, +nothing is visible to the eye--straining westward for a glimpse of +white chalk cliffs, or eastward, perhaps, for the first peep of +dawn--save the intermittent flash from the lighthouse tower, and the +signals glowing weird and fiery that reveal in the misty darkness those +softly gliding phantasies, the ships that pass in the night.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h4>II.</h4> + +<p>In nine years out of ten autumn lingers on until the death of the old +year; then, with the advent of the new, our English winter begins +in earnest.</p> + +<p>It is Christmas Day, and so lovely is the weather that I am sitting on +the terrace watching the warm, grateful sun gradually disappearing +through the grey ash trunks in the hanging wood beyond the river. The +birds are singing with all the promise of an early spring. There is +scarcely a breath of wind stirring, and one might almost imagine it to +be April. Tom Peregrine, clad in his best Sunday homespun, passes along +his well-worn track through the rough grass beyond the water, intent on +visiting his vermin traps, or bent on some form of destruction,--for he +is never happy unless he is killing. My old friend, the one-legged cock +pheasant, who for the third year in succession has contrived to escape +our annual battue, comes up to my feet to take the bread I offer. When +he was flushed by the beaten there was no need to call "Spare him," for +with all the cunning of a veteran he towered straight into the skies +and passed over the guns out of shot. Two fantail pigeons of purest +white, sitting in a dark yew tree that overhangs the stream a hundred +yards away, make the prettiest picture in the world against the +dusky foliage.</p> + +<p>Splash!--a great brown trout rolls in the shallow water like a porpoise +in the sea. A two-pounder in this little stream makes as much fuss as a +twenty-pound salmon in the mighty Tweed.</p> + +<p>Hark! was that a lamb bleating down in old Mr. Peregrine's meadow? It +was: the first lamb, herald of the spring that is to be. May its little +life be as peaceful as this its first birthday: less stormy than the +life of that Lamb whose birth all people celebrate to-day.</p> + +<p>The rooks are cawing, and a faint cry of plover comes from the hill.</p> + +<p>Soft and grey is the winter sky, but behold! round the sun in the west +there arises a perfect solar halo, very similar to an ordinary rainbow, +but smaller in its arc and fainter in its hues of yellow and rose--a +very beautiful phenomenon, and one seldom to be seen in England. Halos +of this nature are supposed to arise from the double refraction of the +rays from the sun as the light passes through thin clouds, or from the +transmission of light through particles of ice. It lingers a full +quarter of an hour, and then dies away. Does this bode rough weather? +Surely the cruel Boreas and the frost will not come suddenly on us after +this lovely, mild Christmas! Listen to the Christmas bells ringing two +miles away at Barnsley village I we can never tire of the sound here, +for it is only on very still days that it reaches us across the wolds.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Hark! In the air, around, above,<br> + The Angelic Music soars and swells,<br> + And, in the Garden that I love<br> + I hear the sound of Christmas Bells.<br><br> + +"From hamlet, hollow, village, height,<br> + The silvery Message seems to start,<br> + And far away its notes to-night<br> + Are surging through the city's heart.<br><br> + +"Assurance clear to those who fret<br> + O'er vanished Faith and feelings fled,<br> + That not in English homes is yet<br> + Tradition dumb, or Reverence dead.<br><br> + +"Now onward floats the sacred tale,<br> + Past leafless woodlands, freezing rills;<br> + It wakes from sleep the silent vale,<br> + It skims the mere, it scales the hills;<br><br> + +"And rippling on up rings of space,<br> + Sounds faint and fainter as more high,<br> + Till mortal ear no more may trace<br> + The music homeward to the sky.<br><br> + +"To courtly roof and rustic cot<br> + Old comrades wend from far and wide;<br> + Now is the ancient feud forgot,<br> + The growing grudge is laid aside.<br><br> + +"Peace and goodwill 'twixt rich and poor!<br> + Goodwill and peace 'twixt class and class!<br> + Let old with new, let Prince with boor<br> + Send round the bowl, and drain the glass!"<br><br> + + ALFRED AUSTIN.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>I have culled these lines from the poet laureate's charming "Christmas +Carol," as they are both singularly beautiful and singularly appropriate +to our Cotswold village.</p> + +<p>I take the liberty of saying that in our little hamlet there <i>is</i> peace +and goodwill 'twixt rich and poor at Christmas-time.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Now is the ancient feud forgot,<br> + The growing grudge is laid aside."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Our humble rejoicings during this last Christmas were very similar to +those of a hundred years ago. They included a grand smoking concert at +the club, during which the mummers gave an admirable performance of +their old play, of which more anon; then a big feed for every man, +woman, and child of the hamlet (about a hundred souls) was held in the +manor house; added to which we received visits from carol singers and +musicians of all kinds to the number of seventy-two, reckoning up the +total aggregate of the different bands, all of whom were welcomed, for +Christmas comes but once a year, after all, and "the more the merrier" +should be our motto at this time. So from villages three and four miles +away came bands of children to sing the old, old songs. The brass band, +including old grey-haired men who fifty years ago with strings and +wood-wind led the psalmody at Chedworth Church, come too, and play +inside the hall. We do not brew at home nowadays. Even such +old-fashioned Conservatives as old Mr. Peregrine, senior, have at length +given up the custom, so we cannot, like Sir Roger, allow a greater +quantity of malt to our small beer at Christmas; but we take good care +to order in some four or five eighteen-gallon casks at this time. Let it +be added that we never saw any man the worse for drink in consequence +of this apparent indiscretion. But then, we have a butler of the +old school.</p> + +<p>When we held our Yuletide revels in the manor house, and the old walls +rang with the laughter and merriment of the whole hamlet (for farmers as +well as labourers honoured us), it occurred to me that the bigotphones, +which had been lying by in a cupboard for about a twelvemonth, might +amuse the company. Bigotphones, I must explain to those readers who are +uninitiated, are delightfully simple contrivances fitted with reed +mouthpieces--exact representations in mockery of the various instruments +that make up a brass band--but composed of strong cardboard, and +dependent solely on the judicious application of the human lips and the +skilful modulation of the human voice for their effect. These being +produced, an impromptu band was formed: young Peregrine seized the +bassoon, the carter took the clarionet, the shepherd the French horn, +the cowman the trombone, and, seated at the piano, I myself conducted +the orchestra. Never before have I been so astonished as I was by the +unexpected musical ability displayed. No matter what tune I struck up, +that heterogeneous orchestra played it as if they had been doing nothing +else all their lives. "The British Grenadiers," "The Eton Boating Song," +"Two Lovely Black Eyes" (solo, young Peregrine on the bassoon), "A Fine +Hunting Day,"--all and sundry were performed in perfect time and without +a false note. Singularly enough, it is very difficult for the voice to +"go flat" on the bigotphone. Then, not content with these popular songs +we inaugurated a dance. Now could be seen the beautiful and +accomplished Miss Peregrine doing the light fantastic round the stone +floor of the hall to the tune of "See me dance the polka"; then, too, +the stately Mrs. Peregrine insisted on our playing "Sir Roger de +Coverley," and it was danced with that pomp and ceremony which such +occasions alone are wont to show. None of your "kitchen lancers" for us +hamlet folk; we leave that kind of thing to the swells and nobs. Tom +Peregrine alone was baffled. Whilst his family in general were bowing +there, curtseying here, clapping hands and "passing under to the right" +in the usual "Sir Roger" style, he stood in grey homespun of the best +material (I never yet saw a Cotswold man in a vulgar chessboard suit), +and as he stood he marvelled greatly, exclaiming now and then, "Well, I +never; this is something new to be sure!" "I never saw such things in +all my life, never!" He would not dance; but, seizing one of the +bigotphones, he blew into it until I was in some anxiety lest he should +have an apoplectic fit I need scarcely say he failed to produce a +single note.</p> + +<p>Thus our Yuletide festivities passed away, all enjoying themselves +immensely, and thus was sealed the bond of fellowship and of goodwill +'twixt class and class for the coming year.</p> + +<p>Whilst the younger folks danced, the fathers of the hamlet walked on +tiptoe with fearful tread around the house, looking at the faded family +portraits. I was pleased to find that what they liked best was the +ancient armour; for said they, "Doubtless squire wore that in the old +battles hereabouts, when Oliver Cromwell was round these parts." On my +pointing out the picture of the man who built the house three hundred +years ago, they surrounded it, and gazed at the features for a great +length of time; indeed, I feared that they would never come away, so +fascinated were they by this relic of antiquity, illustrating the +ancient though simple annals of their village.</p> + +<p>I persuaded the head of our mummer troop to write out their play as it +was handed down to him by his predecessors. This he did in a fine bold +hand on four sides of foolscap. Unfortunately the literary quality of +the lines is so poor that they are hardly worth reproducing, except as a +specimen of the poetry of very early times handed down by oral +tradition. Suffice it to say that the <i>dramatis personae</i> are five in +number--viz., Father Christmas, Saint George, a Turkish Knight, the +Doctor, and an Old Woman. All are dressed in paper flimsies of various +shapes and colours. First of all enters Father Christmas.</p> + +<blockquote> +"In comes I old Father Christmas,<br> + Welcome in or welcome not,<br> + Sometimes cold and sometimes hot.<br> + I hope Father Christmas will never be forgot," etc.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Then Saint George comes in, and after a great deal of bragging he fights +the "most dreadful battle that ever was known," his adversary being the +knight "just come from Turkey-land," with the inevitable result that the +Turkish knight falls. This brings in the Doctor, who suggests the +following remedies:--</p> + +<blockquote> +"Give him a bucket of dry hot ashes to eat,<br> + Groom him down with a bezom stick,<br> + And give him a yard and a half of pump water to drink."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>For these offices he mentions that his fee is fifty guineas, but he +will take ten pounds, adding:</p> + +<blockquote> +"I can cure the itchy pitchy,<br> + Palsy, and the gout;<br> + Pains within or pains without;<br> + A broken leg or a broken arm,<br> + Or a broken limb of any sort.<br> + I cured old Mother Roundabout," etc.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>He declares that he is not one of those "quack doctors who go about from +house to house telling you more lies in one half-hour than what you can +find true in seven years."</p> + +<p>So the knight just come from Turkey-land is resuscitated and sent back +to his own country.</p> + +<p>Last of all the old woman speaks:</p> + +<blockquote> +"In comes I old Betsy Bub;<br> + On my shoulder I carry my tub,<br> + And in my hand a dripping-pan.<br> + Don't you think I'm a jolly old man?<br><br> + + Now last Christmas my father killed a fat hog,<br> + And my mother made black-puddings enough to choke a dog,<br> + And they hung them up with a pudden string<br> + Till the fat dropped out and the maggots crawled in," etc.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The mummers' play, of which the above is a very brief <i>résumé</i>, lasts +about half an hour, and includes many songs of a topical nature.</p> + +<p>Yes, Christmas is Christmas still in the heart of old England. We are +apt to talk of the good old days that are no more, lamenting the customs +and country sports that have passed away; but let us not forget that two +hundred years hence, when we who are living now will have long passed +"that bourne from which no traveller returns," our descendants, as they +sit round their hearths at Yuletide, may in the same way regret the +grand old times when good Victoria--the greatest monarch of all +ages--was Queen of England; those times when during the London season +fair ladies and gallant men might be seen on Drawing-room days driving +down St James's Street in grand carriages, drawn by magnificent horses, +with servants in cocked hats and wigs and gold lace; when the rural +villages of merrie England were cheered throughout the dreary winter +months by the sound of horse and hound, and by the sight of beautiful +ladies and red-coated sportsmen, mounted on blood horses, careering over +the country, clearing hedges and ditches of fabulous height and width; +when every man, woman, and child in the village turned out to see the +"meet," and the peer and the peasant were for the day on an equal +footing, bound together by an extraordinary devotion to the chase of +"that little red rover" which men called the fox--now, alas! extinct, as +the mammoth or the bear, owing to barbed wire and the abolition of the +horse; when to such an extent were games and sports a part of our +national life that half London flocked to see two elevens of cricketers +(including a champion "nine" feet high called Grace) fighting their +mimic battle arrayed in white flannels and curiously coloured caps, at a +place called Lords, the exact site of which is now, alas I lost in the +sea of houses; when as an absolute fact the first news men turned to on +opening their daily papers in the morning was the column devoted to +cricket, football, or horse-racing; when in the good old days, before +electricity and the motor-car caused the finest specimen of the brute +creation to become virtually extinct (although a few may still be seen +at the Zoological Gardens), horse-racing for a cup and a small fortune +in gold was only second to cricket and football in the estimation of all +merrie Englanders--the only races now indulged in being those of flying +machines to Mars and back twice a day. Two hundred years hence, I say, +the Victorian era--time of blessed peace and unexampled prosperity--will +be pronounced by all unprejudiced judges as the true days of merrie +England. Let us, then, though not unmindful of the past, pin our faith +firmly on the present and the future. <i>Carpe diem</i> should be our motto +in these fleeting times, and, above all, progress, not retrogression. +Let us, as the old, old sound of the village bells comes to us over the +rolling downs this New Year's eve, recall to mind</p> + +<blockquote> + ".... the primal sympathy<br> +Which having been must ever be."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Let our hearts warm to the battle cry of advancing civilisation and the +attainment of the ideal humanity, soaring upwards step by step, +re-echoing the prayer contained in those lilting stanzas with which +Tennyson greets the New Year:</p> + +<blockquote> +"Ring out the old, ring in the new;<br> + Ring happy bells across the snow:<br> + The year is going, let him go;<br> + Ring out the false, ring in the true.<br><br> + +"Ring out the grief that saps the mind,<br> + For those that here we see no more<br> + Ring out the feud of rich and poor,<br> + Ring in redress to all mankind.<br><br> + +"Ring out false pride in place and blood,<br> + The civic slander and the spite;<br> + Ring in the love of truth and right;<br> + Ring in the common love of good.<br><br> + +"Ring out old shapes of foul disease;<br> + Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;<br> + Ring out the thousand wars of old,<br> + Ring in the thousand years of peace.<br><br> + +"Ring in the valiant man and free,<br> + The larger heart, the kindlier hand;<br> + Ring out the darkness of the land.<br> + Ring in the Christ that is to be."<br> +</blockquote> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII."></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN.</h3> + +<blockquote> +"I saw Eternity the other night<br> + Like a great ring of pure and endless light,<br> + All calm, as it was bright:--<br> + And round beneath it, time in hours, days, years,<br> + Driven by the spheres,<br> + Like a vast shadow moved, in which the world<br> + And all her train were hurl'd."<br><br> + + HENRY VAUGHAN.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It is the end of May; a bright, rainless, and at times bitterly cold +month it has been. But now the chill east wind has almost died away. +Summer has come at last. Once more I am making for the Downs. Very +seldom am I there at this period of the year; but before going away for +several months, I bethought me that I would go and inspect the +improvements at the fox-covert, stopping on my way at the "Jubilee" +gorse covert we lately planted, to see if there is a litter of cubs +there this year. Across the fields we go, ankle deep in buttercups and +clover at one moment, then up the hedge to avoid treading the half-grown +barley. We are so accustomed to take a bee-line across these shooting +grounds of ours that we quite forget that the farmer would not thank us +for trampling down his crops at the end of May. But soon we are on the +Downs, well out of harm's way and far removed from highroads and +footpaths. What a glorious panorama lies all around! Why do we not come +here oftener in summer?--the country is ten times more lovely then than +it is in the shooting season. A field of sainfoin in June, with its +glorious blossoms of pink, is one of the prettiest sights in all +creation. Seen in the distance, amid a setting of green wheatfields and +verdant pastures, it ripples in the garish light of the summer sun like +a lake of rubies.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Land and sea<br> + Give themselves up to jollity;<br> + And with the heart of May<br> + Doth every beast keep holiday."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Ah! there will be lots of foxes when the hounds come to the fox-covert +next October. The unpleasant smell at the mouth of the earth tells us +that there are cubs there; and as we stand over it we can hear them +playing down below in the bowels of mother earth. Very distinct, too, +are the tracks--<i>traffic</i>, the keeper calls them--leading by sundry +well-trodden paths to the dell below--a nice sunny dell, facing +south-west, where in spring the violets and primroses grow among the +spreading elder. These cubs were not born here. Their mother brought +them from an old hollow stump of a tree by the river, half a mile away. +When she found her lair discovered by an angler who happened to pass +that way, she brought them across the river by the narrow footbridge +right up here on to the hill. The cubs from the tree have disappeared, +so no doubt these are the ones. Well, there are lots of rabbits for +them; the little fellows are popping about all over the place.</p> + +<p>How tame all wild animals become in the summer!--all except the ones we +want to circumvent--magpies, jays, stoats, and such small deer. Lapwings +fly round us, crying restlessly, "Go away, go away!" Their shrill treble +accents remind one of a baby's squall. Pigeons and ringdoves, partridges +and hares seem to be plentiful "as blackberries in September." A +gorgeous cock pheasant crows and jumps up close to us, followed by his +mate. This is a pleasing sight up here, for they are wild birds. There +has been no rearing done in these copses on the hills within the +memory of man.</p> + +<p>Tom Peregrine suddenly appears out of a hedge, where he has been +watching the antics of the cubs at the mouth of the fox-earth. He has +grown very serious of late, and tells you repeatedly that there is going +to be another big European war shortly. Let us hope his gloomy +forebodings are doomed to disappointment. Surely, surely at the end of +this marvellous nineteenth century, when there are so many men in the +world who have learnt the difficult lessons of life in a way that they +have never been learnt before, nations are no longer obliged to behave +like children, or worse still, with their petty jealousies and +bickerings and growlings, "like dogs that delight to bark and bite."</p> + +<p>Tom Peregrine, having done but little work for many months, is now +making himself really useful, for a change, by copying out parts of this +great work; and, to do him justice, he writes a capital, clear hand. He +is very anxious to become secretary to "some great gentleman," he says. +If any of my readers require a sporting secretary, I can confidently +recommend him as a man of "plain sense rather than of much learning, of +a sociable temper, and one that understands a little of backgammon." +There is no fear of his "insulting you with Latin and Greek at your own +table." He would have suited Sir Roger capitally for a chaplain, I often +tell him; and though he hasn't a notion who Sir Roger may be, he +thoroughly enjoys the joke.</p> + +<p>The fox-covert presents a strange appearance. It is full of young spruce +trees, and the lower branches have been lopped down, but not cut through +or killed. Under each tree there is now a grand hiding-place for foxes +and rabbits--a sort of big umbrella turned topsy-turvy. The rabbits +appreciate the pains we have been at; but I fear the foxes, for whom it +was intended, at present look on the shelter with suspicion. They +dislike the gum which oozes continually from the gashes in the bark; it +sticks to their coats, and gives an unpleasant sensation when they +roll. They cannot keep their beautiful coats sleek and glossy, as is +their invariable rule, as long as their is any gum sticking to them.</p> + +<p>How clearly we can see the Swindon Hills in the bright evening +atmosphere! They must be more than twenty miles away. The grand old +White Horse, making the spot where long, long ago the Danes were +vanquished in fight, is not visible; but he is scarcely to be seen at +all now, as the lazy Berkshire people have neglected their duty. He +really must be scoured again this summer; he is a national institution. +Londoners take a much greater interest in him than do the honest folk +who live bang under his nose.</p> + +<p>We must continue our excavations at Ladbarrow copse yonder. Men say it +is the largest barrow in the county, full of "golden coffins" and all +sorts of priceless antiquities! At present all we have discovered are +some bones, with which we stuffed our pockets. When we arrived home, +however, they were found to have belonged to a poor old sheep-dog that +was buried there. But see! the setting sun is tinging the tops of the +slender, shapely ash trees in yonder emerald copse. The whole plain is +changing from a vast arena of golden splendour to a mysterious shadowy +land of dreams. A fierce light still reveals every object on the hill +towards the east; but westwards beneath yon purple ridge all is wrapped +in dim, ambiguous shade.</p> + +<p>It is sad to think that I alone of mortal men should be here to see this +glorious panorama. It seems such a waste of nature's bounteous store +that night after night this wondrous spectacle should be solemnly +displayed, with no better gallery than a stray shepherd, who, as he +"homeward plods his weary way," cares little for the grand drama that is +being performed entirely for his benefit. Nature is indeed prodigal of +her charms in out-of-the-way country places.</p> + +<p>Sometimes whilst walking over these remote fields on summer evenings, I +have stopped to ask myself this question: Is it possible that these +exquisite wild flowers, these groves and dells of verdant tracery, these +birds with their priceless music, and these wondrous, ineffable effects +of light and shade which form part of the everyday pageant of English +rural scenery are doomed "to waste their sweetness on the desert air"? +Is it possible (to go further afield) that those lovely scenes in +Wales--the fairy glens near Bettws-y-Coed, or the luxuriant valleys of +Carmarthen, further south, where silvery Towey flows below the stately +ruins of Dynevor Castle; those romantic reaches on the Wye, from +Chepstow to the frowning hills of Brecon; those solitary, but +unspeakably grand, mountains and passes of the Highlands, such as +Glencoe, Ben Nevis, or those of the scarcely explored Hebrides; those +smiling waters of the lovely Trossachs; those countless spots in the +"Emerald Isle" that the tourist has never seen, whether in fertile +Wicklow or among the whispering woods and weird waters of the west; +those gorgeous forests of Ceylon; those interminable jungles of the +beautiful East, with their unknown depths of tropical splendour;--is it +possible that these scenes of wondrous beauty are inhabited and enjoyed +by nothing more than is visible to our limited mortal gaze?</p> + +<p>I believed, as a boy, and with a romance still unsubdued by time I would +yet fain believe, that when the soul of man escapes from the poor +tenement of clay in which it has been pent up for some threescore years +and ten, it has not far to go. I would fain believe that heaven is not +only above us, but, in some form or other entirely beyond our mortal +ken, all around us, in every beautiful thing we see; that these hills +and vales, these woods of delicately wrought fan-tracery groining, these +mazes of golden light when the sun goes down, are peopled not alone by +human flesh and blood. "There are also terrestrial bodies, and bodies +celestial. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the +terrestrial is another."</p> + +<p>Who can imagine the shape or form of the immortal soul? As I walked over +those golden fields to-night it seemed as if there were spirits all +around me--glorious, bright spirits of the dead--invisible, intangible, +like rays of pure light, in the clear atmosphere of those Elysian +fields. I cannot but believe that there arise from the secret parts of +this beautiful earth, at dawn of day and at eventide, other voices +besides the ineffable songs of birds, the rustling murmurs that whisper +in the woods, and the plaintive babbling of the brooks--hymns of unknown +depths of harmony, impossible to describe, because impossible to +imagine--crying night and day: "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and +power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for +ever and ever."</p> + +<p>Yes, dear reader,</p> + +<blockquote> + "Though inland far we be,<br> +Our souls have sight of that immortal sea<br> + Which brought us hither."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>When the sun goes down, if you will turn for a little while from the +noise and clamour of the busy world, you shall list to those voices +ringing, ringing in your ears. Words of comfort shall you hear at +eventide, "and sorrow and sadness shall be no more,"--even though, as +the years roll on, perforce you cry, with Wordsworth:</p> + +<blockquote> +"What though the radiance which was once so bright<br> + Be now for ever taken from my sight,<br> + Though nothing can bring back the hour<br> + Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower,<br> + We will grieve not, rather find<br> + Strength in what remains behind;<br> + In the primal sympathy<br> + Which having been must ever be;<br> + In the soothing thoughts that spring<br> + Out of human suffering;<br> + In the faith that looks through death,<br> + In years that bring the philosophic mind."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>THE END.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="APPENDIX."></a>APPENDIX.</h2> + +<h3>GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN.</h3> + +<p>(<i>Note from the papers of the Gloucestershire Society</i>)</p> + +<p>It is now generally understood that the words of this song have a hidden +meaning which was only known to the members of the Gloucestershire +Society, whose foundation dates from the year 1657. This was three years +before the restoration of Charles II. and when the people were growing +weary of the rule of Oliver Cromwell. The Society consisted of +Loyalists, whose object in combining was to be prepared to aid in the +restoration of the ancient constitution of the kingdom whenever a +favourable opportunity should present itself. The Cavalier or Royalist +party were supported by the Roman Catholics of the old and influential +families of the kingdom; and some of the Dissenters, who were disgusted +with the treatment they received from Cromwell, occasionally lent them a +kind of passive aid. Taking these considerations as the keynote to the +song, attempts have been made to discover the meaning which was +originally attached to its leading words. It is difficult at the present +time to give a clear explanation of all its points. The following, +however, is consistent throughout, and is, we believe, correct:--</p> + +<blockquote> +"The stwuns that built Gaarge Ridler's oven,<br> + And thauy qeum from the Bleakeney's Quaar;<br> + And Gaarge he wur a jolly ould mon,<br> + And his yead it graw'd above his yare."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>By "George Ridler" was meant King Charles I. The "oven" was the Cavalier +party. The "stwuns" which built the oven, and which "came out of the +Blakeney Quaar," were the immediate followers of the Marquis of +Worcester, who held out to the last steadfastly for the royal cause at +Raglan Castle, which was not surrendered till 1646, and was, in fact, +the last stronghold retained for the king. "His head did grow above his +hair" was an allusion to the crown, the head of the State, and which the +king wore "above his hair."</p> + +<blockquote> +"One thing of Gaarge Ridler's I must commend,<br> + And that wur vor a notable theng;<br> + He mead his braags avoore he died,<br> + Wi' any dree brothers his zons zshou'd zeng."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>This meant that the king, "before he died," boasted that notwithstanding +his present adversity, the ancient constitution of the kingdom was so +good and its vitality so great that it would surpass and outlive any +other form of government, whether republican, despotic, or protective.</p> + +<blockquote> +"There's Dick the treble and John the mean<br> + (Let every mon zing in his auwn pleace);<br> + And Gaarge he wur the elder brother,<br> + And therevoore he would zing the beass."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>"Dick the treble, Jack the mean, and George the bass" meant the three +parts of the British constitution--King, Lords, and Commons. The +injunction to "let every man sing in his own place" was intended as a +warning to each of the three estates of the realm to preserve its proper +position and not to attempt to encroach on each other's prerogative.</p> + +<blockquote> +"Mine hostess's moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell),<br> + A pretty wench, and I lov'd her well;<br> + I lov'd her well--good reauzon why,<br> + Because zshe lov'd my dog and I."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>"Mine hostess's moid" was an allusion to the queen, who was a Roman +Catholic; and her maid, the Church. The singer, we must suppose, was one +of the leaders of the party, and his "dog" a companion or faithful +official of the Society; and the song was sung on occasions when the +members met together socially: and thus, as the Roman Catholics were +Royalists, the allusion to the mutual attachment between the "maid" and +"my dog and I" is plain and consistent.</p> + +<blockquote> +"My dog has gotten zitch a trick<br> + To visit moids when thauy be zick;<br> + When thauy be zick and like to die,<br> + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The "dog"--that is, the official or devoted member of the Society--had +"a trick of visiting maids when they were sick." The meaning here was +that when any of the members were in distress, or desponding, or likely +to give up the royal cause in despair, the officials or active members +visited, consoled, and assisted them.</p> + +<blockquote> +"My dog is good to catch a hen,--<br> + A duck and goose is vood vor men;<br> + And where good company I spy,<br> + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The "dog," the official or agent of the Society, was "good to catch a +hen," a "duck," or a "goose"--that is, any who were well affected to the +royal cause of whatever party; wherever "good company I spy, Oh, thither +go my dog and I"--to enlist members into the Society.</p> + +<blockquote> +"My mwother told I when I wur young,<br> + If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot,<br> + That drenk would pruv my auverdrow,<br> + And meauk me wear a thzreadbare cwoat."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>"The good ale-tap" was an allusion, under cover of a similarity in the +sound of the words "ale" and "aisle," to the Church, of which it was +dangerous at that time to be an avowed follower, and so the members were +cautioned that indiscretion would lead to their discovery and +"overthrow."</p> + +<blockquote> +"When I hev dree zixpences under my thumb,<br> + Oh, then I be welcome wherever I qeum<br> + But when I have none, oh, then I pass by,--<br> + 'Tis poverty pearts good company."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>The allusion here is to those unfaithful supporters of the royal cause +who "welcomed" the members of the Society when it appeared to be +prospering, but "parted" from them in adversity, probably referring +ironically to those lukewarm and changeable Dissenters who veered about, +for and against, as Cromwell favoured or contemned them. Such could +always be had wherever there were "three sixpence-under the thumb"; but +"poverty" easily parted such "good company."</p> + +<blockquote> +"When I gwoes dead, as it may hap,<br> + My greauve shall be under the good yeal tap;<br> + In vouled earmes there wool us lie,<br> + Cheek by jowl, my dog and I."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>"If I should die," etc.--an expression of the singer's wish that if he +should die he may be buried with his faithful companion (as representing +the principles of the Society) under the good aisles of the church, thus +evincing his loyalty and attachment to the good old constitution and to +Church and king even in death.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + +<p>Abbey, Edwin<br> +Ablington Manor<br> +Acman Street<br> +Aethelhum, the Saxon<br> +Agriculture<br> +Alder tree<br> +Aldsworth and Oliver Cromwell<br> +Alfred, King<br> +Amphitheatre, Roman<br> +Ampney Park<br> +Angelus, the<br> +Antiquity, charm of<br> +<i>Arbor Diana</i><br> +Architecture, Elizabethan<br> +Aristotle<br> +Arlington Row<br> +Artificial fox-earths<br> +Austin, Alfred</p> + +<p>Badgers<br> +Bampton-in-the-Bush<br> +Barnby, Joseph<br> +Barns, tithe<br> +Barometer<br> +Barrows, ancient<br> +Bathurst family<br> +Bathurst, Lord<br> +Battues<br> +Bazley, Sir Thomas<br> +Bettws-y-Coed<br> +Bibury Races<br> +Bibury village<br> +Bigotphones<br> +Blowing-stone, the<br> +Bourton-on-the-Water<br> +Bowly, Mrs. Christopher<br> +Brassey, Albert, M.F.H.<br> +Braydon Forest<br> +Bromley-Davenport, W.<br> +Buckland, Frank<br> +Bull-ring, Roman<br> +Burford<br> +Burton on the Cotswolds</p> + +<p>Cadge for hawks<br> +Caesar, Julius<br> +Camps, ancient British<br> +Carlyle, Thomas<br> +Cassey-Compton Manor House<br> +Caves, prehistoric<br> +Characters, village<br> +Charles I.<br> +Charles II.<br> +Charlock<br> +Chaucer<br> +Chavenage<br> +Chedworth<br> +Chepstow, the Wye at<br> +Chiltern Hills<br> +Chivalry, ancient<br> +Choirs, village<br> +"Christmas Carol," Austin's<br> +Christmas festivities<br> +Church ales<br> +Churchwardens<br> +Cirencester<br> +Civil Wars<br> +Clarendon on Falkland<br> +Climate of the Cotswolds<br> +Coats-of-arms<br> +Coffins, old stone<br> +Coln, River<br> +Coln-St.-Aldwyns<br> +Coln-St.-Dennis<br> +Conyger wood<br> +Corinium Museum<br> +Corncrakes, disappearance of<br> +Coulson, Colonel, his trap<br> +County cricket<br> +Coursing on the Cotswolds<br> +Cray-fish<br> +Creswell family<br> +Cricket pitch, how to improve<br> +Cricket, prehistoric<br> +Cricket, the game of<br> +Cripps, Wilfred, C.B.<br> +Crosses, wayside<br> +Cub-hunting<br> +Cubs, fox<br> +Cudgel-playing, old-fashioned<br> +Curlews<br> +Cushats</p> + +<p>Deadman's Acre<br> +Deerhounds, Scotch<br> +De Quincey<br> +Derby Day on the Coln<br> +De Vere, Aubrey<br> +Dew<br> +Dew-point<br> +Dialect, Cotswold<br> +Dickens, Charles, on cricket<br> +Dogs<br> +Downs, the mystery of the<br> +Dream, Shakespeare's<br> +Dress, simplicity in<br> +Drayton, Michael<br> +Dry-fly fishing<br> +Ducks, wild<br> +Duleep Singh at Hatherop<br> +Dun, olive<br> +Dürer, Albert</p> + +<p>Earthquake of 1895<br> +Earths for foxes<br> +<i>Écrevisse</i><br> +Eel, curious capture of<br> +Elder tree<br> +Eldon, Lord<br> +"Elegy," Gray's<br> +Elizabeth, Queen, at Burford<br> +Elms<br> +"England, Merrie"<br> +Escutcheons<br> +Evening fishing<br> +Excursion, Roger Plowman's</p> + +<p>Fairwood<br> +Falconry, the art of<br> +Falkland, Lord, at Burford<br> +Farmers, Cotswold<br> +Feasts, ancient<br> +Ferns growing on ash tree<br> +Fieldfare, return of the<br> +Field names<br> +Firr, Tom<br> +Flails, old-fashioned<br> +Flanders mares<br> +Flies, artificial<br> +Flocks of lapwings<br> +Flowers, wild<br> +Fly-catcher, the<br> +"Flying Dutchman"<br> +Forest, Braydon<br> +Forest, Savernake<br> +Fossbridge<br> +Fosseway<br> +Fox-earths<br> +Foxes<br> +Fozbrooke<br> +Free Foresters' Cricket Club + +<p>Galway nags<br> +Gamekeeper, the<br> +Gannet<br> +Garden, an old<br> +Garne of Aldsworth<br> +Geese, wild<br> +"George Ridler's Oven"<br> +Gilbert White<br> +Gilpin, John<br> +Gipsies<br> +Gloucestershire dialect<br> +Glow-worms<br> +Goethe (quoted)<br> +Golf greens, treatment of<br> +Gothic architecture<br> +Grace, W.G.<br> +Grasshoppers, Burke on<br> +Gray's "Elegy"<br> +Green-drake<br> +Greyhound fox<br> +Grounds, treatment of cricket<br> +Gwynne, Nell, at Bibury Races</p> + +<p>Hall, King Alfred's<br> +Hallam, Arthur<br> +Halo, solar<br> +Hamilton, Sir William Rowan<br> +Hangman's Stone, origin of<br> +Hard riders<br> +Hares<br> +Harvest home<br> +Hawking described<br> +Hawks<br> +Hedgehogs<br> +Henry VIII.<br> +Heraldry<br> +Herbs<br> +Herons<br> +Hicks-Beach, Right Hon. Sir Michael<br> +Hic-wall or heckle<br> +Hill, White Horse<br> +Hills, Jem<br> +Hobbs of Maiseyhampton<br> +Horse, description of<br> +Horse for the Cotswolds<br> +Hounds, Badminton<br> +Hounds, Bombay<br> +Hounds, Heythrop<br> +Hounds, Lord Bathurst's<br> +Hounds, Mr. T.B. Miller's<br> +Hounds, Shakespeare on<br> +Hunting, fox-<br> +Hunting poem<br> +Hunting, stag-, in olden times<br> +Huntsman, a good<br> +Hygrometer<br> +Hymns<br> +Hypocaust, Roman</p> + +<p>Icknield Street<br> +Implements, old stone<br> +Inscribed stones (Roman)<br> +Inscription on porch of manor house<br> +Irmin Way<br> +Irving, Washington (quoted)<br> +Isaac Walton</p> + +<p>Jansen, Cornelius, painter<br> +Jefferies, Richard<br> +Johnson, Dr.<br> +Joyce on Fairford windows</p> + +<p>Keble, John, at Fairford<br> +Kelmscott<br> +Kemble<br> +Kestrel<br> +Kingfishers<br> +Kingmaker, the<br> +Kipling, Rudyard<br> +Kite, artificial<br> +Knights Templar</p> + +<p>Labourers, Cotswold<br> +Lapwings<br> +Larder, vixen's<br> +Leland<br> +Lenthall, Speaker<br> +Leslie, G.<br> +Limestone quarries,<br> +Llewelyn, W. Dillwyn<br> +Loam, use of clay or</p> + +<p>Macomber Falls<br> +Macpherson and Ossian<br> +Madden, Right Hon. D.H.<br> +Magpies<br> +Mallard, a pugnacious<br> +Manor parchments<br> +Manuscript, an ancient<br> +Marsh-harrier<br> +Marsh-marigold<br> +Master, Chester, family of<br> +Maxwell, Sir Herbert<br> +May flies<br> +May-fly season<br> +"Merrie England"<br> +Meteor, a large<br> +Miller, T.B., M.F.H.<br> +Miller, the village<br> +Monk, W.J., on Burford<br> +Moorhens, habits of<br> +Mop, Cirencester<br> +Moreton-in-the-Marsh<br> +Morris, William<br> +Mounds, ancient burial<br> +Mummers' play<br> +Museums, Roman<br> +Musicians, old village</p> + +<p>Natal, scenery of<br> +Nest, kingfisher's<br> +Netting trout<br> +Newton, Isaac<br> +Nightjar or goatsucker<br> +Night on the hills<br> +Nimrod on Bibury Races<br> +<i>Noblesse oblige</i><br> +Northleach</p> + +<p>Oak, old<br> +Oliver Cromwell<br> +Oman's discovery<br> +Ossian<br> +"Oven, George Ridler's"<br> +Owls<br> +Oxen, ploughing with</p> + +<p>Partridges<br> +"Parvise," the<br> +Pavements, Roman<br> +Penance at Burford<br> +Peregrine falcons<br> +Peregrine, Thomas, keeper<br> +Pheasants<br> +Pigeon-shooting<br> +Playing-fields, Eton<br> +Pliny<br> +"Plestor," the<br> +Ploughing with oxen<br> +Plover, common<br> +Plover, golden<br> +Plowman, Roger, goes to London<br> +Poachers, scarcity of<br> +Poges, Stoke<br> +Political meetings<br> +Politicians, village<br> +Pope at Cirencester<br> +Pottery, Roman<br> +Prehistoric cricket<br> +Prehistoric relics<br> +Prescription, an excellent<br> +Proverbs, Gloucestershire<br> +Puffin</p> + +<p>Quack, the village<br> +Quails<br> +Quarries, limestone<br> +Quenington<br> +Querns, the</p> + +<p>Races, Bibury<br> +Ramparts, ancient<br> +Ready Token<br> +Retrievers<br> +Riders, good<br> +Riding, hard<br> +Roads, limestone<br> +Roger de Coverley, Sir<br> +Roman remains<br> +Rookery, the<br> +Rupert, Prince<br> +Ruskin, John</p> + +<p>Sainfoin<br> +Sargent, J.<br> +Savernake<br> +Scent of foxes<br> +Scotch deerhound<br> +Scott, Lady Margaret<br> +Scouring the White Horse<br> +Shakespeare on the Cotswolds<br> +Sheep, Cotswold<br> +Sheep-washing<br> +Sherborne House<br> +Sherborne, Lord<br> +Shooting, covert-<br> +Sly, Isaac<br> +Snake eaten by trout<br> +Snipe<br> +Solan goose<br> +Solar halo<br> +Songs, Gloucestershire<br> +South Africa, wolds of<br> +Sparrow-club<br> +Spawn-beds of trout<br> +<i>Spectator</i>, the<br> +Sportsman, definition of a good<br> +Spring flowers<br> +Springs, Cotswold<br> +Squirrels<br> +Stag-hunting, wild<br> +Stage-coach<br> +Stoats<br> +Stone age, relics of<br> +Stowell<br> +Stow-on-the-Wold<br> +Sunsets described<br> +Swans</p> + +<p>Tame, John<br> +Tanfield family<br> +Teal<br> +Tennyson<br> +Terrier, fox-<br> +Tesselated pavements<br> +Thames<br> +Thrashing<br> +Thrush, song of<br> +Tiercel-gentle<br> +Tithe<br> +Tithe barns<br> +"Tolsey," the<br> +Traps, vermin<br> +Travess, Charles<br> +Trees, beauty of ash<br> +Trossachs, the<br> +Trout eating snake<br> +Trout, habits of<br> +"Tuer," a<br> +Turnip hower, the</p> + +<p>Umpires, village<br> +Uncertainty, charm of<br> +Urns, sepulchral</p> + +<p>Vale, Berkshire<br> +Vale of White Horse Hounds<br> +Valley, Coln<br> +Valley, Thames<br> +Victorian Era<br> +Voles, water</p> + +<p>Waller's pictures<br> +Walnut tree in spring<br> +Warwick, the kingmaker<br> +Wasps, a plague of<br> +Watercress<br> +Wayside crosses<br> +Weasels<br> +Westbury White Horse<br> +Wharfe, River<br> +White Horse Hill<br> +Whitsun ale<br> +Whitsuntide sports<br> +Whyte-Melville<br> +Wildfowl<br> +Williamstrip<br> +Wimbrels<br> +Windrush, River<br> +Wines, home-made<br> +Winson village<br> +Woodpeckers<br> +Wood-pigeons<br> +Wordsworth<br> +Wren, Christopher</p> + +<p>Yaffel<br> +Yuletide</p> + +<p>Zingari Cricket Club<br> +Zodiacal light</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Cotswold Village, by J. 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Arthur Gibbs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Cotswold Village + +Author: J. Arthur Gibbs + +Release Date: February 19, 2004 [EBook #11160] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COTSWOLD VILLAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Morgan, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: _Photo, W. Shawncross, Guildford_.] + +[_Frontispiece_. J. ARTHUR GIBBS.] + + + + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE + +OR COUNTRY LIFE AND PURSUITS IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE + +BY J. ARTHUR GIBBS + + "Go, little booke; God send thee good passage, + And specially let this be thy prayere + Unto them all that thee will read or hear, + Where thou art wrong after their help to call, + Thee to correct in any part or all." + + GEOFFREY CHAUCER. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + +1918 + + + + +PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION + + +Before the third edition of this work had been published the author +passed away, from sudden failure of the heart, at the early age of +thirty-one. Two or three biographical notices, written by those who +highly appreciated him and who deeply mourn his loss, have already +appeared in the newspapers; and I therefore wish to add only a few words +about one whose kind smile of welcome will greet us no more in +this life. + +Joseph Arthur Gibbs was one of those rare natures who combine a love of +outdoor life, cricket and sport of every kind, with a refined and +scholarly taste for literature. He had, like his father, a keen +observation for every detail in nature; and from a habit of patient +watchfulness he acquired great knowledge of natural history. From his +grandfather, the late Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, he inherited his taste +for literary work and the deep poetical feeling which are revealed so +clearly in his book. On leaving Eton, he wrote a _Vale_, of which his +tutor, Mr. Luxmoore, expressed his high appreciation; and later on, +when, after leaving Oxford, he was living a quiet country life, he +devoted himself to literary pursuits. + +He was not, however, so engrossed in his work as to ignore other duties; +and he was especially interested in the villagers round his home, and +ever ready to give what is of greater value than money, personal trouble +and time in finding out their wants and in relieving them. His unvarying +kindness and sympathy will never be forgotten at Ablington; for, as one +of the villagers wrote in a letter of condolence on hearing of his +death, "he went in and out as a friend among them." With all his +tenderness of heart, he had a strict sense of justice and a clear +judgment, and weighed carefully both sides of any question before he +gave his verdict. + +Arthur Gibbs went abroad at the end of March 1899 for a month's trip to +Italy, and in his Journal he wrote many good descriptions of scenery and +of the old towns; and the way in which he describes his last glimpse of +Florence during a glorious sunset shows how greatly he appreciated its +beauty. In his Journal in April he dwells on the shortness of life, and +in the following solemn words he sounds a warning note:-- + +"Do not neglect the creeping hours of time: 'the night cometh when no +man can work.' All time is wasted unless spent in work for God. The best +secular way of spending the precious thing that men call time is by +making always for some grand end--a great book, to show forth the +wonders of creation and the infinite goodness of the Creator. You must +influence for _good_ if you write, and write nothing that you will +regret some day or think trivial." + +These words, written a month before the end came, tell their own tale. +The writer of them had a deep love for all things that are "lovely, +pure, and of good report"; and in his book one sees clearly the +adoration he felt for that God whom he so faithfully served. There are +many different kinds of work in this world, and diversities of gifts; to +him was given the spirit to discern the work of God in Nature's glory, +and the power to win others to see it also. He had a remarkable +influence for good at Oxford, and the letters from his numerous friends +and from his former tutor at Christ Church show that this influence has +never been forgotten, but has left its mark not only on his college, but +on the university. + +Like his namesake and relative, Arthur Hallam, of immortal memory, +Arthur Gibbs had attained to a purity of soul and a wisdom which were +not of this world, at an earlier age than is given to many men; and so +in love and faith and hope-- + + "I would the great world grew like thee, + Who grewest not alone in power + And knowledge; but by year and hour + In reverence and charity." + + LAURA BEATRICE GIBBS. + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + +To those of my readers who have ever lived beside a stream, or in an +ancient house or time-honoured college, there will always be a peculiar +charm in silvery waters sparkling beneath the summer sun. To you the +Gothic building, with its carved pinnacles, its warped gables, its +mullioned casements and dormer windows, the old oak within, the very +inglenook by the great fireplace where the old folks used to sit at +home, the ivy trailing round the grey walls, the jessamine, roses, and +clematis that in their proper seasons clustered round the porch,--to you +all these things will have their charm as long as you live. Therefore, +if these pages appeal not to some such, it will not be the subject that +is wanting, but the ability of the writer. + +It is not claimed for my Cotswold village that it is one whit prettier +or pleasanter or better in any way than hundreds of other villages in +England; I seek only to record the simple annals of a quiet, +old-fashioned Gloucestershire hamlet and the country within walking +distance of it. Nor do I doubt that there are manor houses far more +beautiful and far richer in history even within a twenty-mile radius of +my own home. For instance, the ancient house of Chavenage by Tetbury, or +in the opposite direction, where the northern escarpments of the +Cotswolds rise out of the beautiful Evesham Vale, those historic +mediaeval houses of Southam and Postlip. + +It is often said that in books like these we paint arcadias that never +did and never could exist on earth. To this I would answer that there +are many such abodes in country places, if only our minds are such as to +realise them. And, above all, let us be optimists in literature even +though we may be pessimists in life. Let us have all that is joyous and +bright in our books, and leave the trials and failures for the realities +of life. Let us in our literature avoid as much as possible the painful +side of human nature and the pains and penalties of human weakness; let +us endeavour to depict a state of existence as far as possible +approaching the Utopian ideal, though not necessarily the Nirvana of the +Buddhists nor the paradise of fools; let us look not downwards into the +depths of black despair, but upwards into the starry heavens; let us +gaze at the golden evening brightening in the west. Richard Jefferies +has taught us that such a literature is possible; and if we read his +best books, we may some day be granted that fuller soul he prayed for +and at length obtained. Would that we could all hear, as he heard, the +still small voice that whispers in the woods and among the wild flowers +and the spreading foliage by the brook! + +To any one who might be thinking of becoming for the time being "a +tourist," and in that capacity visiting the Cotswolds, my advice is, +"Don't." There is really nothing to see. There is nothing, that is to +say, which may not be seen much nearer London. And I freely confess that +most of the subjects included in this book are usually deemed unworthy +of consideration even in the district itself. Still, there are a few who +realise that every county in England is more or less a mine of interest, +and for such I have written. Realising my limitations, I have not gone +deeply into any single subject; my endeavour has been to touch on every +branch of country life with as light a hand as possible--to amuse rather +than to instruct. For, as Washington Irving delightfully sums up the +matter: "It is so much pleasanter to please than to instruct, to play +the companion rather than the preceptor. What, after all, is the mite of +wisdom that I could throw into the mass of knowledge? or how am I sure +that my sagest deductions may be safe guides for the opinions of others? +But in writing to amuse, if I fail, the only evil is in my own +disappointment. If, however, I can by any lucky chance rub out one +wrinkle from the brow of care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment +of sorrow; if I can now and then penetrate through the gathering film of +misanthropy, prompt a benevolent view of human nature, and make my +reader more in good humour with his fellow beings and himself, surely, +surely, I shall not then have written in vain." + +The first half of Chapter II. originally appeared in the _Pall Mall +Magazine_. Portions of Chapters VII. and VIII., and "The Thruster's +Song," have also been published in _Baily's Magazine_. My thanks are due +to the editors for permission to reproduce them. Chapter XII. owes its +inspiration to Mr. Madden's excellent work on Shakespeare's connection +with sport and the Cotswolds, the "Diary of Master William Silence." We +have no local tradition of any kind about Shakespeare. + +I am indebted to Miss E.F. Brickdale for the pen-and-ink sketches, and +to Colonel Mordaunt for his beautiful photographs. Three of the +photographs, however, are by H. Taunt, of Oxford, and a similar number +are by Mr. Gardner, of Fairford. + +_September 1898_. + + + +CONTENTS + +PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + +CHAPTER I. + +FLYING WESTWARDS + +The Thames Valley--The Old White Horse--Entering the Cotswolds. + +CHAPTER II. + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE + +Far from the Madding Crowd--An Old Farmhouse and Its Occupants--The +Manor House--Inscription on Porch--Interior of the House--The Garden--A +Fairy Spring--The Village Club--Labouring Folk--Village Politics--The +Trout Stream--Flowing Seawards--Village Architecture--The Charm of +Antiquity--The Spirit of Sacrifice--Wayside Crosses--Tithe Barns. + +CHAPTER III. + +VILLAGE CHARACTERS + +Quaint Hamlet Folk--The Village Impostor--Rural Economy--Stories of the +People--A Curious Analogy--Tom Peregrine, the Keeper--A Standing +Dish--A Great Character--Peregrine's Accomplishments and +Proclivities--Farmers and Foxes--Concerning Churchwardens--The Village +Quack--An Excellent Prescription--His Lecture--How the Old Fox was +Found--A Good Sort--Heroes of the Hamlet--Political Meetings--Humours of +the Poll--Gloucestershire Farmers. + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LANGUAGE OF THE COTSWOLDS, WITH SOME ANCIENT SONGS AND LEGENDS + +Strange Travellers--Smoking Concerts--The Carter's Song--Village +Choirs--The Chedworth Band--Sense of Humour of the Natives--Their +Geography "a Bit Mixed"--A Large Family--_Noblesse Oblige_--Rustic +Legends--Names of Fields--The Cotswold Dialect--How to Talk It--An +Ancient Ballad--Tom Peregrine Recites--Roger Plowman's Excursion--An +Expensive Luncheon--Oxtail Soup--"The Turmut Hower." + +CHAPTER V. + +ON THE WOLDS + +Varied Amusements--Nature on the Hills--The Mysteries of +Scent--Partridge-Shooting--A Mixed Bag--Plover--Pigeon-Shooting with +Decoys--Bird Life--Sunset on the Downs--A Wild, Deserted Country--An +Old Dog Fox. + +CHAPTER VI. + +A GALLOP OVER THE WALLS + +An October Meet--Cub-Hunting--The Old Fox Again! A Fast Gallop over the +Walls--The Charm of Uncertainty--Fliers of the Hunt--A Narrow Escape--A +Check--A Reliable Hound--Failure of Scent--An Excellent Tonic. + +CHAPTER VII. + +A COTSWOLD TROUT STREAM + +Loch Leven Trout--Curious Capture of an Eel--The Author Catches a +Red-Herring--Macomber Falls--A Sad Episode--South Country +Streams--Course of the Coln--Charles Kingsley on Fishing--A May-Fly +Stream--Evening Fishing--Dry-Fly Dogmas--Flies for the Coln--Scarcity of +Poachers--An Evening Walk by the River--Spring's Delights. + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHEN THE MAY-FLY IS UP + +Derby Day on the Coln--A Good Sportsman--The Right Fly--Pleasures of the +Country--Peregrine's Quaint Expressions--Sport with the Olive Dun--A +Fine Trout--Effects of Sheep-Washing--A Good Basket--Life by the +Brook--A Summer's Night--In the Heart of England. + +CHAPTER IX. + +BURFORD, A COTSWOLD TOWN + +Curious Names--The Windrush--Burford Priory--An Empty Shell--The +Kingmaker--Lord Falkland--Speaker Lenthall--Bibury Races--An Old +Tradition--Valued Relics--Burford Church--Mr. Oman's Discovery--Burford +during the Civil Wars. + +CHAPTER X. + +STROLL THROUGH THE COTSWOLDS + +The Old Coaching Days--Fairford--Anglo-Saxon +Relics--Hatherop--Coln-St.-Aldwyns--The "Knights Templar" of +Quenington--A Haunt of Ancient Peace--Bibury Village--Ancient +Barrows--The Prehistoric Age--Deserted Villages--The Philosopher's +Stone--True Nobleness--On Battues--Roman Remains--Chedworth Woods--An +Old Manor House. + +CHAPTER XI. + +COTSWOLD PASTIMES + +Whitsun Ale--Sports of Various Kinds--The Peregrine Family at +Cricket--_Prehistoric_ Cricket--A Bad Ground--A "Pretty" Ball--Charles +Dickens on Cricket--Dumkins and Podder, Limited--How Dumkins Hit a +"Sixer"--Downfall of "Podder"--Bourton-on-the-Water C.C.--A +Plague of Wasps--The Treatment of Cricket Grounds--The Author's +Recipe--Reflections on Modern Cricket. + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE COTSWOLDS THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. + +The Centre of Elizabethan Sport--A Digression on South Africa--The Halo +of Association--A Day's Stag-Hunting in 1592--A Benighted Sportsman--"A +Goodly Dwelling and a Rich"--An Old English Gentleman--Shakespeare on +Hounds--He Describes the Run--The Death of the Stag--The Ancestral +Peregrine--Bacon not Wanted--A "Black Ousel"--The Charm of +Music--Shakespeare's Dream--A Hawking Expedition--Peregrine, the Parson, +and the Poet--Methods and Language of Falconry--A Flight at a +Heron--Peregrine Views a Fox. + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CIRENCESTER + +Roman Remains--The Corinium Museum--The Church--Cirencester House--The +Park--The Abbey--The "Mop" or Hiring Fair--A Great Hunting Centre--A +Varied Country--The Badminton Hounds--Lord Bathurst's Hounds--The +Cotswold Hounds--Charles Travess--A Born Genius--The Cricklade +Hounds--The Right Sort of Horse--The Oaksey District--The Heythrop +Hounds--A Defence of Hard Riding--A Day in the Vale--A Hunting Poem. + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SPRING IN THE COTSWOLDS + +Habits of Moorhens--Mallard and Swan--Nuthatches--Woodpeckers--Humane +Traps--Badgers--Fox-terriers--Scotch +Deerhounds--Retrievers--Cray-fish--The +Rookery--Jackdaws--Foxes--Artificial Earths--Fox among Sheep--Foxes and +Fowls--Poultry Claims--Observations on Scent--The Hygrometer--How Trout +are Netted--Scarcity of Otters--Water-Voles. + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PROMISE OF MAY + +Wild Flowers--Cottage Gardens--The Paths of Literature--Description of a +Horse--Beauty of Trees--Their Loss Irreparable as the Loss of Friends--A +Fine Type of Englishman--Lines in Memory of W.D. Llewelyn. + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SUMMER DAYS ON THE COTSWOLDS + +A Walk in the Fields--Hedgerow Flowers--The Brookside--By "the +Pill"--Remarks on Gray--A Fine Piece of Miniature Scenery--The Cricket +Ground--The Book of Nature--At the Ford--Habits of Observation--In the +Conyger Wood--The Home of the Kingfisher--A Limestone Quarry--The Great +Stone Floor of the Earth--Nature's Endless Cycle--Beauty of the +Ash--Hedgehogs--Trout and Snake--Sunset on the Hills. + +CHAPTER XVII. + +AUTUMN + +Remarks on Country Life--Thrashing--The Flail--Gipsies--Harvest +Feasts--Fifty Years Ago--The Wolds in Autumn--By the +Stream--Wildfowl--Migration of Birds--Lapwings--Winter +Visitants--Thunderstorms--Glow-Worms--A Brilliant Meteor--Night on the +Hills--The "Blowing-Stone"--Christmas Day on the Cotswolds--A Solar +Halo--Hamlet Festivities--Tom Peregrine Baffled--The Mummers Play--The +Victorian Era--The True Days of "Merrie England"--_Carpe Diem_. + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN + +A Glorious Panorama--Peregrine as Secretary--The Light of Setting +Suns--Conclusion. + +APPENDIX. + +GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN + +INDEX + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MESSRS. SHAWCROSS. + +STOKE POGES CHURCH. + +THE OLD MANOR HOUSE. + +INSCRIPTION ON PORCH OF MANOR HOUSE. + +INTERIOR OF MANOR HOUSE. + +IN THE GARDEN. + +A COTSWOLD MANOR HOUSE. + +COTSWOLD COTTAGES. + +A FARMHOUSE BY THE COLN. + +AN OLD COTTAGE. + +THE HAMLET. + +ON THE WOLDS. + +OXEN PLOUGHING. + +THE OLD CUSTOMER. + +THE OLD MILL, ABLINGTON. + +THE COLN NEAR BIBURY. + +A BRIDGE OVER THE COLN. + +A DISH OF FISH. + +BURFORD PRIORY. + +BURFORD PRIORY. + +THE MANOR HOUSE, COLN-ST.-ALDWYNS. + +BIBURY STREET. + +ARLINGTON ROW. + +VILLAGE CRICKETERS. + +HAWKING. + +BIBURY COURT. + +THE ABBEY GATEWAY, CIRENCESTER. + +MARKET-PLACE, CIRENCESTER. + +AN OLD BARN. + +THE "PILL" BRIDGE. + +IN BIBURY VILLAGE. + +SIDE VIEW OF MANOR HOUSE. + +BIBURY MILL. + +BELOW THE "PILL". + +ABLINGTON MANOR. + +AN OLD-FASHIONED LABOURING COUPLE. + +COLN-ST.-ALDWYNS. + +[Illustration: Stoke Poges Church. 019.png] + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FLYING WESTWARDS. + +London is becoming miserably hot and dusty; everybody who can get away +is rushing off, north, south, east, and west, some to the seaside, +others to pleasant country houses. Who will fly with me westwards to the +land of golden sunshine and silvery trout streams, the land of breezy +uplands and valleys nestling under limestone hills, where the scream of +the railway whistle is seldom heard and the smoke of the factory +darkens not the long summer days? Away, in the smooth "Flying Dutchman"; +past Windsor's glorious towers and Eton's playing-fields; past the +little village and churchyard where a century and a half ago the famous +"Elegy" was written, and where, hard by "those rugged elms, that +yew-tree's shade," yet rests the body of the mighty poet, Gray. How +those lines run in one's head this bright summer evening, as from our +railway carriage we note the great white dome of Stoke House peeping out +amid the elms! whilst every field reminds us of him who wrote those +lilting stanzas long, long ago. + + "Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade! + Ah, fields, beloved in vain! + Where once my careless childhood strayed, + A stranger yet to pain: + I feel the gales that from ye blow + A momentary bliss bestow; + As waving fresh their gladsome wing + My weary soul they seem to soothe, + And redolent of joy and youth, + To breathe a second spring." + +But soon we are flashing past Reading, where Sutton's nursery gardens +are bright with scarlet and gold, and blue and white; every flower that +can be made to grow in our climate grows there, we may be sure. But +there is no need of garden flowers now, when the fields and hedges, even +the railway banks, are painted with the lovely blue of wild geraniums +and harebells, the gold of birdsfoot trefoil and Saint John's wort, and +the white and pink of convolvulus or bindweed. We are passing through +some of the richest scenery in the Thames valley. There, on the right, +is Mapledurham, a grand mediaeval building, surrounded by such a wealth +of stately trees as you will see nowhere else. The Thames runs +practically through the grounds. What a glorious carpet of gold is +spread over these meadows when the buttercups are in full bloom! Now +comes Pangbourne, with its lovely weir, where the big Thames trout love +to lie. Pangbourne used to be one of the prettiest villages on the +river; but its popularity has spoilt it. + +As we pass onwards, many other country houses--Purley, Basildon, and +Hardwick--with their parks and clustering cottages, add their charm to +the view. There are the beautiful woods of Streatley: hanging copses +clothe the sides of the hills, and pretty villages nestle amid the +trees. But soon the scene changes: the glorious valley Father Thames has +scooped out for himself is left behind; we are crossing the chalk +uplands. On all sides are vast stretches of unfenced arable land, though +here and there a tiny village with its square-towered Norman church +peeps out from an oasis of green fields and stately elm trees. On the +right the Chiltern Hills are seen in the background, and Wittenham Clump +stands forth--a conspicuous object for miles. The country round Didcot +reminds one very much of the north of France: between Calais and Paris +one notices the same chalk soil, the same flat arable fields, and the +same old-fashioned farmhouses and gabled cottages. + +But now we have entered the grand old Berkshire vale. "Fields and +hedges, hedges and fields; peace and plenty, plenty and peace. I should +like to take a foreigner down the vale of Berkshire in the end of May, +and ask him what he thought of old England." Thus wrote Charles Kingsley +forty years ago, when times were better for Berkshire farmers. But the +same old fields and the same old hedges still remain--only we do not +appreciate them as much as did the author of "Westward Ho!" + +Steventon, that lovely village with its gables and thatched roofs, its +white cottage walls set with beams of blackest oak, its Norman church in +the midst of spreading chestnuts and leafy elms, appears from the +railway to be one of the most old-fashioned spots on earth. This vale is +full of fine old trees; but in many places the farmers have spoilt their +beauty by lopping off the lower branches because the grass will not grow +under their wide-spreading foliage. It is only in the parks and +woodlands that the real glory of the timber remains. + +And now we may notice what a splendid hunting country is this Berkshire +vale. The fields are large and entirely grass; the fences, though +strong, are all "flying" ones--posts and rails, too, are frequent in the +hedges. Many a fine scamper have the old Berkshire hounds enjoyed over +these grassy pastures, where the Rosy Brook winds its sluggish course; +and we trust they will continue to do so for many years to come. Long +may that day be in coming when the sound of the horn is no longer heard +in this delightful country! + +High up on the hill the old White Horse soon appears in view, cut in the +velvety turf of the rolling chalk downs. But, in the words of the +old ballad, + + "The ould White Horse wants zettin' to rights." + +He wants "scouring" badly. A stranger, if shown this old relic, the +centre of a hundred legends, famous the whole world over, would find it +difficult to recognise any likeness to a fiery steed in those uncertain +lines of chalk. Nevertheless, this is the monument King Alfred made to +commemorate his victory over the Danes at Ashdown. So the tradition of +the country-side has had it for a thousand years, and shall a +thousand more. + +The horse is drawn as galloping. Frank Buckland took the following +measurements of him: The total length is one hundred and seventy yards; +his eye is four feet across; his ear fifteen yards in length; his +hindleg is forty-three yards long. Doubtless the full proportions of the +White Horse are not kept scoured nowadays; for a few weeks ago I was up +on the hill and took some of the measurements myself. I could not make +mine agree with Frank Buckland's: for instance, the ear appeared to be +seven yards only in length, and not fifteen; so that it would seem that +the figure is gradually growing smaller. It is the head and forelegs +that want scouring worst of all. There is little sign of the trench, two +feet deep, which in Buckland's time formed the outline of the horse; the +depth of the cutting is now only a matter of a very few inches. + +The view from this hill is a very extensive one, embracing the vale from +Bath almost to Reading the whole length of the Cotswold Hills, as well +as the Chilterns, stretching away eastwards towards Aylesbury, and far +into Buckinghamshire. Beneath your feet lie many hundred thousand acres +of green pastures, varied in colour during summer and autumn by golden +wheatfields bright with yellow charlock and crimson poppies. It has +been said that eleven counties are visible on clear days. + +The White Horse at Westbury, further down the line, represents a horse +in a standing position. He reflects the utmost credit on his grooms; for +not only are his shapely limbs "beautifully and wonderfully made," but +the greatest care is taken of him. The Westbury horse is not in reality +nearly so large as this one at Uffington, but he is a very beautiful +feature of the country. I paid him a visit the other day, and was +surprised to find he was very much smaller than he appears from the +railway. Glancing over a recent edition of Tom Hughes' book, "The +Scouring of the White Horse," I found the following lines:-- + +"In all likelihood the _pastime_ of 1857 will be the last of his race; +for is not the famous Saxon (or British) horse now scheduled to an Act +of Parliament as an ancient monument which will be maintained in time to +come as a piece of prosaic business, at the cost of other than Berkshire +men reared within sight of the hill?" + +Alas! it is too true. There has been no _pastime_ since 1857. + +It would have been a splendid way of commemorating the "diamond jubilee" +if a scouring had been organised in 1897. Forty years have passed since +the last pastime, with its backsword play and "climmin a greasy pole for +a leg of mutton," its race for a pig and a cheese; and, oddly enough, +the previous scouring had taken place in the year of the Queen's +accession, sixty-one years ago. It would be enough to make poor Tom +Hughes turn in his grave if he knew that the old White Horse had been +turned out to grass, and left to look after himself for the rest of +his days! + +Those were grand old times when the Berkshire; Gloucestershire, and +Somersetshire men amused themselves by cracking each other's heads and +cudgel-playing for a gold-laced hat and a pair of buckskin breeches; +when a flitch of bacon was run for by donkeys; and when, last, but not +least, John Morse, of Uffington, "grinned agin another chap droo hos +[horse] collars, a fine bit of spwoart, to be sure, and made the folks +laaf." I here quote from Tom Hughes' book, "The Scouring of the White +Horse," to which I must refer my readers for further interesting +particulars. + +There are some days during summer when the sunlight is so beautiful that +every object is invested with a glamour and a charm not usually +associated with it. Such a day was that of which we write. As we were +gliding out of Swindon the sun was beginning to descend. From a Great +Western express, running at the rate of sixty miles an hour through +picturesque country, you may watch the sun setting amidst every variety +of scenery. Now some hoary grey tower stands out against the intense +brightness of the western sky; now a tracery of fine trees shades for a +time the dazzling light; then suddenly the fiery furnace is revealed +again, reflected perhaps in the waters of some stream or amid the reeds +and sedges of a mere, where a punt is moored containing anglers in broad +wideawake hats. Gradually a dark purple shade steals over the long range +of chalk hills; white, clean-looking roads stand out clearly defined +miles away on the horizon; the smoke that rises straight up from some +ivy-covered homestead half a mile away is bluer than the evening sky--a +deep azure blue. The horizon is clear in the south, but in the +north-west dark, but not forbidding clouds are rising; fantastic +cloudlets float high up in the firmament; rooks coming home to roost are +plainly visible several miles away against the brilliant western sky. + +This Great Western Railway runs through some of the finest bits of old +England. Not long ago, in travelling from Chepstow to Gloucester, we +were fairly amazed at the surpassing beauty of the views. It was +May-day, and the weather was in keeping with the occasion. The sight of +the old town of Chepstow and the silvery Wye, as we left them behind us, +was fine enough; but who can describe the magnificent panorama presented +by the wide Severn at low tide? Yellow sands, glittering like gold in +the dazzling sunshine, stretched away for miles; beyond these a vista of +green meadows, with the distant Cotswold Hills rising out of dreamy +haze; waters of chrysolite, with fields of malachite beyond; the azure +sky overhead flecked with clouds of pearl and opal, and all around the +pear orchards in full bloom. + +While on the subject of scenery, may I enter a protest against the +change the Great Western Railway has lately made in the photographs +which adorn their carriages? They used to be as beautiful as one could +wish; lately, however, the colouring has been lavished on them with no +sparing hand. These "photo-chromes" are unnatural and impossible, +whereas the old permanent photographs were very beautiful. + +At Kemble, with its old manor house and stone-roofed cottages, we say +good-bye to the Vale of White Horse; for we have entered the Cotswolds. +Stretching from Broadway to Bath, and from Birdlip to Burford, and +containing about three hundred square miles, is a vast tract of hill +country, intersected by numerous narrow valleys. Probably at one period +this district was a rough, uncultivated moor. It is now cultivated for +the most part, and grows excellent barley. The highest point of this +extensive range is eleven hundred and thirty-four feet, but the average +altitude would not exceed half that height. Almost every valley has its +little brook. The district is essentially a "stone country;" for all the +houses and most of their roofs are built of the local limestone, which +lies everywhere on these hills within a few inches of the surface. There +is no difficulty in obtaining plenty of stone hereabouts. The chief +characteristics of the buildings are their antiquity and Gothic +quaintness. The air is sharp and bracing, and the climate, as is +inevitable on the shallow, porous soil of the oolite hills, wonderfully +dry and invigorating. "Lands of gold have been found, and lands of +spices and precious merchandise; but this is the land of _health_" Thus +wrote Richard Jefferies of the downs, and thus say we of the Cotswolds. + +And now our Great Western express is gliding into Cirencester, the +ancient capital of the Cotswold country. How fair the old place seems +after the dirt and smoke of London! Here town and country are blended +into one, and everything is clean and fresh and picturesque. The garish +church, as you view it from the top of the market-place, has a charm +unsurpassed by any other sacred building in the land. In what that charm +lies I have often wondered. Is it the marvellous symmetry of the whole +graceful pile, as the eye, glancing down the massive square tower and +along the pierced battlements and elaborate pinnacles, finally rests on +the empty niches and traceried oriel windows of the magnificent south +porch? I cannot say in what the charm exactly consists, but this stately +Gothic fane has a grandeur as impressive as it is unexpected, recalling +those wondrous words of Ruskin's: + +"I used to feel as much awe in gazing at the buildings as on the hills, +and could believe that God had done a greater work in breathing into the +narrowness of dust the mighty spirits by whom its haughty walls had been +raised and its burning legends written, than in lifting the rock of +granite higher than the clouds of heaven, and veiling them with their +various mantle of purple flower and shadowy pine." + +[Illustration: The Old Manor House. 029.png] + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A COTSWOLD VILLAGE. + +The village is not a hundred miles from London, yet "far from the +madding crowd's ignoble strife." A green, well-wooded valley, in the +midst of those far-stretching, cold-looking Cotswold Hills, it is like +an oasis in the desert. + +Up above on the wolds all is bleak, dull, and uninteresting. The air up +there is ever chill; walls of loose stone divide field from field, and +few houses are to be seen. But down in the valley all is fertile and +full of life. It is here that the old-fashioned villagers dwell. How +well I remember the first time I came upon it! One fine September +evening, having left all traces of railways and the ancient Roman town +of Cirencester some seven long miles behind me, with wearied limbs I +sought this quiet, sequestered spot. Suddenly, as I was wondering how +amid these never ending hills there could be such a place as I had been +told existed, I beheld it at my feet, surpassing beautiful! Below me was +a small village, nestling amid a wealth of stately trees. The hand of +man seemed in some bygone time to have done all that was necessary to +render the place habitable, but no more. There were cottages, bridges, +and farm buildings, but all were ivy clad and time worn. The very trees +themselves appeared to be laden with a mantle of ivy that was more than +they could bear. Many a tall fir, from base to topmost twig, was +completely robed with the smooth, five-pointed leaves of this rapacious +evergreen. Through the thick foliage, of elm and ash and beech, I could +just see an old manor house, and round about it, as if for protection, +were clustered some thirty cottages. A murmuring of waters filled my +ears, and on descending the hill I came upon a silvery trout stream, +which winds its way down the valley, broad and shallow, now gently +gliding over smooth gravel, now dashing over moss-grown stones and rock. +The cottages, like the manor house and farm buildings, are all built of +the native stone, and all are gabled and picturesque. Indeed, save a few +new cottages, most of the dwellings appeared to be two or three hundred +years old. One farmhouse I noted carefully, and I longed to tear away +the ivy from the old and crumbling porch, to see if I could not discern +some half-effaced inscription telling me the date of this relic of the +days of "Merrie England." + +This quaint old place appeared older than the rest of the buildings. On +enquiry, I learnt that long, long ago, before the present manor house +existed, this was the abode of the old squires of the place; but for the +last hundred years it had been the home of the principal tenant and his +ancestors--yeomen farmers of the old-fashioned school, with some six +hundred acres of land. The present occupants appeared to be an old man +of some seventy years of age and his three sons. Keen sportsmen these, +who dearly love to walk for hours in pursuit of game in the autumn, on +the chance of bagging an occasional brace of partridges or a wild +pheasant (for everything here is wild), or, in winter, when lake and fen +are frostbound, by the river and its withybeds after snipe and +wildfowl--for the Cotswold stream has never been known to freeze! + +In this small hamlet I noticed that there were no less than three huge +barns. At first I thought they were churches, so magnificent were their +proportions and so delicate and interesting their architecture. One of +these barns is four hundred years old. + +Fifty years ago, what with the wool from his sheep and the grain that +was stored in these barns year by year, the Cotswold farmer was a rich +man. Alas! _Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis!_ One can picture +the harvest home, annually held in the barn, in old days so cheery, but +now often nothing more than a form. Here, however, in this village, I +learnt that, in spite of bad times, some of the old customs have not +been allowed to pass away, and right merry is the harvest home. And +Christmastide is kept in real old English fashion; nor do the mummers +forget to go their nightly rounds, with their strange tale of "St. +George and the dragon." + +As I walk down the road I come suddenly upon the manor house--the "big +house" of the village. Long and somewhat low, it stands close to the +road, and is of some size. Over the doorway of the porch is the +following inscription, engraven on stone in a recess:-- + + "PLEAD THOU MY CAVSE; OH LORD." + "BY JHON COXWEL ANO DOMENY 1590." + +Underneath this inscription, and immediately over the entrance, are five +heads, elaborately carved in stone. In the centre is Queen Elizabeth; to +the right are portrayed what I take to be the features of Henry VIII.; +whilst on the left is Mary. The other two are uncertain, but they are +probably Philip of Spain and James I. + +I was enchanted with the place. The quaint old Elizabethan gables and +sombre bell-tower, the old-fashioned entrance gates, the luxuriant +growth of ivy, combined together to give that air of peace, that charm +which belongs so exclusively to the buildings of the middle ages. +Knowing that the house was for the time being unoccupied, I walked +boldly into the outer porch, meaning to go no further. But another +inscription over the solid oak door encouraged me to enter: + + "PORTA PATENS ESTO, NULLI CLAUDARIS HONESTO." + +I therefore opened the inner door with some difficulty, for it was +heavy and cumbersome, and found myself in the hall. Although nothing +remarkable met my eye, I was delighted to find everything in keeping +with the place. The old-fashioned furniture, the old oak, the grim +portraits and quaint heraldry, all were there. I was much interested in +some carved beams of black oak, which I afterwards learnt originally +formed part of the magnificent roof of the village church. When the roof +was under repair a few years back, these beams were thrown aside as +rotten and useless, and thus found their way into the manor house. Every +atom of genuine old work of this kind is deeply interesting, +representing as it does the rude chiselling which hands that have long +been dust in the village churchyard wrought with infinite pains. That +oak roof, carved in rich tracery, resting for ages on arcades of +dog-tooth Norman and graceful Early English work, had echoed back the +songs of praise and prayer that rose Sunday after Sunday from the lips +of successive generations of simple country folk at matins and at +evensong, before the strains of the Angelus had been hushed for ever by +the Reformation. And who can tell how long before the Conquest, and by +what manner of men, were planted the trees destined to provide these +massive beams of oak? + +In the centre of the hall was a round table, with very ancient-looking, +high-backed chairs scattered about, of all shapes and sizes. Portraits +of various degrees of indifferent oil painting adorned the walls of the +hall and staircase. Somebody appeared to have been shooting with a +catapult at some of the pictures. One old gentleman had a shot through +his nose; and an old fellow with a hat on, over the window, had received +a pellet in the right eye![1] + +[Footnote 1: The writer, in a fit of infantile insanity, being then aged +about nine, was discovered in the very act of committing this assault on +his ancestors some twenty years ago, in Hertfordshire.] + +A copy of the Magna Charta, a suit of mediaeval armour, several rusty +helmets (Cromwellian and otherwise), antlers of several kinds of deer, +and a variety of old swords, pistols, and guns were the objects that +chiefly attracted my attention. The walls were likewise adorned with a +large number of heraldic shields. + +I like to see coats-of-arms and escutcheons hanging up in churches and +in the halls of old country houses, for the following simple reasons. +There is meaning in them--deep, mystic meaning, such as no ordinary +picture can boast. Every quartering on that ancient shield emblazoned in +red, black, and gold has a legend attached to it Hundreds of years ago, +in those splendid mediaeval times--nay, farther back than that, in the +dim, mysterious, dark ages--each of those quarterings was a device worn +by some brave knight or squire on his heavy shield. It was his +cognizance in the field of battle and at the tournament. It was borne at +Agincourt perhaps; at Crecy, or Poitiers, or in the lists for some +"faire ladye"; and it is a token of ancient chivalry, an emblem of the +days that have been and never more will be. It was doubtless the sight +of those eighteen great hatchments which still hang in the little +church at Stoke Poges that inspired Gray to attune his harp to such +lofty strains. + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike the inevitable hour + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + +Among other old masters was a portrait of the "John Coxwel" who built +the house, by Cornelius Jansen, dated 1613. The house did not appear +remarkable either for size or grandeur; yet there is always something +particularly pleasing to me to alight unexpectedly on buildings of this +kind, and to find that although they are obscure and unknown, they are +on a small scale as interesting to the antiquarian as Knole, Hatfield, +and other more famous mediaeval houses. Some lattice windows, evidently +at some time out of doors, but now on the inner walls, showed that in +more recent times the house had been enlarged, and the old courtyard +walled in and made part of the hall. Over one of these windows is the +inscription, "_Post tenebras lux_." The part I liked best, however, was +the old-fashioned passage, with its lattice windows and musty dungeon +savour, leading to the ancient kitchen and to a little oak-panelled +sitting-room: but, knocking my head severely against the oak beam in the +doorway, I nearly brought the whole ceiling down, a catastrophe which +they tell me has happened before now in this rather rickety old manor +house. Opening a door on the other side of the house, I passed out into +the garden. How characteristic of the place!--a broad terrace running +along the whole length of the house, and beyond that a few flower beds +with the old sundial in their midst Beyond these a lawn, and then grass +sweeping down to the edge of the river, some hundred yards away. Beyond +the river again more grass, but of a wilder description, where the +rabbits are scudding about or listening with pricked ears; and in the +background a magnificent hanging wood, crowning the side of the valley, +with a large rookery in it. I was much struck with the different tints +of the foliage; for although autumn had not yet begun to turn the +leaves, the different shades of green were most striking. A gigantic ash +tree on the far side of the river stood out in bold relief, its lighter +leaves being in striking contrast to the dark firs in the background. +Then walnut and hazel, beech and chestnut all offered infinite variety +of shape and foliage. The river here had been broadened to a width of +some ninety feet, and an island had been made. The place seemed to be a +veritable sportsman's paradise! Dearly would Isaac Walton have loved to +dwell here! From the windows of the old house he would have loved to +listen to the splash of the trout, the cawing of the rooks, and the +quack of the waterfowl, while all the air is filled with the cooing of +doves and the songs of birds. At night he could have heard the murmuring +waterfall amid a stillness only broken at intervals by the scream of the +owl, the clatter of the goatsucker, or the weird barking of the foxes: +for not two hundred yards from the house and practically in the garden, +is a fox earth that has never been without a litter of, cubs for +forty years! + +In an ivy-covered house in the stable-yard I saw a very large number of +foxes' noses nailed to boards of wood--as Sir Roger de Coverley used to +nail them. They appeared to have been slain by one Dick Turpin, huntsman +to the Vale of White Horse hounds, some thirty or forty years ago, when +a quondam master of those hounds lived in this old place. + +What a charm there is in an old-fashioned English garden! The great tall +hollyhocks and phlox, the bright orange marigolds and large purple +poppies. The beds and borders crammed with cloves and many-coloured +asters, the sweet blue of the cornflower, and the little lobelias. +Zinneas, too, of all colours; dahlias, tall stalks of anenome japonica, +and such tangled masses of stocks! As I walked down by the old garden +wall, whereon lots of roses hung their dainty heads, I thought I had +never seen grass so green and fresh looking, except in certain parts +of Ireland. + +But the wild flowers by the silent river pleased me best of all. Such a +medley of graceful, fragrant meadow-sweet, and tall, rough-leaved +willow-herbs with their lovely pink flowers. Light blue scorpion-grasses +and forget-me-nots were there too, not only among the sword-flags and +the tall fescue-grasses by the bank, but little islands of them dotted +about a over the brook. Thyme-scented water-mint, with lilac-tinted +spikes and downy stalks, was almost lost amongst the taller wild flowers +and the "segs" that fringed the brook-side. + +There are no flowers like the wild ones; they last right through the +summer and autumn--yet we can never have enough of them, never cease +wondering at their marvellous delicacy and beauty. + +Darting straight up stream on the wings of the soft south wind comes a +kingfisher clothed in priceless jewelry, sparkling in the sun: sapphire +and amethyst on his bright blue back, rubies on his ruddy breast, and +diamonds round his princely neck. Monarch he is of silvery stream, and +petty tyrant of the silvery fish. + +I was told by a labourer that the trout ran from a quarter of a pound to +three pounds, and that they average one pound in weight; that in the +"may-fly" season a score of fish are often taken in the day by one rod, +and that the method of taking them is by the artificial fly, well dried +and deftly floated over feeding fish. These Cotswold streams are fed at +intervals of about half a mile by the most beautiful springs, and from +the rock comes pouring forth an everlasting supply of the purest and +clearest of water. I was shown such a spring in a withybed hard by the +old manor house. I saw nothing at first but a still, transparent pool, +nine feet deep (they told me); it looked but three! But as I gaze at the +beautiful fernlike weeds at the bottom, they are seen to be gently +fanned by the water that rises--never failing even in the hottest and +driest of summers--from the invisible rock below. The whole scene--the +silent pool at my feet, the rich, well-timbered valley, with its marked +contrast to the cold hills that overlook it--reminded me forcibly of +Whyte-Melville's lines at the conclusion of the most impressive poem he +ever wrote: "The Fairies' Spring": + + "And sweet to the thirsting lips of men + Is the spring of tears in the fairies' glen." + +Out of this fairy spring was taken quite recently, but not with the +"dry" fly--for no fish could be deceived in water of such stainless +transparency--a trout that weighed three pounds and a half. He was far +and away the most beautiful trout we ever saw; as silvery as a salmon +that has just left the sea, he was a worthy denizen of the secluded +depths of that crystal spring, still welling up from the pure limestone +rock in the heart of the Cotswold Hills, as it has for a thousand years. + +I was told that the place was still owned by the descendants of the +pious John Coxwell who built the manor house and commemorated it by the +quaint inscription over the porch in 1590. Doubtless the architecture of +all our Elizabethan manor houses in the shape of a letter E owes its +origin to the first letter in the name of that great queen. + +That year was a fitting time for the building of "those haunts of +ancient peace" that have ever since beautified the villages of rural +England. Not two years before men's minds had been stirred to a pitch of +deep religious enthusiasm by what was then regarded throughout all +England as a divine miracle--the destruction of the Spanish Armada. +Scarce three years had passed since the war with Scotland had terminated +in the execution of the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots. It is difficult +for us, at the close of this nineteenth century, to realise the feelings +of our ancestors in those times of daily terror and anxiety. And when +men were daily executed, and human life was held as cheap as we now +value a sheep or an ox, no wonder John Coxwell was pious, and no wonder +he engraved that pious inscription over those crumbling walls. + +In the year 1590 there was a lull in those tempestuous times, and men +were able to turn for a while from the strife of battle and the daily +fear of death and cultivate the arts of peace. + +Thus this stately little manor house was reared, and many like it +throughout the kingdom; and there it still stands, and will stand long +after the modern building has fallen to the ground. For not without much +hard toil and sweat of brow did our forefathers erect these monuments of +"a day that is dead"; and they remain to testify to the solid masonry +and laborious workmanship of ancient times. + +The descendants of this John Coxwell live on another property of theirs +some twelve miles away; it is nearly seventy years since they have +inhabited this old house. I was pleased to find, however, that the +present occupiers look after the labouring classes; that what rabbits +are killed on the manor are not sold, but distributed in the village. +There is an old ivy-clad building in the grounds, only a few paces from +the manor house. This is the village club. Here squire, farmer, and +labourer are accustomed to meet on equal terms. I was somewhat surprised +to see on the club table the _Times_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, and other +papers. These wonderful specimens of nineteenth-century literature +contrast strangely with a place that in many respects has remained +unchanged for centuries. + +There are few labourers in England, even in these days, who have the +opportunity--if they will take it--of reading the _Times'_ report of +every speech made in parliament. Perhaps, some day, will come forth from +this hamlet + + "Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast + The little tyrant of his fields withstood"; + +one who from earliest youth has kept himself in touch with the politics +of the day, and has fitted himself to sit in the House of Commons as the +representative of his class. There are still a few "little tyrants" in +the fields in all parts of England, but they are very much scarcer than +was the case fifty years ago. + +I was much pleased with a conversation I had with an old-fashioned +labouring man who, though not past middle age, appeared to be +incapacitated from work owing to a "game leg," and whom I found sitting +under a walnut tree in the manor grounds hard by the brook. He informed +me that there was bagatelle at the club for those who liked it, and all +sorts of games, and smoking concerts: that it was a question who was the +best bagatelle player in the club; but that it probably lay between the +squire and his head gardener, though Tom, the carter, was likely to run +them close! I was glad to find so much good feeling existing among all +classes of this little community, and was not surprised to learn that +this was a contented and happy village. + +In this description of "a Cotswold village" we have been looking on the +bright side of things, and there is, thank Heaven! many a place, +_mutato nomine_, that would answer to it. Alas! that there should be +another side to the picture, which we would fain leave untouched. + +Gloucestershire, nay England, is full of old manor houses and fair, +smiling villages; but in many parts of the country we see buildings +falling out of repair and deserted mansions. Would that we knew the +remedy for agricultural depression! But let us not despair. + + "The future hides in it + Gladness and sorrow; + We press still thorow, + Nought that abides in it + Daunting us,--onward!" + +It is a sad thing when the "big house" of the village is empty. The +labourers who never see their squire begin to look upon him as a sort of +ogre, who exists merely to screw rents out of the land they till. Those +who are dependent on land alone are often the men who do their duty best +on their estates, and, poor though they may be, they are much beloved. +But it is to be feared that in some parts of England men who are not +suffering from the depression--rich tenants of country houses and the +like--are apt to take a somewhat limited view of their duty towards +their poorer neighbours. To be sure, the good ladies at the "great +house" are invariably "ministering angels" to the poor in time of +sickness, but even in these democratic days there is too great a gulf +fixed between all classes. Let all those who are fortunate enough to +live in such a place as we have attempted to describe remember that a +kind word, a shake of the hand, the occasional distribution of game +throughout the village, and a hundred other small kindnesses do more to +win the heart of the labouring man than much talk at election times of +Small Holdings, Parish Councils, or Free Education. + +A tea given two or three times a year by the squire to the whole +village, when the grounds are thrown open to them, does much to lighten +the dulness of their existence and to cheer the monotonous round of +daily toil. It is often thoughtlessness rather than poverty that +prevents those who live in the large house of the village from being +really loved by those around them. There are many instances of unpopular +squires whose faces the cottagers never behold, and yet these men may be +spending hundreds of pounds each year for the benefit of those whose +affection they fail to gain. + +Alas! that there should exist in so many country places that class +feeling that is called Radicalism. It is perhaps fortunate that under +the guise of politics what is really nothing else but bitterness and +discontent is hidden and prevented from being recognised by its +true name. + +There are many country houses that are shut up for the greater part of +the year for other reasons than agricultural depression, often because +the owner, while preferring to reside elsewhere, is too proud to let the +place to a stranger. This should not be. Let these rich men who own +large houses and great estates live _in_ those houses and _on_ those +estates, or endeavour to find a tenant. We repeat that the landowners +who really feel the stress of bad times for the most part do their duty +nobly. They have learnt it in the severe school of adversity. It is the +richer class that we should like to see taking a greater interest in +their humble neighbours; and their power is great. The possessor of +wealth is too often the tacit upholder of the doctrine of _laissez +faire_. The times we live in will no longer allow it. Let us be up and +doing. In many small ways we may do much to promote good fellowship, and +bitterness and discontent shall be no longer known in the rural villages +of England. + + + +II. + +In the dead of winter these old grey houses of the Cotswolds are a +little melancholy, save when the sun shines. But to every variety of +scenery winter is the least becoming season of the year, though the hoar +frost or a touch of snow will transform a whole village into fairyland +at a moment's notice. Then the trout stream, which at other seasons of +the year is a never failing attraction, running as it does for the most +part through the woods, in mid winter seldom reflects the light of the +sun, and looks cold and uninviting. One may learn much, it is true, of +the wonders of nature in the dead time of the year by watching the great +trout on the spawn beds as they pile up the gravel day by day, and store +up beautiful, transparent ova, of which but a ten-thousandth part will +live to replenish the stock for future years. But the delight of a clear +stream is found in the spring and summer; then those cool, shaded deeps +and sparkling eddies please us by their contrast to the hot, burning +sun; and we love, even if we are not fishermen, to linger by the bank +'neath the shade of ash and beech and alder, and watch the wonderful +life around us in the water and in the air. + +As you sit sometimes on a bench hard by the Coln, watching the crystal +water as it pours down the artificial fall from the miniature lake in +the wild garden above, you may make a minute calculation of the day and +hour that that very water which is flowing past you now will reach +London Bridge, two hundred miles below. Allowing one mile an hour as the +average pace of the current, ten days is, roughly speaking, the time it +will take on its journey. And when one reflects that every drop that +passes has its work to do, in carrying down to the sea lime and I know +not how many other ingredients, and in depositing that lime and all that +it picked up on its way at the bottom of the ocean, to help perhaps in +forming the great rolling downs of a new continent--after this island of +ours has ceased to be--one cannot but realise that in all seasons of the +year a trout stream is a wonderfully interesting and instructive thing. + +TO THE COLN. + +Flow on, clear, fresh trout stream, emblem of purity and perfect truth; +thou hast accomplished a mighty work, thou hast a mighty work to do. Who +can count the millions of tons of lime that thou hast borne down to the +sea in far-off Kent? Thou hast indeed "strength to remove mountains," +for day by day the soil that thou hast taken from these limestone hills +is being piled up at the mouth of the great historic river, and some day +perchance it shall become rolling downs again. Fed by clear springs, +thou shalt gradually steal thy way along the Cotswold valleys, draining +foul marshes, irrigating the sweet meadows. Thou shalt turn the wheels +and grind many a hundred sacks of corn ere to-morrow's sun is set. And +then thou shalt change thy name. No longer silvery Coln, but mighty +Thames, shalt thou be called; and many a fair scene shall gladden thy +sight as thou slowly passest along towards thy goal. + +Smiling meadows and Gloucestershire vales will soon give place to fair +Berkshire villages, and, further on, to those glorious spires and courts +of Oxford; and here shalt thou make many friends--friends who will +evermore think kindly of thee, ever associate thy placid waters with all +that they loved best and held dearest during their brief sojourning in +those old walls which tower above thy banks. A few short miles, and thou +shalt pass a quiet and sacred spot--sacred to me, and dear above all +other spots; for close to that little village church of Clifton Hampden, +and close to thee, we laid some years ago the mortal body of a noble +man. And when thou stealest gently by, and night mists rise from off thy +glassy face, be sure and drop a tear in silvery dew upon the moss-grown +stone I know so well. And then pass on to Eton, fairest spot on earth. +Mark well the playing-fields, the glorious trees, and Windsor towering +high. Here shalt thou be loved by many a generous heart, and youth and +hope and smiling faces greet thee, as they long since greeted me. Ah +well! those friendships never could have been made so firm and lasting +mid any other scenes save under thy wide-spreading elms, beloved Eton. + +But onwards, onwards thou must glide, from scenes of tranquil beauty +such as these. The flag which sails o'er Windsor's stately towers must +soon be lost to sight. Thy course once more through silent fields is +laid; but not for long; for, Hampton Court's fair palace passed, already +canst thou hear the wondrous roar of unceasing footsteps in the busy +haunts of men. + +Courage! thy goal is nearly reached: already thou art great, and greater +still shalt thou become. Thy once transparent waters shall be merged +with salt. Thus shalt thou be given strength to bear great ships upon +thy bosom, and thine eyes shall behold the greatest city of the whole +wide world. Nay, more; thou shalt become the most indispensable part of +that city--its very life-blood, of a value not to be measured by gold. +Thou makest England what it is. + +Flow on, historic waters, symbolic of all that is good, all that is +great--flow on, and do thy glorious work until this world shall cease; +bearing thy mighty burden down towards the sea, showing mankind what can +be wrought from small beginnings by slow and patient labour day by day. + + * * * * * + +Even in winter I do not know any scene more pleasing to the eye than the +sight of a Cotswold hamlet nestling amid the stately trees in the +valley, if you happen to see it on a fine day. And if there has been a +period of rainy, sunless weather for a month past, you are probably all +the more ready to appreciate the changed appearance which everything +wears. If that peaceful, bright aspect had been habitual, you would +never have noticed anything remarkable to-day. It is this very changeful +nature of our English climate which gives it more than half its charm. + +But the great attraction of this country lies in its being one of the +few spots now remaining on earth which have not only been made beautiful +by God, but in which the hand of man has erected scarcely a building +which is not in strict conformity and good taste. One cannot walk +through these Cotswold hamlets without noticing that the architecture of +the country in past ages, as well as in the present day to a certain +degree, shows obedience to some of those divine laws which Ruskin has +told us ought to govern all the works of man's hand. + +"The spirit of sacrifice," "the lamp of truth" are manifest in the +ancient churches and manor houses, as well as in the humble farmhouses, +cottages, and even the tithe barns of this district. Two thirds of the +buildings are old, and, as Ruskin has beautifully expressed it: "The +greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its +glory is in its age, and in that deep sense of voicefulness, of stern +watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, +which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves +of humanity. It is in their lasting witness against men, in their quiet +contrast with the transitional character of all things, in the strength +which, through the lapse of seasons and times, and the decline and birth +of dynasties, and the changing of the face of the earth, and of the +limits of the sea, maintains its sculptured shapeliness for a time +insuperable, connects forgotten and following ages with each other, and +half constitutes the identity, as it concentrates the sympathy, of +nations;--it is in that golden stain of time that we are to look for the +real light and colour and preciousness of architecture; and it is not +until a building has assumed this character, till it has been entrusted +with the fame and hallowed by the deeds of men, till its walls have been +witnesses of suffering and its pillars rise out of the shadow of death, +that its existence, more lasting as it is than that of the natural +objects of the world around it, can be gifted with even so much as these +possess of language and of life." + +If we would seek a lesson in sacrifice from the men who lived and +laboured here in the remote past, we can learn many a one from those +deep walls of native stone, and that laborious workmanship which was the +chief characteristic of the toil of our simple ancestors. "All old work, +nearly, has been hard work; it may be the hard work of children, of +barbarians, of rustics, but it is always their utmost." They may have +been ignorant of the sanitary laws which govern health, and ill advised +in some of the sites they chose, but they grudged neither hand labour +nor sweat of brow; they spent the best years of their lives in the +erection of the temples where we still worship and the manor houses we +still inhabit. + +It is not claimed that there is much _ornamental_ architecture to be +found in these Cotswold buildings; it is something in these days if we +can boast that there is nothing to offend the eye in a district which is +less than a hundred miles from London. There is no other district of +equal extent within the same radius of which as much could be said. + + "Jam pauca aratro jugera regiae + Moles relinquent." + +But here all the houses are picturesque, great and small alike. And +there are here and there pieces of work which testify to the piety and +faith of very early days: fragments of inscriptions chiselled out more +than fifteen hundred years ago--such as the four stones at Chedworth, +discovered some thirty years ago, together with many other interesting +relics of the Roman occupation, by a gamekeeper in search of a ferret. +On these stones were found the Greek letters [GREEK: Ch] and [GREEK: r], +forming the sacred monogram "C.H.R." Fifteen hundred years had not +obliterated this simple evidence of ancient faith, nor had the +devastation of the ages impaired the beauty of design, nor marred the +harmony of colouring of those delicate pavements and tesserae with which +these wonderful people loved to adorn their habitations. Since this +strange discovery the diligent research of one man has rescued from +oblivion, and the liberality of another now protects from further +injury, one of the best specimens of a Roman country house to be found +in England. Far away from the haunts of men, in the depths of the +Chedworth woods, where no sound save the ripple of the Coln and the song +of birds is heard, rude buildings and a museum have been erected; here +these ancient relics are sheltered from wind and storm for the sake of +those who lived and laboured in the remote past, and for the benefit and +instruction of him, be he casual passer-by or pilgrim from afar, who +cares to inspect them. + +The ancient Roman town of Cirencester, too, affords many historical +remains of the same era. But it is to the part which English hands and +hearts have played towards beautifying the Cotswold district that I +would fain direct attention; to the stately Abbey Church of Cirencester +and its glorious south porch, with its rich fan-tracery groining within +and its pierced battlements and pinnacles without; to the arched gateway +of twelfth century work, the sole remnant of that once famous +monastery--the mitred Abbey of St. Mary--founded by the piety of the +first Henry, and overthrown by the barbarity of the last king of that +name, who ordained "that all the edifices within the site and precincts +of the monastery should be pulled down and carried away";--it is to the +glorious windows of Fairford Church--the most beautiful specimens +remaining to us of glass of the early part of the sixteenth century--and +to many an ancient church and mediaeval manor house still standing +throughout this wide district, "to point a moral of adorn a tale," that +we must look for traces of the exquisite workmanship of English hands in +bygone days, "the only witnesses, perhaps, that remain to us of the +faith and fear of nations. All else for which the builders sacrificed +has passed away--all their living interests and aims and achievements. +We know not for what they laboured, and we see no evidence of their +reward. Victory, wealth, authority, happiness--all have departed, though +bought by many a bitter sacrifice. But of them, and their life, and +their toil upon earth, one reward, one evidence is left to us in those +grey heaps of deep-wrought stone. They have taken with them to the grave +their powers, their honours, and their errors; but they have left us +their adoration." [2] + +[Footnote 2: Ruskin, "Seven Lamps of Architecture."] + +Too many of our modern buildings are a sham from beginning to end--sham +marble, sham stonework, sham wallpapers, sham wainscoting, sham carpets +on the ground, and sham people walking about on them: even the very +bookcases are sham. In these old Cotswold houses we have the reverse. +The stonework is real, and the material is the best of its kind--good, +honest, native stone. The oak wainscoting is real, though patched with +deal and painted white in recent times. The same pains in the carving +are apparent in those parts of the house which are never seen except by +the servants, as in the important rooms. And so it is with all the work +of three, four, and five hundred years ago. The builders may have had +their faults, their prejudices, and their ignorances,--their very +simplicity may have been the means of saving them from error,--but they +were at all events truthful and genuine. + +In many villages throughout the Cotswolds are to be seen ancient +wayside crosses of exquisite workmanship and design. These were for the +most part erected in the fourteenth century. One of the best specimens +of the kind stands in the market-place of old Malmesbury, hard by the +ancient monastery there. The date of this cross is A.D. 1480. Leland +remarks upon it as follows: "There is a right faire and costely peace of +worke for poor market folks to stand dry when rayne cummeth; the men of +the towne made this peace of worke in _hominum memoria_." Malmesbury, by +the bye, is just outside the Cotswold district. + +At Calmsden--a tiny isolated hamlet near North Cerney--is a grey and +weather-beaten wayside cross of beautiful Gothic workmanship, erected +(men say) by the Knights Templar of Quenington; and there are ancient +crosses or remnants of them at Cirencester, Eastleach, Harnhill, +Rendcombe, Stow-on-the-Wold, and many other places in the district. But +few of these old village crosses still stand intact in their pristine +beauty. May they never suffer the terrible fate of a very beautiful one +which was erected in the fourteenth century at Bristol! Pope, writing a +century and a half ago, describes it as "a very fine old cross of Gothic +curious work, but spoiled with the folly of _new gilding it_, that takes +away all the venerable antiquity." + +Happily there is no likelihood of the ancient crosses in the Cotswolds +being decorated by a coating of gold. The precious metal is all too +scarce there, even if the good taste of the country folk did not +prohibit it. + +I have spoken before of the ancient barns. Every hamlet has one or more +of these grand old edifices, and there are often as many as three or +four in a small village. In some of these large barns the tithe was +gathered together in kind, until rather more than sixty years ago it was +converted into a rent charge. + +_Tithe_ was made on all kinds of farm produce. The vicar's man went into +the cornfields and placed a bough in every tenth "stook"; then the +titheman came with the parson's horses and took the stuff away to the +barn. The tithe for every cock in the farmyard was three eggs; for every +hen, two eggs. Besides poultry, geese, pigs, and sheep, the parson had a +right to his share of the milk, and even of the cheeses that were made +in his parish. + +In an ancient manuscript which the vicar of Bibury lately acquired, and +which contains the history of his parish since the Conquest, are set +down some interesting and amusing details concerning tithe and the cash +compensations that had been paid time out of mind. The entries form part +of a diary kept by a former incumbent, and were made nearly two hundred +years ago. + +"For every new Milch Cow three pence. + +"For every thorough Milch Cow one penny. + +"N.B. Nothing is paid for a dry cow, and therefore tithe in kind must be +paid for all fatting cattle. + +"For every calf weaned a half penny. + +"For every calf sold four pence or _the left shoulder_. + +"For every calf killed in the family four pence or _the left shoulder_. + +"I have heard that one or two left shoulders of veal were paid to the +widow Hignall at Arlington when she rented the tithes of Dr. Vannam, but +_I have received none_." + +Then follows an annual account of the value of the tithes of the parish +(about five thousand acres), from 1763 to 1802, by which it appears that +the year 1800 was the best during these four decades. Here is +the entry:-- + +"1800 The crops of this year were very deficient, but corn of all sort +sold at an extraordinary high price. I made of my tithes and living this +year clear L1,200; from the dearness of labourers the outgoing expenses +amounted to L900 in addition." + +The worst year seems to have been 1766, when the parson only got L360 +clear of all expenses; but even this was not bad for those days. + +The architecture of the Cotswold barns is often very beautiful. The +pointed windows, massive buttresses, and elaborate pinnacles are +sufficient indications of their great age and the care bestowed on the +building. Some of the interiors of these Gothic structures have fine old +oak roofs. + +The cottages, too, though in a few instances sadly deficient in sanitary +improvements and internal comfort, are not only picturesque, but strong +and lasting. Many of them bear dates varying from 1600 to 1700. + +It is evident that in everything they did our ancestors who lived in the +Elizabethan age fully realised that they were working under the eye of +"a great taskmaster." This spirit was the making of the great men of +that day, and in great part laid the foundation of our national +greatness. The glorious churches of Cirencester, Northleach, Burford, +and Bibury, and the ancient manor houses scattered throughout the +Cotswolds are fitting monuments to the men who laboured to erect them. +Would that space allowed a detailed account of all these old manor +houses! Enough has been said, at all events, to show that there are +places little known and little cared for in England where you may still +dwell without, every time you go out of doors, being forcibly reminded +of the utilitarian spirit of the age. + +[Illustration: Cotswold Cottages. 057.png] + + + +CHAPTER III. + +VILLAGE CHARACTERS. + + "If there's a hole in a' your coats, + I rede ye tent it; + A chiel's amang ye takin' notes, + And, faith, he'll prent it." + + R. BURNS. + +Every village seems to possess its share of quaint, curious people; but +I cannot help thinking that our little hamlet has a more varied +assortment of oddities than is usually to be met with in so small +a place. + +First of all there is the man whom nobody ever sees. Although he has +lived in robust health for the past twenty years in the very centre of +the hamlet, his face is unknown to half the inhabitants. Twice only has +the writer set eyes on him. When a political contest is proceeding, he +becomes comparatively bold; at such times he has even been met with in +the bar of the village "public," where he has been known to sit +discussing the chances of the candidates like any ordinary being. But an +election is absolutely necessary if this strange individual is to be +drawn out of his hiding-place. The only other occasion on which we have +set eyes on him was on a lovely summer's evening, just after sunset: we +observed him peeping at us over a hedge, for all the world like the +"Spectator" when he was staying with Sir Roger de Coverley. He is +supposed to come out at sunset, like the foxes and the bats, and has +been seen in the distance on bright moonlight nights striding over the +Cotswold uplands. If any one approach him, he hurries away in the +opposite direction; yet he is not queer in the head, but strong and in +the prime of life. + +Then there is that very common character "the village impostor." After +having been turned away by half a dozen different farmers, because he +never did a stroke of work, he manages to get on the sick-list at the +"great house." Long after his ailment has been cured he will be seen +daily going up to the manor house for his allowance of meat; somehow or +other he "can't get a job nohow." The fact is, he has got the name of +being an idle scoundrel, and no farmer will take him on. It is some time +before you are able to find him out; for as he goes decidedly lame as he +passes you in the village street, he generally manages to persuade you +that he is very ill. Like a fool, you take compassion on him, and give +him an ounce of "baccy" and half a crown. For some months he hangs about +where he thinks you will be passing, craving a pipe of tobacco; until +one day, when you are having a talk with some other honest toiler, he +will give you a hint that you are being imposed on. + +When a loafer of this sort finds that he can get nothing more out of +you, he moves his family and goods to some other part of the country; he +then begins the old game with somebody else, borrowing a sovereign off +you for the expense of moving. As for gratitude, he never thinks of it. +The other day a man with a "game leg," who was, in spite of his +lameness, a good example of "the village impostor," in taking his +departure from our hamlet, gave out "that there was no thanks due to the +big 'ouse for the benefits he had received, for it was writ in the +_manor parchments_ as how he was to have meat three times a week and +blankets at Christmas as long as he was out of work." + +It is so difficult to discriminate between the good and the bad amongst +the poor, and it is impossible not to feel pity for a man who has +nothing but the workhouse to look forward to, even if he has come down +in the world through his own folly. To those who are living in luxury +the conditions under which the poorer classes earn their daily bread, +and the wretched prospect which old age or ill health presents to them, +must ever offer scope for deep reflection and compassion. + +At the same time it must be remembered that in spite of "hard times" +and "low prices," as affecting the farmers, the agricultural labourer is +better off to-day than he has ever been in past times. Food is very much +cheaper and wages are higher. The farmers seem to be more liberal in bad +times than in good. It is the same in all kinds of business. Except +injustice there is no more hardening influence in the affairs of life +than success. It seems often to dry up the milk of human kindness in the +breast, and make us selfish and grasping. + +In the good times of farming there was doubtless much cause for +discontent amongst the Cotswold labourers. The profits derived from +farming were then quite large. The tendency of the age, however, was to +treat the labouring man as a mere machine, instead of his being allowed +to share in the general prosperity. ("Hinc illae lacrymae.") Now things +are changed. Long-suffering farmers are in many cases paying wages out +of their fast diminishing capital. Many of them would rather lose money +than cut down the wages. + +Then again agricultural labourers who are unable to find work go off to +the coal mines and big towns; some go into the army; others emigrate. So +that the distress is not so apparent in this district as the badness of +the times would lead one to expect. + +The Cotswold women obtain employment in the fields at certain seasons of +the year; though poorly paid, they are usually more conscientious and +hard-working than the men. + +Most of the cottages are kept scrupulously clean; they have an air of +homely comfort which calls forth the admiration of all strangers. The +children, too, when they go to church on Sundays, are dressed with a +neatness and good taste that are simply astonishing when one recalls the +income of a labourer on the Cotswolds--seldom, alas! averaging more than +fourteen shillings a week. A boy of twelve years of age is able to keep +himself, earning about five shillings per week. Cheerful and manly +little chaps they are. To watch a boy of fourteen years managing a +couple of great strong cart-horses, either at the plough or with the +waggons, is a sight to gladden the heart of man. + +It is unfortunate that there are not more orchards attached to the +gardens on the Cotswolds. The reader will doubtless remember Dr. +Johnson's advice to his friends, always to have a good orchard attached +to their houses. "For," said he, "I once knew a clergyman of small +income who brought up a family very reputably, which he chiefly fed on +_apple dumplings_." + +Talking of clergymen, I am reminded of some stories a neighbour of +ours--an excellent fellow--lately told me about his parishioners on the +Cotswolds. One old man being asked why he liked the vicar, made answer +as follows: "Why, 'cos he be so _scratchy after souls_." The same man +lately said to the parson, "Sir, you be an hinstrument"; and being asked +what he meant, he added, "An hinstrument of good in this place." + +This old-fashioned Cotswold man was very fond of reciting long passages +out of the Psalms: indeed, he knew half the Prayer-book by heart; and +one day the hearer, being rather wearied, exclaimed, "I must go now, for +it's my dinner-time." To whom replied the old man, "Oh! be off with +thee, then; thee thinks more of thee belly than thee God." + +An old bedridden woman was visited by the parson, and the following +dialogue took place:-- + +"Well, Annie, how are you to-day?" + +"O sir, I be so bad! My inside be that comical I don't know what to do +with he; he be all on the ebb and flow." + +The same clergyman knew an old Cotswold labourer who wished to get rid +of the evil influence of the devil. So Hodge wrote a polite, though +firm, epistle, telling his Satanic Majesty he would have no more to do +with him. On being asked where he posted his letter, he replied: "A' dug +a hole i' the ground, and popped un in there. He got it right enough, +for he's left me alone from that day to this." + +The Cotswold people are, like their country, healthy, bright, clean, and +old-fashioned; and the more educated and refined a man may happen to be, +the more in touch he will be with them--not because the peasants are +educated and refined, so much as because they are not _half_-educated +and _half_-refined, but simple, honest, god-fearing folk, who mind their +own business and have not sought out many inventions. I am referring now +to the labourers, because the farmers are a totally different class of +men. The latter are on the whole an excellent type of what John Bull +ought to be. The labouring class, however, still maintain the old +characteristics. A primitive people, as often as not they are "nature's +gentlemen." + +In the simple matter of dress there is a striking resemblance between +the garb of these country people and that of the highly educated and +refined. It is an acknowledged principle, or rather, I should say, an +unwritten law, in these days--at all events as far as men are +concerned--that to be well dressed all that is required of us is _not to +be badly dressed_. Simplicity is a _sine qua non_; and we are further +required to abstain from showing bad taste in the choice of shades and +colours, and to wear nothing that does not serve a purpose. To simple +country folk all these things come by nature. They never trouble their +heads about what clothes they shall wear. The result is, the eye is +seldom offended in old-fashioned country places by the latest inventions +of tailors and hatters and the ridiculous changes of fashion in which +the greater part of the civilised world is wont to delight. Here are to +be seen no hideous "checks," but plain, honest clothes of corduroy or +rough cloth in natural colours; no absurd little curly "billycocks," but +good, strong broad-brimmed hats of black beaver in winter to keep off +the rain, and of white straw in summer to keep off the heat. No white +satin ties, which always look dirty, such as one sees in London and +other great towns, but broad, old-fashioned scarves of many colours or +of blue "birdseye" mellowed by age. The fact is that simplicity--the +very essence of good taste--is apparent only in the garments of the +_best_-dressed and the _poorest_-dressed people in England. This is one +more proof of the truth of the old saying, "Simplicity is nature's first +step, and the last of art." + +The greatest character we ever possessed in the village was undoubtedly +Tom Peregrine, the keeper. + + "A man, take him for all in all, + I shall not look upon his like again." + +The eldest son of the principal tenant on the manor, and belonging to a +family of yeoman farmers who had been settled in the place for a hundred +years, he suddenly found that "he could not a-bear farming," and took up +his residence as "an independent gentleman" in a comfortable cottage at +the gate of the manor house. Then he started a "sack" business--a trade +which is often adopted in these parts by those who are in want of a +better. The business consists in buying up odds and ends of sacks, and +letting them out on hire at a handsome profit. He was always intensely +fond of shooting and fishing; indeed, the following description which +Sir Roger de Coverley gave the "Spectator" of a "plain country fellow +who rid before them," when they were on their way to the assizes, suits +him exactly. "He is a yeoman of about an hundred pounds a year; and +knocks down a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week. He would be a +good neighbour if he did not destroy so many partridges: in short, he is +a very sensible man, shoots flying, and has been several times foreman +of the petty jury." + +Perhaps with regard to the "shoots flying" the reservation should be +added, that should he have seen a covey of partridges "bathering" in a +ploughed field within convenient distance of a stone wall or thick +fence, he might not have been averse to knocking over a brace for supper +on the ground. And we had almost forgotten to explain that it was for +the manor-house table that he used to knock down a dinner with his gun +twice or thrice a week, and not his own--for, some years ago, he +persuaded the squire to take him into his service as gamekeeper. When we +came to take up our abode at the manor, we found that he was a sort of +standing dish on the place. Such a keen sportsman, it was explained, was +better in our service than kicking his heels about the village and on +his father's farm as an independent gentleman. And so this is how Tom +Peregrine came into our service. For my part I liked the man; he was so +delightfully mysterious. And the place would never have been the same +without him; for he became part and parcel with the trees and the fields +and every living thing. Nor would the woods and the path by the brook +and the breezy wolds ever have been quite the same if his quaint figure +had no longer appeared suddenly there. Many a time was I startled by the +sudden apparition of Tom Peregrine when out shooting on the hill; he +seemed to spring up from the ground like "Herne the Hunter"-- + + "Shaggy and lean and shrewd. With pointed ears + And tail cropped short, half lurcher and half cur, + His dog attends him." + +The above lines of Cowper's exactly, describe the keeper's Irish +terrier; the dog was almost as deep and mysterious as the man himself. +When in the woods, Tom's attitude and gait would at times resemble the +movements of a cock pheasant: now stealing along for a few yards, +listening for the slightest sound of any animal stirring in the +underwood; now standing on tiptoe for a time, with bated breath. Did a +blackbird--that dusky sentinel of the woods--utter her characteristic +note of warning, he would whisper, "Hark!" Then, after due deliberation, +he would add, "'Tis a fox!" or, "There's a fox in the grove," and then +he would steal gently up to try to get a glimpse of reynard. He never +looked more natural than when carrying seven or eight brace of +partridges, four or five hares, and a lease of pheasants; it was a +labour of love to him to carry such a load back to the village after a +day's shooting. In his pockets alone he could stow away more game than +most men can conveniently carry on their backs. + +He was the best hand at catching trout the country could produce. With a +rod and line he could pull them out on days when nobody else could get a +"rise." He could not understand dry-fly fishing, always using the +old-fashioned sunk fly. "Muddling work," he used to call the floating +method of fly fishing. + +But Tom Peregrine was cleverer with the landing-net than with the rod. +Any trout he could reach with the net was promptly pulled out, if we +particularly wanted a fish. Then he would talk all day about any subject +under the sun: politics, art, Roman antiquities, literature, and every +form of sport were discussed with equal facility. + +One day, when I was engaged in a slight controversy with his own +father, the keeper said to me: "I shouldn't take any notice whatever of +him"; then he added, with a sigh, "These Gloucestershire folk are +comical people." + +"Ah! 'tis a wise son that knows his own father in Gloucestershire, isn't +it, Peregrine?" said I, putting the Shakespearian cart before the horse. + +"Yes, it be, to be sure, to be sure," was the reply. "I can't make 'em +out nohow; they're funny folk in Gloucestershire." + +He gave me the following account of the "chopping" of one of our foxes: +"I knew there was a fox in the grove; and there, sure enough, he was. +But when he went toward the 'bruk,' the hounds come along and _give him +the meeting_; and then they bowled him over. It were a very comical job; +I never see such a job in all my life. I knew it would be a case," he +added, with a chuckle. + +The fact is, with that deadly aversion to all the vulpine race common to +all keepers, he dearly loved to see a fox killed, no matter how or +where; but to see one "chopped," without any of that "muddling round and +messing about," as he delighted to call a hunting run, seemed to him the +very acme of satisfaction and despatch. + +And here it may be said that Tom Peregrine's name did not bely him. Not +only were the keen brown eye and the handsome aquiline beak marked +characteristics of his classic features, but in temperament and habit he +bore a singular resemblance to the king of all the falcons. Who more +delighted in striking down the partridge or the wild duck? What more +assiduous destroyer of ground game and vermin ever existed than Tom +Peregrine? There never was a man so happily named and so eminently +fitted to fulfil the destinies of a gamekeeper. + + Who loves to trap the wily stoat? + Who loves the plover's piping note? + Who loves to wring the weasel's throat? + Tom Peregrine. + + What time the wintry woods we walk, + No need have we of lure or hawk; + Have we not Tom to _tower_ and talk? + Tom Peregrine? + + When to the withybed we spy, + A hungry hern or mallard fly, + "Bedad! we'll bag un by and by," + Tom Peregrine. + + "Creep _up wind_, sir, without a sound, + And bide thy time neath yonder 'mound,' + Then knock un over on the ground," + Tom Peregrine. + +And so one might go on _ad infinitum_. + +A more amusing companion or keener fisherman never stepped. He had all +sorts of quaint Gloucestershire expressions, which rolled out one after +the other during a day's fishing or shooting. Then he was very fond of +reading amusing pieces at village entertainments, often copying the +broad Gloucestershire dialect; apparently he was not aware that his own +brogue smacked somewhat of Gloucestershire too. At home in his own house +he was most friendly and hospitable. If he could get you to "step in," +he would offer you gooseberry, ginger, cowslip, and currant wine, sloe +gin, as well as the juice of the elder, the blackberry, the grape, and +countless other home-brewed vintages, which the good dames of +Gloucestershire pride themselves on preparing with such skill. Very +excellent some of these home-made drinks are. + +The British farmer is remarkably fond of a lord. If you wanted to put +him into a good temper for a month, the best plan would be to ask a lord +to shoot over his land, and tell him privately to make a great point of +shaking the honest yeoman by the hand, and all that kind of thing. By +the bye, I was once told by a coachman that he was sure the Bicester +hounds were a first-rate pack, for he had seen in the papers that no +less than four lords hunted with them. There is little harm in this +extraordinarily widespread admiration for titles; it is common to all +nations. We can all love a lord, provided that he be a gentleman. The +gentlemen of England, whether titled or untitled, are in thought and +feeling a very high type of the human race. But the man I like best to +meet is he who either by natural insight or by the trained habit of his +mind is able to look upon all mortals with eyes unprejudiced by outward +show and circumstance, judging them by character alone. Such a man may +not be understood or be awarded the credit due to him as "lord of the +lion heart" and despiser of sycophants and cringers. The habit of mind, +nevertheless, is worth cultivating; it will be so very useful some day, +when mortal garments have been put off and the vast inequalities of +destiny adjusted, and we all stand unclothed before the Judge. + +Tom Peregrine was not a "great frequenter of the church"; indeed, both +father and son often remarked to me that "'Twas a pity there was not a +chapel of ease put up in the hamlet, the village church being a full +mile away." However, when Tom was ailing from any cause or other he +immediately sent for the parson, and told him that he intended in future +to go to church regularly every Sunday. Shakespeare would have enquired +if he was troubled "about some act that had no relish of salvation +in't." "Thomas, he's a terrible coward [I here quote Mrs. Peregrine]. He +can't a-bear to have anything a-wrong with him; yet he don't mind +killing any animal." He made a tremendous fuss about a sore finger he +had at one time; and when the doctor exclaimed, like Romeo, "Courage, +man; the hurt cannot be much," Tom Peregrine replied, with much the same +humour as poor Mercutio: "No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as +a church door; but 'tis enough." I do not mean to infer that he quoted +Shakespeare, but he used words to the same effect. If asked whether he +had read Shakespeare, he might possibly have given the same reply as the +young woman in _High Life Below Stairs_: + +"KITTY: Shikspur? Shikspur? Who wrote it? No, I never read Shikspur. + +"LADY B.: _Then you have an immense pleasure to come_." + +Let it be said, however, that in many respects Tom was an exceedingly +well-informed and clever man. The family of Peregrines were noted, like +Sir Roger de Coverley, for their great friendliness to foxes; and to +their credit let it be said that they have preserved them religiously +for very many years. I scarcely ever heard a word of complaint from +them. All honour to those who neither hunt nor care for hunting, yet who +put up with a large amount of damage to crops and fences, as well as +loss of poultry and ground game, and yet preserve the foxes for a sport +in which they do not themselves take part. + +When conversing with me on the subject of preserving foxes, old Mr. +Peregrine would wax quite enthusiastic "You should put a barley rick in +the Conygers, and thatch it, and there would always be a fox." he would +remark. All this I hold to be distinctly creditable. For what is there +to prevent a farmer from pursuing a selfish policy and warning the whole +hunt off his land? + +The village parson is quite a character. You do not often see the like +nowadays. An excellent man in every way, and having his duty at heart, +he is one of the few Tories of the old school that are left to us. +Ruling his parish with a rod of iron, he is loved and respected by most +of his flock. In the Parish Council, at the Board of Guardians, his word +is law. He seldom goes away from the village save for his annual +holiday, yet he knows all that is going on in the great metropolis, and +will tell you the latest bit of gossip from Belgravia. He has a good +property of his own in Somersetshire, but to his credit let it be said +that his affections are entirely centred in the little Cotswold village, +which he has ruled for a quarter of a century. + + "Full loth were him to curse for his tithes, + But rather would be given out of doubt + Unto his poore parishens about + Of his off'ring, and eke of his substance. + He could in little thing have suffisance. + Wide was his parish and houses far asunder, + But he ne left not for no rain nor thunder + In sickness and in mischief to visit + The farthest in his parish much and lit, + Upon his feet, and in his hand a staff, + This noble ensample to his sheep he gaf, + That first he wrought and afterwards he taught." + + CHAUCER. + +Sermons are not so lengthy in our church as they were three hundred +years ago. Rudder mentions that a parson of the name of Winnington used +to preach here for two hours at a time, regularly turning the +hour-glass; for in those days hour-glasses were placed near the pulpit, +and the clergy used to vie with each other as to who could preach the +longest. I do not know if Mr. Barrow was ever surpassed in this respect. +History relates that he succeeded in emptying his church of the whole +congregation, including the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London--one man +only (an apprentice) remaining to the bitter end. Misguided laymen used +to amuse themselves in the same way. Fozbrooke mentions that one Will +Hulcote, a zealous lay preacher after the Reformation, used to mount the +pulpit in a velvet bonnet, a damask gown, and a gold chain. What an ass +he must have looked! This reminds me that at the age of twenty-four I +accepted the office of churchwarden of a certain country parish. I do +not recommend any of my readers to become churchwardens. You become a +sort of acting aide-de-camp to the parson, liable to be called out on +duty at a moment's notice. No; a young man might with some advantage to +others and credit to himself take upon himself the office of Parish +Councillor, Poor Law Guardian, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, High +Sheriff, or even Public Hangman; but save, oh, save us from being +churchwardens! To be obliged to attend those terrible institutions +called "vestry meetings," and to receive each year an examination paper +from the archdeacon of the diocese propounding such questions as, "Do +you attend church regularly? If not, why not?" etc., etc., is the +natural destiny of the churchwarden, and is more than human nature can +stand: in short, my advice to those thinking of becoming churchwardens +is, "Don't," with a very big _D_. + +According to the "Diary of Master William Silence," in the olden times a +pedlar would occasionally arrive at the church door during the sermon, +and proceed to advertise his wares at the top of his voice. Whereupon +the parson, speedily deserted by the female portion of his congregation +and by not a few of the other sex, was obliged to bring his discourse to +a somewhat inglorious conclusion. + +We learn from the same work that the churchwardens were in the habit of +disbursing large sums for the destruction of foxes. When a fox was +marked to ground the church bell was rung as a signal, summoning every +man who owned a pickaxe, a gun, or a terrier dog, to lend a hand in +destroying him. We are talking of two or three hundred years ago, when +the stag was the animal usually hunted by hounds on the Cotswolds and in +other parts of England. + +Our village is a favourite meet of the V.W.H. foxhounds. An amusing +story is told of a former tenant of the court house--a London gentleman, +who rented the place for a time. He is reported to have made a special +request to the master of the hounds, that when the meet was held at "the +Court," "his lordship" would make the fox pass in front of the +drawing-room windows, "For," said he, "I have several friends coming +from London to see the hunt." + +In a hunting district such as this the owners and occupiers of the +various country houses are usually enthusiastic devotees of the chase. +The present holder of the "liberty" adjoining us is a fox-hunter of the +old school. An excellent sportsman and a wonderful judge of a horse, he +dines in pink the best part of the year, drives his four-in-hand with +some skill, and wears the old-fashioned low-crowned beaver hat. + +We have many other interesting characters in our village; human nature +varies so delightfully that just as with faces so each individual +character has something to distinguish it from the rest of the world. +The old-fashioned autocratic farmer of the old school is there of +course, and a rare good specimen he is of a race that has almost +disappeared. Then we have the village lunatic, whose mania is "religious +enthusiasm." If you go to call on him, he will ask you "if you are +saved," and explain to you how his own salvation was brought about. +Unfortunately one of his hobbies is to keep fowls and pigs in his house +so that fleas are more or less numerous there, and your visits are +consequently few and far between. + +The village "quack," who professes to cure every complaint under the +sun, either in mankind, horses, dogs, or anything else by means of +herbs, buttonholes you sometimes in the village street. If once he +starts talking, you know that you are "booked" for the day. He is rather +a "bore," and is uncommonly fond of quoting the Scriptures in support of +his theories. But there is something about the man one cannot help +liking. His wonderful infallibility in curing disease is set down by +himself to divine inspiration. Many a vision has he seen. Unfortunately +his doctrines, though excellent in theory, are seldom successful in +practice. An excellent prescription which I am informed completely cured +a man of indigestion is one of his mixtures "last thing at night" and +the first chapter of St. John carefully perused and digested on top. + +I called on the old gentleman the other day, and persuaded him to give +me a short lecture. The following is the gist of what he said: "First of +all you must know that the elder is good for anything in the world, but +especially for swellings. If you put some of the leaves on your face, +they will cure toothache in five minutes. Then for the nerves there's +nothing like the berries of ivy. Yarrow makes a splendid ointment; and +be sure and remember Solomon's seal for bruises, and comfrey for 'hurts' +and broken bones. Camomile cures indigestion, and ash-tree buds make a +stout man thin. Soak some ash leaves in hot water, and you will have a +drink that is better than any tea, and destroys the 'gravel.' +Walnut-tree bark is a splendid emetic; and mountain flax, which grows +everywhere on the Cotswolds, is uncommon good for the 'innards.' 'Ettles +[nettles] is good for stings. Damp them and rub them on to a 'wapse' +sting, and they will take away the pain directly." On my suggesting that +stinging nettles were rather a desperate remedy, he assured me that +"they acted as a blister, and counteracted the 'wapse.' Now, I'll tell +you an uncommon good thing to preserve the teeth," he went on, "and that +is to _brush_ them once or twice a week. You buys a brush at the +chymists, you know; they makes them specially for it. Oh, 'tis a capital +good thing to cleanse the teeth occasionally!" + +He wound up by telling me a story of a celebrated doctor who left a +sealed book not to be opened till after his death, when it was to be +sold at auction. It fetched six hundred pounds. The man who paid this +sum was horrified on opening it to find it only contained the following +excellent piece of advice: "Always remember to keep the feet warm and +the head cool." + +As I said good-bye, and thanked him for his lecture, he said: "Those +doctors' chemicals destroy the 'innards.' And be sure and put down rue +for the heart; and burdock, 'tis splendid for the liver." + +Nor must mention be omitted of old Isaac Sly, a half-witted labouring +fellow with a squint in one eye and blind of the other, who at first +sight might appear a bad man to meet on a dark night, but is harmless +enough when you know him; he haunts the lanes at certain seasons of the +year, carrying an enormous flag, and invariably greets you with the +intelligence that he will bring the flag up next Christmas the same as +usual, according to time-honoured custom. He is the last vestige of the +old wandering minstrels of bygone days, playing his inharmonious +concertina in the hall of the manor house regularly at Christmas and at +other festivals. + +Nor must we forget dear, honest Mr. White, the kindest and most pompous +of men, who, after fulfilling his destiny as head butler in a great +establishment, and earning golden opinions from all sorts and conditions +of men, finally settled down to a quiet country life in a pretty cottage +in our village, where he is the life and soul of every convivial +gathering and beanfeast, carving a York ham or a sirloin with great +nicety and judgment. He has seen much of men and manners in his day, and +has a fund of information on all kinds of subjects. Having plenty of +leisure, he is a capital hand at finding the whereabouts of outlying +foxes; and once earned the eternal gratitude of the whole neighbourhood +by starting a fine greyhound fox, known as the "old customer," out of a +decayed and hollow tree that lay in an unfrequented spot by the river. +He poked him out with a long pole, and gave the "view holloa" just as +the hounds had drawn all the coverts "blank," and the people's faces +were as blank as the coverts; whereupon such a run was enjoyed as had +not been indulged in for many a long day. + +But what of our miller--our good, honest gentleman farmer and +miller--now, alas! retired from active business? What can I say of him? +I show you a man worthy to sit amongst kings. A little garrulous and +inquisitive at times, yet a conqueror for all that in the battle +of-life, and one of whom it may in truth be said, + + "And thus he bore without abuse + The grand old name of gentleman." + +As to the morals of the Gloucestershire peasants in general, and of our +village in particular, it may be said that they are on the whole +excellent; in one respect only they are rather casual, not to say +prehistoric. + +The following story gives one a very good idea of the casual nature of +hamlet morals:-- + +A parson--I do not know of which village, but it was somewhere in this +neighbourhood--paid a visit to a newly married man, to speak seriously +about the exceptionally premature arrival of an heir. "This is a +terrible affair," said the parson on entering the cottage. "Yaas; 'twere +a bad job to be sure," replied the man. "And what will yer take +to drink?" + +Let it in justice be said that such episodes are the exception and not +the rule. + +Among the characters to be met with in our Cotswold hamlet is the +village politician. Many a pleasant chat have we enjoyed in his snug +cottage, whilst the honest proprietor was having his cup of tea and +bread and butter after his work. Common sense he has to a remarkable +degree, and a good deal more knowledge than most people give him credit +for. He is a Radical of course; nine out of ten labourers are _at +heart_. And a very good case he makes out for his way of thinking, if +one can only put oneself in his place for a time. We have endeavoured to +convert him to our way of thinking, but the strong, reflective mind, + + "Illi robur, et aes triplex + Circa pectus erat," + +is not to be persuaded. He will be true to "the colour"; this is his +final answer, even if your arguments overcome for the time being. And +you cannot help liking the man for his straightforward, self-reliant +nature; he is acting up to the standard he has set himself all +through life. + + "This above all, to thine own self be true, + And it must follow, as the night the day, + Thou canst not then be false to any man." + +And how many there are in the byways of England acting up to this motto, +and leading the lives of heroes, though their reward is not to be +found here! + +There is no nobler sight on this earth than to behold men of all ages +doing their duty to the best of their ability, in spite of manifold +hardships and many a bitter disappointment; cheerfully and manfully +confronting difficulties of all kinds, and training up children in the +fear and knowledge of God. If this is not nobleness, there is no such +thing on earth. And it is owing to the vast amount of real, genuine +Christianity that exists among these honest folk that life is rendered +on the whole so cheerful in these Cotswold villages. Many small faults +the peasants doubtless possess; such are inseparable from human nature. +The petty jealousies always to be found where men do congregate exist +here, and as long as the earth revolves they will continue to exist; but +underneath the rough, unpolished exterior there is a reef of gold, far +richer than the mines of South Africa will ever produce, and as immortal +as the souls in which it lies so deeply rooted and embedded. + +For the best type of humanity we need not search in vain among the +humble cottages of the hamlets of England. There shall we find the +courageous, brave souls who "scorn delights and live laborious +days,"--men who estimate their fellows at their worth, and not according +to their social position. Blunt and difficult to lead, not out of +hardness of heart or obstinate pigheadedness, but as Burns has put it: + + "For the glorious priviledge + Of being independant." + +A few such are to be found in all our rural villages if one looks for +them; and if they are the exceptions to the general rule, it must also +be remembered that men with "character" are equally rare amongst the +upper and middle classes. + +Talking of village politics, I shall never forget a meeting held at +Northleach a few years ago. It was at a time when the balance of parties +was so even that our Unionist member was returned by the bare majority +of three votes, only to be unseated a few weeks afterwards on a recount. +Northleach is a very Radical town, about six miles from my home; and +when I agreed to take the chair, I little knew what an unpleasant job I +had taken in hand. Our member for some reason or other was unable to +attend. I therefore found myself at 7.30 one evening facing two hundred +"red-hot" Radicals, with only one other speaker besides myself to keep +the ball a-rolling. My companion was one of those professional +politicians of the baser sort, who call themselves Unionists because it +pays better for the working-class politician--in just the same way as +ambitious young men among the upper classes sometimes become Radicals on +the strength of there being more opening for them on the "Liberal" side. + +Well, this fellow bellowed away in the usual ranting style for about +three-quarters of an hour; his eloquence was great, but truth was "more +honoured in the breach than in the observance." So that when he sat +down, and my turn came, the audience, instead of being convinced, was +fairly rabid. I was very young at that time, and fearfully nervous; +added to which I was never much of a speaker, and, if interrupted at +all, usually lost the thread of my argument. + +After a bit they began shouting, "Speak up." The more they shouted the +more mixed I got. When once the spirit of insubordination is roused in +these fellows, it spreads like wild-fire. The din became so great I +could not hear myself speak. In about five minutes there would have been +a row. Suddenly a bright idea occurred to me. "Listen to me," I shouted; +"as you won't hear me speak, perhaps you will allow me to sing you a +song." I had a fairly strong voice, and could go up a good height; so I +gave them "Tom Bowling." Directly I started you could have heard a pin +drop. They gave, me a fair hearing all through; and when, as a final +climax, I finished up with a prolonged B flat--a very loud and long +note, which sounded to me something between a "view holloa" and the +whistle of a penny steamboat, but which came in nicely as a sort of +_piece de resistance_, fairly astonishing "Hodge"--their enthusiasm knew +no bounds. They cheered and cheered again. Hand shaking went on all +round, whilst the biggest Radical of the lot stood up and shouted, "You +be a little Liberal, I know, and the other blokes 'ave 'ired [hired] +you." Whether we won any votes that evening I am doubtful, but certain I +am that this meeting, which started so inauspiciously, was more +successful than many others in which I have taken part in a Radical +place, in spite of the fact that we left it amid a shower of stones from +the boys outside. + +I do not think there is anything I dislike more than standing up to +address a village audience on the politics of the day. Unless you happen +to be a very taking speaker--which his greatest friends could not accuse +the present writer of being--agricultural labourers are a most +unsympathetic audience. They will sit solemnly through a long speech +without even winking an eye, and your best "hits" are passed by in +solemn silence. To the nervous speaker a little applause occasionally is +doubtless encouraging; but if you want to get it, you must put somebody +down among the audience, and pay them half a crown to make a noise. + +I suppose no better fellow or more suitable candidate for a Cotswold +constituency ever walked than Colonel Chester Master, of the Abbey; yet +his efforts to win the seat under the new ballot act were always +unavailing, saving the occasion on which he got in by three votes, and +then was turned out again within a month. An unknown candidate from +London--I will not say a carpet-bagger--was able to beat the local +squire, entirely owing to the very fact that he was a stranger. + +There is a good deal of chopping and changing about among the +agricultural voters, in spite of a general determination to be true to +the "yaller" colour or the "blue," as the case may be. As I passed down +the village street on the day on which our last election took place, I +enthusiastically exclaimed to a passer-by in whom I thought I recognised +one of our erstwhile firmest supporters, "We shall have our man in for a +certainty this time." "What--in the brook!" replied the turncoat, with a +glance at the stream, and not without humour, his face purple with +emotion. This was somewhat damping; but the hold of the paid social +agitator is very great in these country places, and it is scarcely +credible what extraordinary stories are circulated on the eve of an +election to influence the voters. At such times even loyalty is at a +discount At a Tory meeting a lecturer was showing a picture of +Gibraltar, and expatiating on the English victory in 1704, when Sir +George Rooke won this important stronghold from the Spaniards. "How +would you like any one to come and take your land away?" exclaimed a +Radical, with a great show of righteous indignation. And his sentiments +received the applause of all his friends. + +In these matters, and in the spirit of independence generally, country +folk have much altered. No longer can it be said; as Addison quaintly +puts it in the _Spectator_, that "they are so used to be dazzled with +riches that they pay as much deference to the understanding of a man of +estate as of a man of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard +any truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached to them, +when they know there are several men of five hundred a year who do not +believe it." + +In such-like matters the labourers now show a vast deal of common sense, +and the only wonder is that whilst paying but little deference either to +men of estate or men of learning, they yet allow themselves to be +"bamboozled" by the promises and claptrap of the paid agitator. + +Narrow and ignorant as is the Toryism commonly displayed in country +districts, it is yet preferable, from the point of view of those whose +motto is _aequam memento_, etc., to the impossible Utopia which the +advanced Radicals invariably promise us and never effect. + +A word now about the farmers of Gloucestershire. + +It is often asked, How do the Cotswold farmers live in these bad times? +I suppose the only reply one can give is the old saw turned upside down: +They live as the fishes do in the sea; the great ones eat up the little +ones. The tendency, doubtless, in all kinds of trade is for the small +capitalists to go to the wall. + +Some of the farmers in this district are yeoman princes, not only +possessing their own freeholds, but farming a thousand or fifteen +hundred acres in addition. Mr. Garne, of Aldsworth, is a fine specimen +of this class. He makes a speciality of the original pure-bred Cotswold +sheep, and his rams being famous, he is able to do very well, in spite +of the fact that there is little demand for the old breed of sheep, the +mutton being of poor quality and the wool coarse and rough. Mr. Garne +carries off all the prizes at "the Royal" and other shows with his +magnificent sheep. A cross between the Hampshire downs and the Cotswold +sheep has been found to give excellent mutton, as well as fine and silky +wool. The cross breed is gradually superseding the native sheep. Mr. +Hobbs, of Maiseyhampton, is famous for his Oxford downs. These sheep are +likewise superior to the Cotswold breed. + +Barley does uncommonly well on the light limestone soil of these hills. +The brewers are glad to get Cotswold barley for malting purposes. Fine +sainfoin crops are grown, and black oats likewise do well. The shallow, +porous soil requires rain at least once a week throughout the spring and +summer. The better class of farmer on these hills does not have at all a +bad time even in these days. Very often they lead the lives of squires, +more especially in those hamlets where there is no landowner resident. +Hunting, shooting, coursing, and sometimes fishing are enjoyed by most +of these squireens, and they are a fine, independent class of +Englishman, who get more fun out of life than many richer men, They will +tell you with regard to the labourers that the following adage is still +to be depended upon:-- + + "Tis the same with common natures: + Use 'em kindly they rebel; + But be rough as nutmeg-graters, + And the rogues obey you well." + +[Illustration: An Old Cottage. 087.png] + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LANGUAGE OF THE COTSWOLDS, WITH SOME ANCIENT SONGS AND LEGENDS. + +A very marked characteristic of the village peasant is his extraordinary +honesty. Not one in ten would knock a pheasant on the head with his +stick if he found one on his allotment among the cabbages. Rabbit +poachers there are, but even these are rare; and as for housebreaking +and robbery, it simply does not exist. The manor house has a tremendous +nail-studded oak door, which is barred at night by ponderous clamps of +iron and many other contrivances; but the old-fashioned windows could be +opened by any moderately skilful burglar in half a minute. There is +absolutely nothing to prevent access to the house at night, whilst in +the daytime the doors are open from "morn till dewy eve." Most of the +windows are innocent of shutters. When in Ireland recently, I noticed +that the gates in every field were immensely strong, generally of iron, +with massive pillars of stone on either side; but in spite of these +precautions there was usually a gap in the hedge close by, through which +one might safely have driven a waggon. This reminded one of the Cotswold +manor house and its strongly barricaded oak door, surrounded by windows, +which any burglar could open "as easy as a glove," as Tom Peregrine +would say. + +A strange-looking traveller, with slouching gait and mouldy wideawake +hat, passes through the hamlet occasionally, leading a donkey in a cart. +This is one of the old-fashioned hawkers. These men are usually poachers +or receivers of poached goods. They are not averse to paying a small sum +for a basket of trout or a few partridges, pheasants, hares or rabbits +in the game season; whilst in spring they deal in a small way in the +eggs of game birds. As often as not this class of man is accompanied by +a couple of dogs, marvellously trained in the art of hunting the coverts +and "retrieving" a pheasant or a rabbit which may be crouching in the +underwood. Hares, too, are taken by dogs in the open fields. One never +finds out much about these gentry from the natives. Even the keeper is +reticent on the subject. "A sart of a harf-witted fellow" is Tom +Peregrine's description of this very suspicious-looking traveller. + +The better sort of carrier, who calls daily at the great house with all +kinds of goods and parcels from the big town seven miles off, is +occasionally not averse to a little poaching in the roadside fields +among the hares. The carriers are a great feature of these rural +villages; they are generally good fellows, though some of them are a bit +too fond of the bottle on Saturday nights. + +The dogs employed by poachers are taught to keep out of sight and avoid +keepers and such-like folk. They know as well as the poacher himself the +nature of their trade, and that the utmost secrecy must be observed. To +see them trotting demurely down the road you would never think them +capable of doing anything wrong. A wave of the hand and they are into +the covert in a second, ready to pounce like a cat on a sitting +pheasant. One short whistle and they are at their master's heels again. +If in carrying game in their mouths they spied or winded a keeper, they +would in all probability contrive to hide themselves or make tracks for +the high road as quickly as possible, leaving their spoil in the thick +underwood, "to be left till called for." + +But to return once more to the honest Cotswold labourer. Occasionally a +notice is put up in the village as follows:-- + +"There will be a dinner in the manor grounds on July--. Please bring +knives and forks." + +These are great occasions in a Cotswold village. Knives and forks mean +meat; and a joint of mutton is not seen by the peasants more than "once +in a month of Sundays." Needless to say, there is not much opportunity +of studying the language of the country as long as the feast is +progressing. "Silence is golden" is the motto here whilst the viands are +being discussed; but afterwards, when the Homeric desire of eating and +drinking has been expelled, an adjournment to the club may lead to a +smoking concert, and, once started, there are very few Cotswold men who +cannot sing a song of at least eighteen verses. For three hours an +uninterrupted stream of music flows forth, not only solos, but +occasionally duets, harmoniously chanted in parts, and rendered with the +utmost pathos. It cannot be said that Gloucestershire folk are endowed +with a large amount of musical talent; neither their "ears" nor their +vocal chords are ever anything great, but what they lack in quality they +make up in quantity, and I have listened to as many as forty songs +during one evening--some of them most entertaining, others extremely +dull. The songs the labourer most delights in are those which are +typical of the employment in which he happens to be engaged. Some of the +old ballads, handed down from father to son by oral tradition, are very +excellent. The following is a very good instance of this kind of song; +when sung by the carter to a good rollicking tune, it goes with a rare +ring, in spite of the fact that it lasts about a quarter of an hour. +There would be about a dozen verses, and the chorus is always sung twice +at the end of each verse, first by the carter and then by the +whole company. + +"Now then, gentlemen, don't delay harmony," Farmer Peregrine keeps +repeating in his old-fashioned, convivial way, and thus the ball is kept +a-rolling half the night. + + JIM, THE CARTER LAD. + + "My name is Jim, the carter lad-- + A jolly cock am I; + I always am contented, + Be the weather wet or dry. + I snap my finger at the snow, + And whistle at the rain; + I've braved the storm for many a day, + And can do so again." + + (_Chorus_.) + + "Crack, crack, goes my whip, + I whistle and I sing, + I sits upon my waggon, + I'm as happy as a king. + My horse is always willing; + As for me, I'm never sad: + There's none can lead a jollier life + Than Jim, the carter lad." + + "My father was a carrier + Many years ere I was born, + And used to rise at daybreak + And go his rounds each morn. + He often took me with him, + Especially in the spring. + I loved to sit upon the cart + And hear my father sing. + Crack, crack, etc." + + "I never think of politics + Or anything so great; + I care not for their high-bred talk + About the Church and State. + I act aright to man and man, + And that's what makes me glad; + You'll find there beats an honest heart + In Jim, the carter lad. + Crack, crack, etc." + + "The girls, they all smile on me + As I go driving past. + My horse is such a beauty, + And he jogs along so fast. + We've travelled many a weary mile, + And happy days have had; + For none can lead a jollier life + Than Jim, the carter lad. + Crack, crack, etc." + + "So now I'll wish you all good night + It's time I was away; + For I know my horse will weary + If I much longer stay. + To see your smiling faces, + It makes my heart quite glad. + I hope you'll drink your kind applause + To Jim, the carter lad. + Crack, crack, etc." + +The village choirs do very well as long as their organist or vicar is +not too ambitious in his choice of music. There is a fatal tendency in +many places to do away with the old hymns, which every one has known +from a boy, and substitute the very inferior modern ones now to be found +in our books. This is the greatest mistake, if I may say so. A man is +far more likely to sing, and feel deeply when he is singing, those +simple words and notes he learnt long ago in the nursery at home. And +there is nothing finer in the world than some of our old English hymns. + +I appeal to any readers who have known what it is to feel deeply; and +few there are to whom this does not apply, if some of those moments of +their lives, when the thoughts have soared into the higher regions of +emotion, have not been those which followed the opening strain of the +organ as it quietly ushered in the old evening hymn, "Abide with me, +fast falls the eventide," or any other hymn of the same kind. It is the +same in the vast cathedral as in the little Norman village church. There +are fifty hymns in our book which would be sufficient to provide the +best possible music for our country churches. The best organists realise +this. Joseph Barnby always chose the old hymns; and you will hear them +at Westminster and St. Paul's. The country organist, however, imagines +that it is his duty to be always teaching his choir some new and +difficult tune; the result in nine cases out of ten being "murder" and a +rapid falling off in the congregation. + +The Cotswold folk on the whole are fond of music, though they have not a +large amount of talent for it. The Chedworth band still goes the round +of the villages once or twice a year. These men are the descendants of +the "old village musicians," who, to quote from the _Strand Musical +Magazine_ for September 1897, "led the Psalmody in the village church +sixty years ago with stringed and wind instruments. Mr. Charles Smith, +of Chedworth, remembers playing the clarionet in Handel's _Zadok the +Priest_, performed there in 1838 in honour of the Queen's accession." He +talks of a band of twelve, made up of strings and _wood-wind_. + +I am bound to say that the music produced by the Chedworth band at the +present day, though decidedly creditable in such an old-world village, +is rather like the Roman remains for which the district is so famous; it +savours somewhat of the prehistoric. But when the band comes round and +plays in the hall of our old house on Christmas Eve, I have many a +pleasant chat with the Chedworth musicians; they are so delightfully +enthusiastic, and so grateful for being allowed to play. When I gave +them a cup of tea they kept repeating, "A thousand thanks for all your +kindness, sir." + +It is inevitable that men engaged day by day and year by year in such +monotonous employ as agricultural labour should be somewhat lacking in +acuteness and sensibility; in no class is the hereditary influence so +marked. Were it otherwise, matters would be in a sorry pass in country +places, for discontent would reign supreme; and once let "ambition mock +their useful toil," once their sober wishes learn to stray, how would +the necessary drudgery of agricultural work be accomplished at all? In +spite, however, of this marked characteristic of inertness--hereditary +in the first place, and fostered by the humdrum round of daily toil on +the farm--there is sometimes to be found a sense of humour and a love of +merriment that is quite astonishing. A good deal of what is called +knowledge of the world, which one would have thought was only to be +acquired in towns, nowadays penetrates into remote districts, so that +country folk often have a good idea of "what's what" I once overheard +the following conversation: + +"Who's your new master, Dick? He's a bart., ain't he?" + +"Oh no," was the reply; "he's only a _jumped-up jubilee knight_!" + +Sense of humour of a kind the Cotswold labourer certainly has, even +though he is quite unable to see a large number of apparently simple +jokes. The diverting history of John Gilpin, for instance, read at a +smoking concert, was received with scarce a smile. + +Old Mr. Peregrine lately told me an instance of the extraordinary +secretiveness of the labourer. Two of his men worked together in his +barn day after day for several weeks. During that time they never spoke +to each other, save that one of them would always say the last thing at +night, "Be sure to shut the door." + +Oddly enough they thoroughly appreciate the humour of the wonderful +things that went on fifty and a hundred years ago. The old farmer I have +just mentioned told me that he remembers when he used to go to church +fifty years ago, how, after they had all been waiting half an hour, the +clerk would pin a notice in the porch, "No church to-day; Parson C---- +got the gout." + +As with history so also with geography, the Cotswold labourer sometimes +gets "a bit mixed." + +"'Ow be they a-gettin' on in Durbysher?" lately enquired a man at +Coln-St-Aldwyns. + +To him replied a righteously indignant native of the same village, "I've +'eard as 'ow the English army 'ave killed ten thousand Durvishers +(Dervishes)." + +"Bedad!" answered his friend, "there won't be many left in Durbysher if +they goes on a-killin' un much longer." + +Another story lately told me in the same village was as follows:-- + +An old lady went to the stores to buy candles, and was astonished to +find that owing to the Spanish-American war "candles was riz." + +"Get along!" she indignantly exclaimed. "_Don't tell me they fights by +candlelight_" + +One of the cheeriest fellows that ever worked for us was a carter called +Trinder. He was the father of _twenty-one children_--by the same wife. +He never seemed to be worried in the slightest degree by domestic +affairs, and was always happy and healthy and gay. This man's wages +would be about twelve shillings a week: not a very large sum for a man +with a score of children. Then it must be remembered that the boys would +go off to work in the fields at a very early age, and by the time they +were ten years old they would be keeping themselves. A large family like +this would not have the crushing effect on the labouring man that it has +on the poor curate or city clerk. Nevertheless, one cannot help looking +upon the man as a kind of hero, when one considers the enormous number +of grandchildren and descendants he will have. On being asked the other +day how he had contrived to maintain such a quiverful, he answered, +"I've always managed to get along all right so far; I never wanted for +vittals, sir, anyhow." This was all the information he would give. + +Talking of "vittals," the only meat the labouring man usually indulges +in is bacon. His breakfast consists of bread and butter, and either tea +or cocoa. For his dinner he relies on bread and bacon, occasionally +only bread and cheese. In the winter he is home by five, and once more +has tea, or cocoa, or beer. Coffee is very seldom seen in the cottages. +During the short days there is nothing to do but go to bed in the +evening, unless a walk of over a mile to the village inn is considered +worth the trouble. But being tired and leg weary, a long walk does not +usually appeal to the men after their evening meal; so to bed is the +order of the day,--and, thank Heaven! "the sleep of a labouring man is +sweet." In the longer days of spring and summer there is plenty to do in +the allotments; and on the whole the allotments acts have been a great +blessing to the labourers. + +It is during the three winter months that penny readings and smoking +concerts are so much appreciated in the country. Too much cannot be done +in this way to brighten the life of the village during the cold, dark +days of December and January, for the labouring man hates reading above +all things. + +Perhaps the fact that these simple folk do not read the newspapers, or +only read those parts in which they have a direct interest--such as +paragraphs indulging in socialistic castles in the air--has its +advantages, inasmuch as it allows their common sense full play in all +other matters, unhampered as it is (except in this one weak point of +socialism) by the prejudices of the day. So that if one wanted to get an +unprejudiced opinion on some great question of right or wrong, in the +consideration of which common sense alone was required--such a question, +for instance, as is occasionally cropping up in these times in our +foreign policy--one would have to go to the very best men in the +country, namely, those amongst the educated classes who think for +themselves, or to men of the so-called lowest strata of society, such as +these honest Cotswold labourers; because there is scarcely one man in +ten among the reading public who is not biassed and confused by the +manifold contradictions and political claptrap of the daily papers, and +led away by side issues from a clear understanding of the rights of +every case. Our free press is doubtless a grand institution. As with +individuals, however, so ought it to be with nations. Let us, in our +criticisms of the policy of those who watch over the destinies of other +countries, whilst firmly upholding our rights, strictly adhere to the +principle of _noblesse oblige_. The press is every day becoming more and +more powerful for good or evil; its influence on men's minds has become +so marked that it may with truth be said that the press rules public +opinion rather than that public opinion rules the press. But the writers +of the day will only fulfil their destiny aright by approaching every +question in a broad and tolerant spirit, and by a firm reliance, in +spite of the prejudices of the moment, on the ancient faith of _noblesse +oblige_. However, the unanimity recently shown by the press in upholding +our rights at Fashoda was absolutely splendid. + +The origin of the names of the fields in this district is difficult to +trace. Many a farm has its "barrow ground," called after some old burial +mound situated there; and many names like Ladbarrow, Cocklebarrow, etc., +have the same derivation. "Buryclose," too, is a name often to be found +in the villages; and skeletons are sometimes dug up in meadows so +called. A copse, called Deadman's Acre, is supposed to have received its +name from the fact that a man died there, having sworn that he would +reap an acre of corn with a sickle in a day or perish in the attempt. It +is more likely, however, to be connected with the barrows, which are +plentiful thereabouts. + +Oliver Cromwell's memory is still very much respected among the +labouring folk. Every possible work is attributed to his hand, and even +the names of places are set down to his inventive genius. Thus they tell +you that when he passed through Aldsworth he did not think very much of +the village (it is certainly a very dull little place), so he snapped +his fingers and exclaimed, "That's all 'e's worth!" On arriving at Ready +Token, where was an ancient inn, he found it full of guests; he +therefore exclaimed, "It's already taken!" Was ever such nonsense heard? +Yet these good folk believe every tradition of this kind, and delight in +telling you such stories. Ready Token is a bleak spot, standing very +high, and having a clump of trees on it; it is therefore conspicuous for +miles; so that when this country was an open moor, Ready Token was very +useful as a landmark to travellers. Mr. Sawyer thinks the name is a +corruption from the Celtic word "rhydd" and the Saxon "tacen," meaning +"the way to the ford," the place being on the road to Fairford, where +the Coln is crossed. + +One of the chief traditions of this locality, and one that doubtless has +more truth in it than most of the stories the natives tell you, relates +that two hundred years ago people were frequently murdered at Ready +Token inn when returning with their pockets full of money from the big +fairs at Gloucester or Oxford. A labouring friend of mine was telling me +the other day of the wonderful disappearance of a packman and a +"jewelrer," as he called him. For very many years nothing was heard of +them, but about twenty years ago some "skellingtons" were dug up on the +exact spot where the inn stood, so their disappearance was +accounted for. + +This same man told me the following story about the origin of Hangman's +Stone, near Northleach:-- + +"A man stole a 'ship' [sheep], and carried it tied to his neck and +shoulders by a rope. Feeling rather tired, he put the 'ship' down on top +of the 'stwun' [stone] to rest a bit; but suddenly it rolled off the +other side, and hung him--broke his neck." + +Hangman's Stone may be seen to this day. The real origin of the name may +be found in Fozbrooke's History of Gloucestershire. It was the place of +execution in Roman times. + +"As illuminations in cases of joy, dismissal from the house in quarrels, +wishing joy on New Year's Day, king and queen on twelfth day (from the +Saturnalia), holding up the hand in sign of assent, shaking hands, etc., +are Roman customs, so were executions just out of the town, where also +the executioner resided. In Anglo-Saxon times this officer was a man of +high dignity." + +A very common name in Gloucestershire for a field or wood is "conyger" +or "conygre." It means the abode of conies or rabbits. + +Some farms have their "camp ground"; and there, sure enough, if one +examines it carefully, will be found traces of some ancient British +camp, with its old rampart running round it. But what can be the +derivation of such names as Horsecollar Bush Furlong, Smoke Acre +Furlong, West Chester Hull, Cracklands, Crane Furlong, Sunday's Hill, +Latheram, Stoopstone Furlong, Pig Bush Furlong, and Barelegged Bush? + +Names like Pitchwells, where there is a spring; Breakfast Bush Ground, +where no doubt Hodge has had his breakfast for centuries under shelter +of a certain bush; Rickbushes, and Longlands are all more or less easy +to trace. Furzey Leaze, Furzey Ground, Moor Hill, Ridged Lands, and the +Pikes are all names connected with the nature of the fields or +their locality. + +Leaze is the provincial name for a pasture, and Furzey Leaze would be a +rough "ground," where gorse was sprinkled about. The Pikes would be a +field abutting on an old turnpike gate. The word "turnpike" is never +used in Gloucestershire; it is always "the pike." A field is a "ground," +and a fence or stone wall is a "mound." The Cotswold folk do not talk +about houses; they stick to the old Saxon termination, and call their +dwellings "housen"; they also use the Anglo-Saxon "hire" for hear. The +word "bowssen," too, is very frequently heard in these parts; it is a +provincialism for a stall or shed where oxen are kept. "Boose" is the +word from which it originally sprang. A very expressive phrase in common +use is to "quad" or "quat"; it is equivalent to the word "squat." Other +words in this dialect are "sprack," an adjective meaning quick or +lively; and "frem" or "frum," a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon +"fram," meaning fresh or flourishing. The latter word is also used in +Leicestershire. Drayton, who knew the Cotswolds, and wrote poetry about +the district, uses the expression "frim pastures." "Plym" is the +swelling of wood when it is immersed in water; and "thilk," another +Anglo-Saxon word, means thus or the same. + +A mole in the Gloucestershire dialect is an "oont" or "woont." A barrow +or mound of any kind is a "tump." Anything slippery is described as +"slick"; and a slice is a "sliver." "Breeds" denotes the brim of a hat, +and a deaf man is said to be "dunch" or "dunny." To "glowr" is to +stare--possibly connected with the word "glare." + +Two red-coated sportsmen, while hunting close to our village the other +day, got into a small but deep pond. They were said to have fallen into +the "stank," and got "zogged" through: for a small pond is a "stank," +and to be "zogged" is equivalent to being soaked. + +"Hark at that dog 'yoppeting' in the covert! I'll give him a nation good +'larroping' when I catch him!" This is the sort of sentence a +Gloucestershire keeper makes use of. To "larrop" is to beat. Oatmeal or +porridge is always called "grouts"; and the Cotswold native does not +talk of hoisting a ladder, but "highsting" is the term he uses. The +steps of the ladder are the "rongs." Luncheon is "nuncheon." Other words +in the dialect are "caddie" = to humbug; "cham" = to chew; "barken" = a +homestead; and "bittle" = a mallet. + +Fozbrooke says that the term "hopping mad" is applied to people who are +very angry; but we do not happen to have heard it in Gloucestershire. +Two proverbs that are in constant use amongst all classes are, "As sure +as God's in Gloucestershire," and, "'Tis as long in coming as Cotswold +'berle'" (barley). The former has reference to the number of churches +and religious houses the county used to possess, the latter to the +backward state of the crops on the exposed Cotswold Hills. To meet a man +and say, "Good-morning, nice day," is to "pass the time of day with +him." Anything queer or mysterious is described as "unkard" or "unket"; +perhaps this word is a provincialism for "uncouth." A narrow lane or +path between two walls is a "tuer" in Gloucestershire vernacular. +Another local word I have not heard elsewhere is "eckle," meaning a +green woodpecker or yaffel. The original spelling of the word was +"hic-wall." In these days of education the real old-fashioned dialect is +seldom heard; among the older peasants a few are to be found who speak +it, but in twenty years' time it will be a thing of the past. + +The incessant use of "do" and "did," and the changing of _o_'s into +_a_'s are two great characteristics of the Gloucestershire talk. Being +anxious to be initiated into the mysteries of the dialect, I buttonholed +a labouring friend of mine the other day, and asked him to try to teach +it to me. He is a great exponent of the language of the country, and, +like a good many others of his type, he is as well satisfied with his +pronunciation as he is with his other accomplishments. The fact is that + + "His favourite sin + Is pride that apes humility." + +It is _your_ grammar, not his, which is at fault. In the following +verses will be found the gist of what he told me:-- + + "If thee true 'Glarcestershire' would know, + I'll tell thee how us always zays un; + Put 'I' for 'me,' and 'a' for 'o'. + On every possible occasion. + + When in doubt squeeze in a 'w'-- + 'Stwuns,' not 'stones.' And don't forget, zur, + That 'thee' must stand for 'thou' and 'you'; + 'Her' for 'she,' and _vice versa_. + + Put 'v' for 'f'; for 's' put 'z'; + 'Th' and 't' we change to 'd,'-- + So dry an' kip this in thine yead, + An' thou wills't talk as plain as we." + +The student in the language of the Cotswolds should study a very ancient +song entitled "George Ridler's Oven." Strange to say, there is little or +nothing in it about the oven, but a good deal of the old Gloucestershire +talk may be gleaned from it. It begins like this: + + GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN. + + A RIGHT FAMOUS OLD GLOUCESTERSHIRE BALLAD. + + + "The stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, + The stwuns, the stwuns, the stwuns, _the stwuns_." + +This is sung like the prelude to a grand orchestral performance. +Beginning somewhat softly, Hodge fires away with a gravity and emotion +which do him infinite credit, each succeeding repetition of the word +"stwuns" being rendered with ever-increasing pathos and emphasis, until, +like the final burst of an orchestral prelude, with drums, trumpets, +fiddles, etc, all going at the same time, are at length ushered in the +opening lines of the ballad. + + "The stwuns that built Gaarge Ridler's oven, + And thauy qeum from the Bleakeney's Quaar; + And Gaarge he wur a jolly ould mon, + And his yead it graw'd above his yare. + + "One thing of Gaarge Ridler's I must commend. + And that wur vor a notable theng; + He mead his braags avoore he died, + Wi' any dree brothers his zons zshou'd zeng. + + "There's Dick the treble and John the mean + (Let every mon zing in his auwn pleace); + And Gaarge he wur the elder brother, + And therevoore he would zing the beass. + + "Mine hostess's moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell) + A pretty wench, and I lov'd her well; + I lov'd her well--good reauzon why, + Because zshe lov'd my dog and I. + + "My dog has gotten zitch a trick + To visit moids when thauy be zick; + When thauy be zick and like to die, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I. + + "My dog is good to catch a hen,-- + A duck and goose is vood vor men; + And where good company I spy, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I. + + "Droo aal the world, owld Gaarge would bwoast, + Commend me to merry owld England mwoast; + While vools gwoes scramblin' vur and nigh, + We bides at whoam, my dog and I. + + "Ov their furrin tongues let travellers brag, + Wi' their vifteen neames vor a puddin' bag; + Two tongues I knows ne'er towld a lie, + And their wearers be my dog and I. + + "My mwother told I when I wur young, + If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot, + That drenk would pruv my auverdrow, + And meauk me wear a thzreadbare cwoat. + + "When I hev dree zixpences under my thumb, + Oh, then I be welcome wherever I qeum; + But when I hev none, oh, then I pass by,-- + 'Tis poverty pearts good company. + + "When I gwoes dead, as it may hap, + My greauve shall be under the good yeal tap + In vouled earms there wool us lie, + Cheek by jowl, my dog and I." + +GLOSSARY. + +_stwuns_ = stones. +_quaar_ = quarry. +_yare_ = hair. +_avoor_ = before. +_auwn_ = own. +_furrin_ = foreign. +_greauve_ = grave. +_thauy_ = they. +_yead_ = head. +_mead_ = made. +_dree_ = three. +_pleace_ = place. +_pwoot_ = pewter. +_yeal_ = ale. +_qeum_ = come. +_graw'd_ = grew. +_braags_ = brag. +_zshou'd_ = should. +_beass_ = bass. +_auverdrow_ = overthrow. +_vouled earms_ = folded arms. +_zitch_ = such. + +The song itself is as old as the hills, but I have taken the liberty of +appending a glossary, in order that my readers may be spared the +trouble of making out the meaning of some of the words. It was a long +time before it dawned upon me that "vouled earms" meant "folded arms "; +"auverdrow" likewise was very perplexing. Like many of the old ballads, +it sounds like a rigmarole from beginning to end; but there is really a +great deal more in it than meets the eye. George Ridler is no less a +personage than King Charles I., and the oven represents the cavalier +party. (See Appendix.) + +Such songs as these are deeply interesting from the fact that they are +handed down by oral tradition from father to son, and written copies are +never seen in the villages. The same applies to the play the mummers act +at Christmas-time; all has to be learnt from the preceding generation of +country folk. But the great feature of our smoking concerts and village +entertainments has always been the reading of Tom Peregrine. This noted +sportsman, who writes one of the best hands I ever saw, has kindly +copied out a recitation he lately gave us. It relates to the adventures +of one Roger Plowman, a Cotswold man who went to London, and is taken +from a book, compiled some years ago by some Ciceter men, entitled +"Roger Plowman's Excursion to London." It was read at a harvest home +given by old Mr. Peregrine in his huge barn, an entertainment which +lasted from six o'clock till twelve. I trust none of my readers will be +any the worse for reading it. Tom Peregrine declares that when he first +gave it at a penny reading some years ago, one or two of the audience +had to be carried out in hysterics--they laughed so much; and another +man fell backwards off his chair, owing to the extreme comicality of it. +The truth is, our versatile keeper is a wonderful reader, and speaking +as he does the true Gloucestershire accent, in the same way as some of +the squires spoke it a century or more ago, it is extremely amusing to +hear him copying the still broader dialect of the labouring class. He +has a tremendous sense of humour, and his epithet for anything amusing +is "Foolish." "'Tis a splendid tale; 'tis so desperate foolish," he +would often say. + + + +ROGER PLOWMAN'S JOURNEY TO LONDON. + +Monday marnin' I wur to start early. Aal the village know'd I wur +a-gwain, an' sum sed as how I shood be murthur'd avoor I cum back. On +Sunday I called at the manur 'ouse an' asked cook if she hed any message +vor Sairy Jane. She sed: + +"Tell Sairy Jane to look well arter 'e, Roger, vor you'll get lost, tuck +in, an' done vor." + +"Rest easy in yer mind, cook," I zed; "Roger is toughish, an' he'll see +thet the honour o' the old county is well show'd out and kep' up." + +Cook wished me a pleasant holiday. + +I started early on Monday marnin', 'tarmined to see as much as possible. +I wur to walk into Cizzeter, an' vram thur goo by train to Lunnon. + +I wur delighted wi' Cizzeter. The shops an' buildin's round the +market-pleace wur vine; an' the church wur grand; didn't look as how he +wur built by the same sort of peeple as put the shops up. + +When the Roomans an' anshunt Britons went to church arm-in-arm it wur +always Whitsuntide, an' arter church vetched their banners out wi' brass +eagles on, an' hed a morris dance in the market-pleace. The anshunt +Britons never hed any tailory done, but thay wur all artists wi' the +paint pot. The Consarvatives painted thurselves bloo, and the Radicals +yaller, an' thay as danced the longest, the Roomans sent to Parlyment to +rool the roost. + +I wur show'd the pleace wur the peeple started vor Lunnon. I walked in, +an' thur wur a hole in the purtition, an' I seed the peeple a-payin' +thur money vor bits o' pasteboord. I axed the mon if he could take I +to Lunnon. + +He sed, "Fust, second, or thurd?" + +I sed, "Fust o' course, not arter; vor Sairy Jane ull be waitin'." + +He sed 'twer moor ner a pound to pay. + +I sed the paason sed 'twer about eight shillin'. + +"That's thurd class," he sed; an' that thay ud aal be in Lunnon at the +same time. + +So I paid thurd class, an' he shuved out sum pasteboord, an' I put it in +my pocket, an' walked out; an' thur wur a row o' carridges waitin' vor +Lunnon; an' off we went as fast as a racehoss. + +I heerd sum say thay wur off to Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, +North Wales; an' I sed to meself, "I be on the rong road. Dang the +buttons o' that little pasteboord seller! he warn't a 'safe mon' to hev +to do wi'." + +I enquired if the peeple hed much washin' to do for the railway about +here, an' thay wanted to know what I required to know vor. + +I sed because thur war such a long clothesline put up aal the way +along. An' thay aal bust out a-larfin,' an' sed 'twur the tallergraph; +an' one sed as how if the Girt Western thought as how 'twould pay +better, thay ud soon shet up shop, an' take in washin'. + +Never in aal me life did I go at such a rate under and awver bridges an +droo holes in the 'ills. We wur soon at Swindon, wur a lot wur at work +as black as tinkers. We aal hed to get out, an' a chap in green clothes +sed we shood hev to wait ten minits. + +Thur wur a lot gwain into a room, an' I seed they wur eatin' and +drinkin'; so I ses to meself, "I be rayther peckish, I'll go in an' see +if I can get summut." So in I goes; an' 'twer a vine pleace, wi' sum +nation good-looking gurls a-waitin'. + +"I'll hev a half-quartern loaf," I sed. + +"We doan't kip a baker's shop," she sed. "Thur's cakes, an' biskits, an' +sponge cakes." + +"Hev 'e got sum good bacon, raythur vattish?" I sed. + +"No, sur; but thur's sum good poork sausingers at sixpence." + +"Hand awver the pleat, young 'ooman," I sed, "an' I'll trubble you vor +the mustard, an' salt, an' that pleat o' bread an' butter, an' I'll set +down an' hev a bit of a snack." + +The sausingers wur very good, an' teasted moorish aal the time; but the +bread an' butter wur so nation thin that I had to clap dree or vour +pieces together to get a mouthful. I didn't seem to want a knife or +vork, but the young 'ooman put a white-handled knife an' silver +vork avoor me. + +The pleat o' bread an' butter didn't hold out vor the sausingers, so I +hed another pleat o' bread an' butter, an' wur getting on vine. I seem'd +to want summut to wet me whistle, an' wur gwain to order a quart o' ale, +when I heers a whistle an' a grunt vram a steamer, an' out I goos; an', +begum! he wur off. + +I beckuned to the chap to stop the train, wi' me vork as I hed jest +stuck into the last sausinger. I hed clapt a good mouthful in, or I +could hev hollur'd loud enough vor him to heer. The train didn't stop, +an' the vellers in green laughed to see I wur left in the lurch, as I +tell'd them that Sairy Jane would be sure to meet the Lunnon train. Thay +sed I could go in an' vinish the sausingers now, an' that wur what I +intended to do. + +I asked the young 'ooman for a bottle o' ale, when she put a tallish +bottle down wi' a beg head; an' as I wur dry I knocked the neck off, an' +the ale kum a-fizzing out like ginger pop,--an' 'twer no use to try to +stop the fizzle. I had aal I could get in a glass, an' it zeemed +goodish. She soon run back wi' another bottle in her hand, an' I tell'd +her 'twer pop she hed put down. + +"What hev you bin an' dun, sur?" she sed; "that wur a bottle o' Moses's +shampane, at seven shillin's an' sixpence a bottle." + +I tell'd her I know'd 'twer nothin' but pop, as it fizzled so. Thur wur +two or dree gentlemen in, an' thay larfed at the fizzle an' I. It seemed +to meak me veel merryish, an' I zed, "What's to pay, young 'ooman?" + +She sed, "Thirteen shillin's, sur." + +"Thirteen scaramouches!" I sed. "What vor?" + +"Seven sausingers, dree and sixpence; twenty-vour slices o' bread an' +butter, two shillin's; an' a bottle of shampane, seven and +sixpence;--kums to thirteen shillin's," she sed. + +"Yer tell'd me as how the sausingers wur sixpence," I sed; "an' the +slices o' bread ud cut off a tuppeny loaf." + +She sed the sausingers wur sixpence each, an' twenty-vour slices o' +bread an' butter wur a penny each--two shillin's. + +I sed, "Do 'e call that reysonable, young 'ooman? 'cause I bain't +a-gwain to pay thirteen shillin's vor't, an' lose me train, an' +disappoint Sairy Jane. Thirteen shillin's vor two or dree sausingers, a +few slices o' bread an' butter, an' a bottle o' pop--not vor Roger, if +he knows it" + +Up kums a chap an' ses, "Be you gwain to pay vor wat you hev hed?" + +"To be sure I be. Thur's sixpence vor the sausingers, tuppence vor bread +an' butter, an' dreppence the pop,--that meaks 'levenpence"; an' I drows +down a shillin', and ses, "Thur's the odd penny vor the young 'ooman as +waited upon me." + +"You hed thirteen shillin's worth o' grub an' shampane, an' you'll hev +to pay twelve shillin's moor or I shall take 'e away an' lock 'e up vor +the night," he sed. + +"Do 'e thenk as how you could do aal that, young man?" I sed. "No +disrespect to 'e though, vor that don't argify; but I could ketch hold +on 'e by the scroff o' yer neck an' the seat o' yer breeches, an' pitch +'e slick into the roadway among the iron." + +"Look heer, Meyster Turmot, you'll hev to pay twelve shillin' moor avoor +you gwoes out o' heer, or Lunnon won't hold 'e to-night." + +I know'd Sairy Jane ud be a-waitin', an' as he sed the train were moast +ready, I drows down a suverin', an' hed the change, an' as I wur a-gwain +out I hollurs out as how I shood remember Swindleum stashun. I heer'd +the lot a-larfin, an' hed moast a mind to go in an' twirl me ground ash +among um vor thur edification. + +I wur soon on the road agen, a-gwain like a house a-vire, an' thur wur +more clotheslines aal the way along on pwosts. + +W'en we got nearish to Lunnon I seed sum girt beg round barrels painted +black.[3] I axed a chap what thay wur, an' he sed that thay wur beg +barrels o' stingo, an' thur wur pipes laid on to the peeple's housen vor +thay to draw vram. + +[Footnote 3: Gasometers.] + +I sed that wur very good accommodashun to hev XXX laid on vor use. + +We soon druv into the beggest pleace I wur ever in since I wur born'd. +Thay sed 'twer Paddington, an' that I wur to get out, vor they wurn't +a-gwain to drive no furder. I hed paid to go to Lunnon, an' thay shood +drive all the way when thay wur paid avoor'and. + +I wur tell'd Paddington wur the Lunnon stashun by a porter, an' I look'd +round vor Sairy Jane, as she sed as how her ud be heer at one o'clock; +and porter sed 'twer then dree o'clock, an' likely Sairy Jane had gone +away. Drat thay sausingers as mead I too late vor the train! + +I set down to wait for Sairy Jane, as I didn't know her directions, an' +hed left the letter she sent at whoam. Arter waitin' for a long while I +started out, an' 'oped to see her in sum part o' Lunnon. + + * * * * * + +Another story Tom Peregrine is fond of reading to us relates how a +labouring man was recommended to get some oxtail soup to strengthen him. +He goes into the town and sees "Oxikali Soap" written up on a shop +window. He buys a cake of it, makes his wife boil it up in the pot, and +then proceeds to drink it for his health. When he has taken a spoonful +or two and found it very unpleasant, his wife makes him finish it up, +saying it is sure to do him good; and she consoles him with the +assurance that all medicine is nasty. + +At the harvest home in the big barn, after the applause which followed +Tom Peregrine's recitation had died away, a sturdy carter stood up and +sang a very old Gloucestershire song, which runs as follows:-- + + THE TURMUT HOWER. + + "I be a turmut hower, + Vram Gloucestershire I came; + My parents be hard-working folk, + Giles Wapshaw be my name. + The vly, the vly, + The vly be on the turmut, + An' it be aal me eye, and no use to try + To keep um off the turmut. + + "Zum be vond o' haymakin', + An' zum be vond o' mowin', + But of aal the trades thet I likes best + Gie I the turmut howin'. + The vly, etc. + + "'Twas on a summer mornin', + Aal at the brake o' day, + When I tuck up my turmut hower, + An' trudged it far away. + The vly, etc. + + "The vust pleace I got work at, + It wus by the job, + But if I hed my chance agen, + I'd rayther go to quod. + The vly, etc. + + "The next pleace I got work at, + 'Twer by the day, + Vor one old Varmer Vlower, + Who sed I wur a rippin' turmut hower. + The vly, etc. + + "Sumtimes I be a-mowin', + Sumtimes I be a-plowin', + Gettin' the vurrows aal bright an' clear + Aal ready vor turmut sowin'. + The vly, etc. + + "An' now my song be ended + I 'ope you won't call encore; + But if you'll kum here another night, + I'll seng it ye once more. + The vly, etc." + +[Illustration: On the Wolds. 116.png] + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ON THE WOLDS. + +Time passes quickly for the sportsman who has the good fortune to dwell +in the merry Cotswolds. Spring gives place to summer and autumn to +winter with a rapidity which astonishes us as the years roll on. + +So diversified are the amusements that each season brings round that no +time of year lacks its own characteristic sport. In the spring, ere red +coats and "leathers" are laid aside by the fox-hunting squire, there is +the best of trout-fishing to be enjoyed in the Coln and +Windrush--streams dear to the heart of the accomplished expert with the +"dry" fly. In spring, too, are the local hunt races at Oaksey and +Sherston, at Moreton-in-the-Marsh and Andoversford. Pleasant little +country gatherings are these race meetings, albeit the _bona-fide_ +hunter has little chance of distinguishing himself between the flags in +any part of England nowadays. The Lechlade Horse Show, too, is a great +institution in the V.W.H. country at the close of the hunting season. + +Annually at Whitsuntide for very many centuries "sports" have been held +in all parts of the country. It is said that they are the _floralia_ of +the Romans. Included in these sports are many of those amusements of the +middle ages of which Ben Jonson sang: + + "The Cotswold with the Olympic vies + In manly games and goodly exercise." + +Horse-racing is a great feature in the programme of these Whitsuntide +festivities. + +The "may-fly" carnival among the trout, together with lots of cricket +matches, make the time pass all too quickly for those who spend the +glorious summer months in the Cotswolds. By the time the Cirencester +Horse Show is over, the cubs are getting strong and mischievous. +Directly the corn is cut the hounds are out again in the lovely +September mornings. By this time partridges are plentiful, and must be +shot ere they get too wild. So year by year the ball is kept rolling in +the quiet Cotswold Hills; the days go by, yet content reigns amongst +all classes. + + "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife + Their sober wishes never learned to stray; + Along the cool, sequestered vale of life + They kept the noiseless tenor of their way." + +Then there is so much to do indirectly connected with sport of all +kinds, if you live in a Cotswold village. Woods and fox coverts must be +kept in good order, so that there may always be cover to shelter game +and foxes. Cricket grounds afford unlimited scope for labour and +experiment. + +If you either own or rent a trout stream there is no end to the +improvements that can be made with a little time and labour. Deep holes +or even lakes may be dug, great stones and fir poles may be utilised, to +form eddies and waterfalls and homes for the trout. By means of a little +stocking with fresh blood a stream may often be turned from a worthless +piece of water into a splendid fishery. There is no limit to the +articles of food which can be imported. Gammari, or fresh-water shrimps, +caddis and larvae, and various species of weeds which nourish insects +and snails--notably the _chara flexilis_ from Loch Leven--may all be +procured and transplanted to your water. The beautiful springs which +feed the Coln at various intervals, where the watercress grows freely, +would be of great service in forming lakes; there is so much poor marshy +land even in the fertile valleys that might be utilised, with advantage +and profit for the purpose of trout preserving. + +Talking of watercress, this is a branch of farming which appears to be +somewhat neglected on the banks of the Coln. The villagers tell you that +watercress, like the oyster, is good in every month with an "r" in it: +so that all through the year, save in May, June, July, and August, +watercress may be picked and sent to market. But the proprietor of +watercress beds attaches little importance to the fact that he possesses +large beds of this wholesome and reproductive plant, and you will not +see it on his table once in a month of Sundays. In London one eats +watercress all the year round, more especially in the months without an +"r," but it does not come from the Cotswolds. + +There is not much covert shooting on these hills. The country is so open +and the coverts so small and deficient in underwood that pheasant +preserving on a large scale is not practicable; for this reason the +preservation of foxes is the first consideration. At Stowell, Sherborne, +Rendcombe, Barnsley, and Cirencester, as well as on a few other large +estates, a large head of game is reared; while foxes are plentiful too. +But the owners and occupiers of most of the manors are content to rely +on nature to supply them with game in due season. + +However, for those gunners who, like the writer, are both unskilful and +unambitious, the shooting obtained on the Cotswold Hills is very +enjoyable. In September from ten to twenty brace of partridges are to be +picked up, together with what hares a man cares to shoot, and a few +rabbits. Then landrails or corncrakes, and last, but not least, an +occasional quail, are usually included in the bag. Quails are rather +partial to this district; during the first fortnight of September a few +are generally shot on the manor we frequent. On August 17th this year we +found a nest containing five young quails about half-grown. + +But the real pleasure connected with this kind of sport lies in the +sense of wildness. The air is almost as good a tonic as that of the +Scotch moors, whilst there is the additional satisfaction of being at +home in September instead of flying away to the North, and having to put +up with all the discomfort of a long railway journey each way. + +There is no time of year one would sooner spend at home on Cotswold than +the month of September. Nature is then at her best: the cold, bleak +hills are clothed with the warmth of golden stubble; the autumnal haze +now softens the landscape with those lights and shades which add so much +of loveliness and sense of mystery to a hill country; the rich aftermath +is full of animal life; birds of all descriptions are less wild and more +easily observed than is the case later on, when the pastures and downs +have been thinned by frost and there is no shelter left. Now you may see +the kestrels hovering in mid air, and the great sluggish heron wending +his ethereal way to the upper waters of the trout stream. You watch him +till he drops suddenly from the heavens, to alight in the little valley +which lies a short mile away, invisible amid the far-stretching +tablelands. Occasionally, too, a marsh-harrier may be met with, but this +is a _rara avis_ even in these outlandish parts. Peregrine falcons are +uncommon too, though one may yet see a pair of them now and then if one +keeps a sharp look-out at all times and seasons. There are wimbrels and +curlews that have been shot here during recent years stuffed and hung up +in glass cases in old Mr. Peregrine's house. + +Of other birds which are becoming scarcer year by year in England, the +kingfishers are not uncommon in these parts; you will often see the +brilliant little fellow dart past you as you walk by the stream in +summer. Water-ousels or dippers are scarce; we have seen but one +specimen in the last three years. + +In September, as you walk over the fields, the Cotswolds are seen at +their best. Somehow or other a country never looks so well from the +roads as it appears when you are in the fields. The man who prefers the +high road had better not live in the Cotswolds; for these roads, mended +as they are with limestone in the more remote parts of the district, +become terribly sticky in winter, while the grass fields and stubbles +are generally as dry as a bone. There is but a small percentage of clay +in the soil, but a good deal of lime, and five inches down is the hard +rock; therefore this light, stony soil never holds the rain, but allows +it to percolate rapidly through, even as a sieve. When the sun is hot +after a frost the ploughs "carry" certainly, but this is because they +dry so quickly; they seldom remain thoroughly wet for any length of +time. Consequently, in hunting, the feet of hounds, horses, and even of +foxes pick up the sticky, arable soil, instead of splashing through it, +and scent is spoiled thereby. Doubtless the lime in the soil adds to its +stickiness. It is amusing to watch a fox "break" covert and make his way +over a plough which "carries": he travels very badly; we have seen him +fail to jump a sheep hurdle at the first attempt. Fortunately for the +fox, the hounds are also handicapped by these conditions, and scent is +wretched. This might appear at first sight to show that the scent of +foxes is chiefly given off from their feet. We can recall few occasions +on which a plough that "carried" held a "burning scent." But little +though we know of the mysteries of "scent," it is generally agreed that +the "steaming trail" emanates chiefly from the body and breath of a fox, +even though on certain days there is no evidence of any scent, save on +the ground. It is probable, however, that on light ploughlands +evaporation is so great when the sun is shining (unless the wind is +sufficiently cold to counteract the heat of the sun and prevent rapid +evaporation) that all scent from the body and breath of the fox, save +that which happens to cling to the ground, is borne upwards and lost in +the upper air. _The hounds therefore have to fall back on whatever scent +may remain clinging to the soil_, those occasions of course excepted +when the great density or gravity of the air prevents scent from rising +and dispersing, and causes it to hang _breast high_. + +After some years of careful experiment with the hygrometer and +barometer, and after an intricate investigation of scent (that +mysterious matter which is given off from the skin and breath of foxes), +I have come to the conclusion that if we could get an Isaac Newton to +"whip in" to a Tom Firr for about a twelvemonth, we might very likely +come to know all about it. In standing on ground whereon "angels fear to +tread," I am fully aware that I speak as a fool. But let me state that +it is on the barometer that I now place my somewhat limited reliance on +a hunting morning, and not on the hygrometer, on the weight of the +column of air on a given point of the surface of the earth, rather than +on the state of the evaporations, the relative humidity, and the dew +point. And I have noticed that the best scenting days have been those +when the thermometer has given readings from 38 up to 46 Fahrenheit in +the shade. A high and steady glass, an almost imperceptible east or +north-east wind, with the ground soaked with moisture and no frost +during the previous night, is the only combination of conditions under +which scent on the grass is a moral certainty. On the other hand, a low +and unsteady glass, a warm, gusty south or west wind, with a hot sun, +following a frost, or a day with cold showers, with bright, sunny +intervals, or during the afternoon (but not always the morning) before a +storm of wind or rain,--such are the conditions which make so many of +our attempts to hunt the fox by scent a miserable farce; yet even on +these days hounds may run during some part of the day. When the +barometer is thoroughly unsettled there may be light local currents, +perfectly imperceptible to man, yet felt by cows and sheep--currents +created like winds by a variation of temperature in different parts of +any given field, and which will scatter the scent and spoil the sport. +These currents, rapid evaporation combined with a lack of steady +atmospheric pressure, and that sticky state of soil which on ploughed +land invariably follows a frost, and in a lesser degree affects grass, +causing a fox to take his pad scent on with him (all the particles that +do not cling to the ground having been diffused and lost in the +air),--these are the curses of modern hunting fields and the chief +causes of bad scenting days. + +After September is past the shooting man will not get very much sport on +the Cotswolds, as far as the partridges are concerned, for they are not +numerous enough to be worth driving; they soon become as wild as they +can possibly be. On Hatherop and some other estates good partridge +driving is enjoyed. The farmers are very fond of shooting them under a +"kite,"--this, as it is hardly necessary to explain, is an artificial +representation of the hawk. It is flown high up in the air at some +distance ahead of the guns. The birds, seeing what they take to be a +very large and savage-looking hawk hovering above them, ready to pounce +down at a moment's notice, become frightened, and lie crouching in the +hedges and turnips, until they almost have to be kicked up by the +sportsmen. But when once they do get up they fly straight away, nor do +they come back for a long time. This mode of shooting is all very well +once in a way, but if indulged in habitually it scares the birds, +driving them on to other manors. Not having seen it successfully carried +out, we are not fond of the method, but there are good sportsmen in +these parts who advocate it. Some maintain that this cannot be called a +really sportsmanlike way of shooting partridges, though there is +doubtless room for two opinions on the question. + +Later on in the autumn, when November frosts begin to attract snipes to +the withybeds and water meadows by the Coln, the unambitious gunner may +often enjoy the charm of a small and select mixed bag. + +Two of us went out for an hour last winter before breakfast, having been +informed that a woodcock was lying in an ash copse by the river. We got +the woodcock--a somewhat _rara avis_ in small, isolated coverts on the +hills; in addition, the bag contained one snipe, one wild duck, two +pheasants, six rabbits, a pigeon, a heron, and some moorhens. Now this +was very good sport, because it was totally unexpected. The majority of +shooting people might not think much of so small a bag, but it must be +remembered that the charm of this kind of shooting is its wildness. It +seems rather hard to kill herons, but anybody who has tried to preserve +trout will agree that herons are the greatest enemies with which the +trout-fisher has to contend. One heron will clear a shallow stream in a +very short time. When the floods are out, trout fall a ready prey to +these rapacious birds. The kingfishers likewise have a very good time. +The fish will gorge themselves with worms picked up on the inundated +meadows, until they are so full that the worms actually begin falling +out of their mouths. I picked several up last autumn which had been +stabbed, I suppose, by a heron. They were unharmed, save for a small +round hole, as if made by a bullet; there was no other mark on them. But +when taken up, the worms came out of their mouths by the score! +Kingfishers are carefully preserved, in spite of their destructiveness, +but one must draw the line at herons. + +Waiting for wild duck coming into the "spring" on a frosty night is +cold work, but very good fun. They breed here in fair numbers, and fly +away in August. But when the ground becomes "scrumpety," as the natives +say, with the first severe frost, back they come from the frozen meres +to their old home; and if one can keep out of sight (and this is no easy +matter in December) many a shot can be obtained in the withybeds by the +river. Teal and widgeon may be shot occasionally in the same manner. + +Sometimes, when you are upon the hills with Tom Peregrine, the keeper, +trying to pick up a brace or two of partridges for the house, he will +suddenly say, "_Quad down!_" then, throwing himself on to his hands and +knees in breathless anxiety, he will begin whistling for "all he knows." +You imitate him to the best of your ability, and soon, if you are lucky, +an enormous flock of golden plover flash over you. Four barrels are +fired almost instantaneously, and the deadly "twelve-bore" of your +companion is seldom fired in vain. + +Green plover, or lapwings, are numerous enough on the Cotswolds. They +are wonderfully difficult to circumvent, nevertheless. You crouch down +under a wall, while your men go ever so far round to drive them to you; +but it is the rarest thing in the world to bag one. Their eggs are very +difficult to find in the breeding season. It is the male bird that, like +a terrified and anxious mother, flies round and round you with piteous +cries; the female bird, when disturbed, flies straight away. + +Pigeon-shooting with decoys is a very favourite amusement among the +Cotswold farmers. They manage to bag an enormous quantity in a hard +winter, sometimes getting over a hundred in a day. Wood-pigeons come in +thousands to the stubble fields when the beech nuts have come to an end. +Large flocks of them annually migrate to England from Northern Europe. +Crouching in a hedge or under a wall, you may enjoy as pretty a day's +sport as ever fell to the lot of mortal man. A few dead birds are placed +on the stubble to attract the flocks, and a grand variety of flying +shots may be obtained as the wood-pigeons fly over. The year 1897 was +remarkable for this shooting. Between November 20th and 30th two of our +farmers killed close on a thousand of these birds. Some of them +doubtless were potted on the ground. Tom Peregrine remarked that "he +never saw such a sight of dead pigeons. The cheese-room up at the farm +was full of them." The vast flocks that blacken the skies for a few +short weeks in November disappear as suddenly as they come. After +November they are no more seen. + +There would be many more partridges were it not for the rooks and +magpies. Hedges wherein the birds can hide their nests are few and far +between in the wall country, so the keen-eyed rook spies out many a nest +in the spring of the year. For this reason and because they eat the +corn, the farmers hate them. We cannot share their feelings. We should +be sorry to see the old rookery in the garden diminished in the +slightest degree. Jays and magpies are terribly numerous; they are rare +egg-stealers. We have seen as many as twelve of the latter lately +flying all together. Magpies are difficult to get at; they will sit +perched upon the topmost twigs of the trees, but will invariably fly +away before you get within shot. + +It is interesting to rear a few pheasants annually. There is no bird +which gives more delight, even if fairly tame; their beautiful colouring +and cheerful crowing are always pleasant in the garden and woods around +your house. If you feed them every day, they will come regularly up to +the very door; and with them come the swans, waddling up from the water, +looking very much out of their element. Sometimes, too, a moorhen will +join the party; whilst two little wild ducks, the sole survivors of a +brood of sixteen, which were attacked and killed by a stoat, will take +food right out of the mouths of the good-natured old swans. Peacocks I +would not care to have round the house; but there is nothing more in +touch with English country life than the glorious red, green, and brown +colouring of a "fine" cock pheasant strutting proudly across the lawn on +his way to his roosting-place in the firs, contrasting as he does with +the majestic form and snowy plumage of the stately swans, which glide +about the silent Coln at the bottom of the garden--the incarnation of +grace and symmetry. Truly some of the most common of animals are also +the most beautiful. + +Besides the rooks, there is another bird which the farmers love to wage +incessant war upon. The other day I received the following message +printed on the back of a postcard:-- + +"A meeting will be held at the Swan Hotel, Bibury, on Friday, November +13th, at 6.30 p.m., to arrange about starting a _Sparrow Club_ for the +district." + + * * * * * + +"_What is a Sparrow Club?_" I anxiously enquired the other day of a +labouring man, a particular friend of mine, whom I happened to fall in +with on his way to chapel. He answered that it was a club for killing +sparrows when they get too numerous--paying boys a farthing a head for +every bird they catch, and giving prizes for the greatest number killed. +Boys may often be seen out at night, with long poles and nets attached +to them, catching sparrows in the trees. But my friend tells me that the +way he likes to catch them is to go into a barn at night with a lantern. +"You must hold the lantern under your coat so as to half screen the +light, and the birds will fly at the light and settle on your +shoulders." He tells me you can pick them off your clothes by the dozen. +I have never tried it, certainly, as, personally, I have no quarrel with +the sparrows. I was disappointed that the "Sparrow Club," for which a +great public meeting had to be convened, was not of a more exciting +nature. One was led to believe by the importance of the printed postcard +that some good old English custom was about to be revived. + +A farmer has just brought me in a peregrine falcon that he shot this +morning. He is of course very proud of the achievement. It is useless to +argue with him on the question of preserving birds that are becoming +scarce in England. He considers that a _rara avis_ such as this, which +is "here to-day and gone to-morrow," is a prize which does not often +fall to the lot of the gunner; it must be bagged at all hazards. Nor is +it easy to answer the argument which he seldom fails to put forth, that +if he doesn't shoot it, somebody else will. + +Talking of rare birds, I shall never forget seeing a wild swan come +sailing up the Coln during a very hard frost two years ago. Two of us +were out after wild duck, and it was a grand sight to watch this +magnificent bird winging his way rapidly up stream at a height of about +fifty yards. It is rare indeed to see them in these parts, though the +vicar of Bibury tells me that seven wild swans were once seen on the +Coln near that village; but this was some years ago. On the same +authority I learn that a Solan goose, or gannet, has been known to visit +this stream. Tom Peregrine shot one a few years back; also a puffin, a +bird with a parrot-like beak and of the auk tribe. Wild geese frequently +pass over us, following the course of the stream. + +On a bright, warm day in October, such a day as we usually have a score +or more of in the course of our much-abused English autumn, it is +pleasant to take one's gun and, leaving behind the quiet, peaceful +valley and the old-world houses of the Cotswold hamlet, to ascend the +hill and seek the great, rolling downs, a couple of miles away from any +sign of human habitation. You may get a shot at a partridge or a +wood-pigeon as you go. Hares you might shoot, if you cared to, in every +field. But on the other hand you will be equally well pleased if your +gun is not fired off, for it is peace and quiet that you are really in +search of,--the noise of a shot and the jar of a gun do not suit your +present mood. + +After walking for half an hour you come to a bit of high ground, where +you have often stood before, and, resting your gun against a wall, you +gaze at the view beyond. + + "Quocunque adspicias, nihil est nisi gramen et aer." + +Nothing particularly striking, perhaps, is visible to the eye, yet to my +mind there is a charm about it which the pen is quite unable to +describe. Below is a wide expanse of undulating downland, divided into +fifty-acre fields by means of loose, uncemented walls of grey stone. The +grass is green for the time of year, and scattered about are horses, +cattle, and sheep, contentedly nibbling the short fine turf. In the +midst of mile upon mile of rolling downs stands forth prominently one +field of plough, of the richest brown hue; whilst six miles away a long +belt of tall trees, half hidden by haze, marks the outline of Stowell +Park. Save for one ivy-covered homestead, miles away on the right, +nothing else is in sight. + +It is past five o'clock, and the sun, which has been shining brightly +all day, with that genial warmth which one only fully appreciates as the +winter approaches, is beginning to descend. It is the lights and shades +which play over this wide stretch of open country which makes the +landscape look so beautiful. And when the wreaths of white, woolly +clouds begin to glow round their furthermost edges like coals of fire on +a frosty night, with all the promise of a brilliant sunset, this stretch +of hill and plain wears an aspect which, once seen, you will never +forget. It takes your thoughts away into the great unknown--the +infinite,--that mysterious world which is ever around us, and which +seems nearer when we are looking at a beautiful sunset or a beautiful +view than at any other time in this life, save, for ought we know, +during the last few moments of our earthly existence. And although no +human habitation is anywhere to be seen, the air is full of the spirits +of bygone generations and of bygone _races_ of men. There are traces of +humanity in all directions, wherever your eye may gaze, but they are the +traces of a forgotten people. + +Yonder semicircular ridge was once the rampart of an ancient British +town; though, save in the tangled copse hard by, where the plough has +never been at work, it is fast disappearing. Many a stone lying about +the camp bears unmistakable marks of fire. + +A glance of the eye westwards, and your thoughts are carried back to the +Roman invasion; for scarce five miles off lies the ancient Roman villa +of Chedworth. Then, again, tradition has it that a mile away from this +spot, and close to the old manor house, skirmishes were fought in later +days, at the time the Civil Wars were raging, when many a chivalrous +cavalier and many a stern, unbending Puritan lay dead on yonder field, +or, maybe, was carried into the old house to linger and to die in the +very room in which you slept last night. Everywhere in England are +battlefields; but they are, in the words of De Quincey, "battlefields +that nature has long ago reconciled to herself with the sweet oblivion +of flowers." + +This very mound on which you are standing, is it not the burying-place +of a race which dwelt on the Cotswolds full three thousand years ago? +And were not human remains found here a few years back, when this, in +common with many other barrows hard by, was opened, and an underground +chamber discovered therein--the earthly resting-place of the bones of +the unknown dead? + +"The silence of deep eternities, of worlds from beyond the morning +stars--does it not speak to thee? The unborn ages,--the old graves, with +their long-mouldering dust,--the very tears that wetted it, now all +dry,--do not these speak to thee what ear hath not heard?" + + "Solemn before us + Veiled the dark Portal-- + Goal of all mortal. + Stars silent rest o'er us, + Graves under us silent." + +Well has Carlyle translated the great German poet. And the old barrows +that lie scattered over these wide-stretching downs are not dumb; they +are continually speaking to us of those things "which ear hath not +heard"; and at no time have they more to tell than at the close of a +mild, peaceful day in October, when all else, save for the faint +tinkling of the distant sheep-bells, is silent as death, and the sun, +ere once more disappearing, is shedding a solemn glow over the deserted, +mysterious uplands of the Cotswold Hills. + +But the partridges are "calling" all around, and a covey actually +passes over your head. Your sporting instincts begin to revive, and you +take up your gun and proceed to stalk that covey, stealing round under a +wall. Then you suddenly remember that the V.W.H. hounds meet in your +village to-morrow, and you begin wondering whether they will once again +find the great dog fox that several times last season led you over the +wide, open country that now lies mapped out before you. _Your_ fox, too, +one of a litter you came upon two springs ago, in a little spinney not +half a mile from where you are standing now, stub-bred and of the +greyhound stamp, fleet of foot and lithe of limb. Each time the hounds +had come to draw he was at home in the covert on the brow of the hill +which shelters the old manor house you inhabit from the cold blast of +winter. Here he loved to dwell, and hunt moorhens and dabchicks and +water-rats all night long by the banks of silvery Coln. But on three +occasions within six weeks, no sooner did the hounds enter the wood than +a shrill scream proclaimed him away on the far side. You were mounted on +a good horse, and were away as soon as the pack. And then for thirty +minutes the "old customer" cantered away over those broad pastures, +hounds and horses tearing after him on a breast-high scent, but never +gaining an inch of ground. Two leagues were quickly traversed ere yonder +distant belt of trees was reached, where the dry leaves lay rotting on +the ground, and there was not an atom of scent. So he saved his life, +and the tired, mud-bespattered sportsmen vow that there never was such +a run seen before, so thrilling is the ecstasy of "pace" and so +enchanting the stride of a well-bred horse. + +'Tis a wild, deserted tract of country that stretches from Cirencester +right away to the north of Warwickshire. For fifty miles you might +gallop on across those undulating fields, and meet no human being on +your way. We have ridden forty miles on end along the Fosseway, and, +save in the curious half-forsaken old towns of Moreton-in-the-Marsh and +Stow-on-the-Wold, we scarcely met a soul on the journey. What a +marvellous work was that old Roman Fosseway! Raised high above the level +of the adjoining fields, it runs literally "as straight as an arrow" +through the heart of the grassy Midlands. And what a rare hunting +country it passes through! We saw but one short piece of barbed wire in +our journey of over forty miles. Now that farming is no longer +remunerative, the whole country seems to be given up to hunting. Depend +upon it, it is this sport alone that circulates money through this +deserted land. + +Time was when the uplands of Gloucestershire were almost entirely under +the plough, when good scenting days seldom gladdened the heart of the +hunting man, and when, in a ride over the Cotswold tableland, the +excitement of a fast gallop on grass was an impossibility. Those were +the days when land at thirty shillings an acre was eagerly sought after +and the wheat crop amply repaid those who cultivated it. Now, alas! +farms are to be had for the asking, rent free; but nobody will take +them, and the country is rapidly going back to its original +uncultivated state. The farmer, nevertheless, does not lose heart. + +To lay down such light land into permanent pasture does not pay; it is +therefore left to its own devices, with the result that in a short time +weeds and moss and rough grasses spring up--less unprofitable than +ploughed fields, and almost as favourable for hunting the fox as the +fair pastures of the Vale of Aylesbury. However, + + "Nihil est ab omni + Parte beatum." + +There are other things to be done in this life besides riding across +country in the wake of the flying pack, glorious and exhilarating though +the pastime be; and the sooner these great wastes of unprolific land are +once more transformed into wheat-growing plough, the better will it be +for all of us. + +So you stroll dreamily homewards, musing on these things, and wondering +whether you will have another glorious gallop to-morrow. You will just +go round by that spinney to see if the earth you gave orders to be +stopped up is properly closed. But stop! What is that lying curled up +under the wall not ten yards off? See, he stirs! he rises lazily and +looks round! 'Tis the very fox! Long and lean and wiry is he, fine drawn +and sleek as a trained racehorse, with a brush nearly two feet long! +Brown as the ploughed field you were looking at just now, save for the +tip of his brush, which is white as snow. He trots off along the wall, +offering the easiest of broadside shots if you were villain enough to +take advantage of it. He does not hurry; he stops and looks round after +a bit, as much as to say, "I trust you." But when you steal cautiously +towards him he once more lollops along. You follow, to see where he goes +to when he has jumped over the high wall into the next field. But he +does not jump over, but _on to_ the wall, and there he sits looking at +you until you are once more nearly up to him; then he disappears the +other side, and you run up and peep over. He is nowhere to be seen! You +look along the wall for a hole into which he could have popped, but in +vain. You stoop down and try to track him by scent and the mark of his +pad, but all to no purpose; and from that day to this you have never +discovered what became of him. + +[Illustration: "THE OLD CUSTOMER." 138.png] + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A GALLOP OVER THE WALLS. + + "Waken, lords and ladies gay, + To the greenwood haste away; + We can show you where he lies, + Fleet of foot and tall of size." + + SIR WALTER SCOTT. + +The next morning you are up betimes, for the hounds meet at the house at +nine o'clock. You are not sorry on looking out of your window to see +that a thick mist at present envelopes the country. With the ground in +the dry state it is in, this mist, accompanied as it is by a heavy dew, +is your only chance of a scent. How else could they hunt the jackal in +India if it was not for this dew? Thus reflecting, you recall pleasant +recollections of gallops over hard ground with the Bombay hounds, and +comfort yourself with the thought that the ground here to-day cannot be +as hard as that Indian soil. You are soon into your breeches and boots +and down to breakfast. In the dining-room a large party is already +assembled, for there are five men and two ladies turning out from the +house, whilst one or two keen sportsmen have already put in an +appearance from afar. + +The hounds turn up punctual to the appointed time. How beautiful and +majestic they look as they suddenly come into sight amid beech and ash +and walnut, whilst the bright pageant advances leisurely and in order +over the ancient ivy-covered bridge which spans the silent river, where +the morning mist still hangs, and the grass shines white with silvery +dew. In good condition they look, too--a credit to their huntsman, who +evidently has not neglected giving them plenty of exercise on the roads +during the summer. You greet the genial master; then in answer to his +enquiry as to where you would like him to draw, you point to the hanging +wood on the brow of the hill, and tell him that as you heard them +barking there this very morning it is a certain find. No sooner are the +words out of your mouth than a holloa breaks the silence of the early +morn: the gardener has "viewed" a cub within a hundred yards of the +house. Desperately bold are the cubs at this time of year, before they +have been hunted. Their first experience of being "stopped out" for the +night does not seem to have frightened them at all. They have been +kicking up a rare shindy most of the night in the covert close to +the house. + + "Alas I regardless of their doom, + The little victims play." + +By to-night they will have become sadder and wiser beings. Several +people will be glad of this, the keeper included: for the fowls have +suffered lately; there have also been one or two well-planned and +carefully thought out sallies on the young pheasants--without much +damage, however. Not long ago a bold young cub spent some time in +breaking open the lid of one of the coops, in which were some late +pheasants. He actually forced the wire netting from the roof of the +coop, although it was firmly nailed to the woodwork. But he could not +quite get his head in, for when the keeper arrived on the scene at five +o'clock a.m., there he was, clawing and scratching at the birds. His +efforts met with no success, however, for not a single bird was badly +injured, though some damage might have been done if Master Reynard had +not been interrupted at this critical moment. Young cubs are like +puppies, very mischievous. There are plenty of rabbits about, and they +are the food foxes like best; poultry and pheasants are pursued and +killed out of pure love of mischief. + +We must return to the hounds. Our huntsman wisely determines not to go +to the holloa, for he prefers to let the young entry draw for their +game. Besides which, if this cub has gone away, he is one of the right +sort, and does not require schooling. For as we all know, one of the +objects of cub-hunting is to teach the young foxes that if they don't +leave the covert when the hounds are thrown in, they will get a rare +dusting. So, the hounds having been taken to the "up-wind" end of the +wood, the huntsman begins drawing steadily "down wind." Let them have +every chance now; it will be quite early enough to begin drawing up wind +when the leaf is off and Reynard has got a bit shy. Blood is an +excellent thing for young hounds, nay, for all hounds, early in the +season; but we don't want to chop any cubs before they know where they +are or what it all means. + +And soon the whole valley re-echoes with hound music, as the pack come +crashing towards us through the thick underwood. We get a splendid view +of the proceedings--for the covert is a long, narrow strip of about ten +acres, running in the shape of a bow round the hill immediately above +the place where we are stationed. There is another small wood of about +the same size on the other side of the little valley. For this our fox +makes, the hounds dashing close after him through the brook. Round and +round they go, and it is evident that this cub (unlike several of his +brethren who have taken their departure, viewed by the whole field, but +_not_ holloaed at) does not intend to face the open country. Scent is +good in covert, perhaps because there are at present few of those dry +leaves on the ground that spoil scent after the "fall of the leaf"; the +result is, we kill a cub. This will be a lesson to the rest of the +family when they return to-night and discover the fearful end that +befalls foxes that "hang in covert." Another cub having gone to ground +in a rabbit-hole, the keeper is given injunctions to have this hole, +together with any other large ones he can find, stopped up, after +allowing a day or two to pass, especially making sure, by the use of +terriers and also by the tracks, that he does not stop any cubs in. + +We now leave the home coverts and start away for a withybed about a mile +up the river, where we are told there is a litter. Here, however, we do +not find, though it is the likeliest place in the world for a fox. As +the hounds dash into the withybed a whole string of wild ducks get up, +circle round us, and then fly straight away up stream in the shape of +the letter V--a sight unsurpassed if you happen to be a lover of nature. + +Our next draw is an isolated artificial gorse of about six acres. If we +find here, we must have a gallop, for there is no covert of any size +within a four-mile radius; a fine open country lies all around; walls to +jump and large fields of fifty acres apiece to gallop over. There is +some light plough, but each year the plough gets scarcer, for the +Cotswolds are rapidly being allowed to tumble back into grass or, +rather, into _weeds_. + +A great proportion of the stone-wall country hereabouts consists of +downs divided into large enclosures; when the walls are low there is no +reason why the pace should not be almost as good as it is in an +unenclosed country. Happily to-day we seem to be in for a quick thing, +for before the whip has had time to get to the end of the covert, hounds +are away, without a sound, and we start off fully two hundred yards +behind them. + +The old fox, for a fiver! But there is no stopping them; so, knowing the +country and the earth he is making for, you make tracks, as hard as +your horse can pelt, in the direction in which the hounds are going, and +very soon they turn to you, and you find yourself almost alongside of +them. They are running "mute," with their noses several inches off the +ground; it almost looks as if they had "got a view" of him. But this is +not the case. Scent is "breast high." Two old hounds that you know +well--Crusty and Governor--are leading, though you are glad that one or +two you do not know (evidently some of this year's entry) are not +far behind. + +The country, which has so far been rather hilly, now opens out into a +flat tableland. You fly on, thankful that you are on a thoroughbred, and +that he is in good condition. It pays well to keep a horse "up" all the +summer in this country, for some of the quickest things of the season +take place in October. Scent is often good at this time of the year, +because the fields are full of keep: there is plenty of rough grass +about. Later on they will be pared down by sheep, and the frost will +make them as bare as a turnpike road. Then again that abomination, a +"carrying" plough, is not so likely to be met with in October; the white +frosts are not severe enough. Later on they are a constant source of +annoyance to a huntsman, and invariably cause a check. + +But your horse, well bred and fit though he be, is doing all he can to +live with the hounds. Fortunately, you know that he is too good to +chance a wall, even when blown. At the pace hounds are going you have +not much time to trot slowly at the walls in the orthodox fashion; you +must take them as they come, high and low alike, at a fair pace, taking +a pull a few strides before your mount takes off. Oh, how exhilarating +is a gallop in this fine Cotswold air in the cool autumnal morning! and +what a splendid view you get of hounds! Here are no tall fences to hide +them from your sight and to tempt a fox to run the hedgerows, no boggy +woodlands where your horse flounders up to his girths in yellow clay, no +ridge and furrow, and no deep ploughed fields. + +What is the charm which belongs so exclusively to a fast and _straight_ +"run" over this wild, uncultivated region? It does not lie in the +successful negotiation of Leicestershire "oxers," Aylesbury "doubles," +or Warwickshire "stake-and-bound" fences, for there need be no obstacle +greater than an occasional four-foot stone wall. Perhaps it lies partly +in the fact that in a run over a level stone-wall country, where the +enclosures are large and the turf sound, given a good fox and a "burning +scent," hounds and horses travel at as great a pace as they attain in +any country in England. Here, moreover, if anywhere, is to be found the +"greatest happiness for the greatest number," the maximum of sport with +the minimum of danger; the fine, free air of the high-lying Cotswold +plains; the good fellowship engendered when all can ride abreast; the +very muteness of the flying pack; the onslaught of a light brigade, or +of "a flying squadron under the Admiral of the Red" sailing away over a +sea of grass towards a region almost untrodden by man; the long sweeping +stride of a well-bred horse; the unceasing twang of the horn to +encourage flagging hounds beaten off by the pace and those which got +left behind at the start; lastly, the _glorious uncertainty_! Can it +last? Where will it all end? Shall we run "bang into him" in the open, +or will he beat us in yonder cold scenting woodland standing boldly +forth on the skyline miles ahead? All these things add a peculiar +fascination to a fast run over this wild country. + +Sooner or later there is a sudden check, a couple of sharp turns, and +the spell is gone. Hounds may run back ever so well, to the very covert +whence an hour ago they forced him. The pleasure of watching them work +out a scent, growing rapidly colder, may indeed be left to us; but the +glorious possibilities, which lasted as long as a gallant though +invisible "quarry" was leading us _straight away_ from home into +unfamiliar regions, have passed away; the record run, which we thought +had really commenced at last, far, far into the unknown land, into the +country leading to nowhere, is not yet attained,--probably it never will +be, for it existed in the human imagination alone during that thrilling +thirty-minutes' burst, and was beyond the compass of foxes, horses, +and hounds. + +As a set off to this it must be admitted that fast runs do not take +place every day on these hills. Perhaps there will not be more than half +a dozen "clinkers" in a season with a "two-day-a-week" pack. For this +reason, as regards all-round sport, the wall country cannot compare with +a vale: a stranger might hunt there for three weeks in March, and at the +end of that time take himself off in disappointment and disgust, +declaring these fast-flying runs he had heard so much about to be an +invention and a myth, and the wall country only fit for fools and +funkers. For good scenting days in this hill country are few and far +between, and a bad day in the wall district is the poorest fun +imaginable. For this the field have generally themselves to thank, since +they will not give the hounds a chance. + +But there is a burning scent this morning, as there generally is when +the dew is just going off. For twenty-five minutes hounds do not check +once. The earth our fox has been making for is fortunately closed. This +causes a moment's uncertainty among the hounds, but not a check, for +they drive straight onwards, and it is evident that he is making for +some earths five miles away in a neighbouring hunt's territory, which +instinct tells him will be open. + +There they go, old T.K. and J.A., and several ladies, past masters in +the craft of crossing a country with the maximum of elegance and skill +and the minimum of risk to their horses, themselves, or their friends. +Though the hounds are travelling at their greatest possible pace, they +ride alongside them, looking as cool as cucumbers (too cool, I think, +for their own enjoyment; for the more excitable though less experienced +rider probably enjoys himself more). Note how each wall, varying in +height from three to four and a half feet, is taken at a steady pace by +those well-schooled horses; even a five-foot wall, coped with sharp, +jagged stones pointing straight upwards, does not turn them one hair's +breadth from the line. And please note also that each has two hands on +the reins, and no whip hand flung high in the air, or elbows thrust +outwards, you gentlemen who are fond of painting pictures of hunting +scenes for the press! + +A good rider sitting at his ease on horseback, + + "As if an angel dropped down from the clouds + To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, + And witch the world with noble horsemanship," + +resembles a skilful musician seated at a piano or an organ. There is the +same kind of communication between the man and the instrument, whereby +the stricken chords respond to the lightest touch of the master, who +guides as with a silken thread the keys that set the trembling strings +in motion. For the rider's keys are curb and snaffle, and his hands, by +means of the bridle, control the sensitive bars of his horse's +mouth--the most harmonious, delicate organ yet discovered on earth, but +too often, alas! thumped and banged on to such an awful extent by +unsympathetic, heavy hands, as to become considerably out of tune, +whereby discord occasionally reigns supreme instead of sweet +melodious harmony. + +Goodness gracious! what's up? Our horse, which has never refused before, +has stopped dead at a wall. We stand up in the stirrups and peep over, +and there below us is a narrow but deep quarry, a veritable death trap +for the unwary sportsman. This is indeed a merciful escape; and how can +we be too thankful that a horse--wise, sagacious animal that he is--has +been endowed with an extraordinary instinct whereby he can _smell_ +danger, even though he cannot see it. Writing of this--one of the +numerous escapes a merciful dispensation of Providence has granted us in +the hunting field--we are reminded that no less than five good men and +true have been killed suddenly with the V.W.H. hounds during the last +eighteen years. The list commences with George Whyte Melville, prince of +hunting men, who broke his neck in a ploughed field in 1878. And it is a +very remarkable fact that Mr. Noel Smith was killed in 1896, on +precisely the same day--viz., the first Thursday of December--as that on +which Whyte Melville lost his life eighteen years before. + +But soon after crossing a road, hounds suddenly check. After casting +themselves beautifully forward right-and left-handed until they have +completed a half circle, they throw up their heads and look round for +the huntsman. By a sort of instinct, the result of previous observation, +the foremost riders anticipated that check, and did not follow hounds +over the road, though one or two later arrivals press forward rather too +eagerly. The huntsman, who is not far off, seeing at a glance that there +is no other cause for checking, as the hounds are in the middle of a +large grass field, immediately decides that the fox has turned sharp +down wind (he has been running up wind all the way), and casts his +hounds left-handed and back towards the lane without much delay. + +"And now," to quote from Mr. Madden's "Diary of Master William Silence," +"may be seen the advantage of a good character honestly won." Crusty is +busy "feathering" down the road, and as he is an absolutely reliable +hound, the rest of the pack are not long in coming back to him, and +soon, cheered by their huntsman, they are in full cry again. + +Our fox has run the road for a quarter of a mile. This manoeuvre has +probably saved his life, for it has given him time to get his breath +back. In addition to this, the instant Reynard turned down wind the +scent changed from a very good one to a most indifferent one. How often +this happens in a run! And it is one of the fox-hunter's chief +consolations that there is scarcely a day throughout the season on which +a run is impossible, if only a fox will set his head resolutely _up +wind_, just as in a ringing run there is a certain amount of consolation +in the thought that a fox _must travel up wind part of the way_. + +It is evident that, being beaten, Reynard has given up all idea of going +for the earths three miles away. He is beginning, like all tired foxes, +to twist and turn. There is no scent on the road; the hounds are +therefore laid on in a grass field, and feather across it in an +uncertain sort of way. This gives an opportunity to a sportsman who has +just arrived by the road to proclaim that "as usual they are hunting +hares." However, there is some pretty hunting done by the pack up a +hedgerow and across a ploughed field; but with scent growing less and +less, as is always the case with a tired, twisting fox, we do not get +along very fast. Hares are jumping up in all directions, and a terrible +nuisance they are on this sort of occasion! That hounds will stick to +their fox, twist and turn though he may, in spite of hares, is a fact +that is often proved in this country, when a lucky view has once more +put them on good terms with the hunted fox, at a time when half the +field have been crying "hare." But when a fox's scent has gradually +diminished until it tends to vanishing point, it is useless to attempt +to hunt him. This appears to be the case this morning, for the sun has +scattered the mists, and has been shining the last ten minutes with +tremendous vigour. We are glad when the master decides to give it up, +for we hope to have some more runs with this old fox later on in the +season. Hounds and horses have had enough for the time of year. So we +turn our horses' heads to the cool breeze that is ever present on the +Cotswolds, making the climate there one of the most delightful in the +world in summer and autumn. And as we ride slowly homeward over the +hill, past golden stubble fields, there is much that is picturesque to +be seen on all sides: for some late barley is not yet gathered in; +horses, drawing great yellow waggons, and old-fashioned Cotswold +labourers are busy amongst the sheaves; and there is an air of activity +and animation in the fields that is absent a month or two later. Bleak +and desolate does this country sometimes look in winter, though when the +sun shines it is fair enough. And suddenly, as we ride along, a lovely +valley is seen below: old-world farmhouses and gabled cottages come into +view, nestling amid stately elms and beech trees already touched by +autumn's hand. As we gradually descend the hill, everything looks more +beautiful than ever this morning; for we have had a gallop. For to-day +at least we shall be in a thoroughly good temper. Whatever the morrow +may bring forth, everything will appear to-day in the best possible +light. Such an excellent tonic is a fast gallop over the walls for +banishing dull care away. + +[Illustration: The Old Mill, Ablington. 152.png] + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A COTSWOLD TROUT STREAM. + +"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: Doubtless +God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did; and so, +if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent +recreation than angling.'"--_The Compleat Angler_. + +Very few trout we have caught this season ('98) are pink-fleshed when +cooked. Last year there were a good number. The reason probably is that +they have not been feeding on the fresh-water shrimps or crustaceans, +owing to the abundance of olive duns and other flies that have been on +the water. Last winter, being so mild, was very favourable for the +hatching out of fly in the spring. A hard winter doubtless commits sad +havoc among the caddis and larvae at the bottom of the river; the +trout, not being able to get much fly, are then compelled to fall back +on the crustaceans. The food in these limestone rivers is so plentiful +that the fish are able to pick and choose from a very varied bill of +fare. This is the reason they are so difficult to catch. One is not able +to increase the stock of trout to any great extent, thereby making them +easier to catch, because the fish one introduces into the water are apt +to crowd together in one or two places, with the result that they are +far too plentiful in the shallows, where there is little food, and too +scarce in the deeper water. Of the Loch Leven trout, turned in two years +ago as yearlings, more than two-thirds inhabit the quick-running, +gravelly reaches; in consequence, they have grown very little. The few +that have stayed in the deeper water have done splendidly; they are now +about three-quarters of a pound in weight. No fish, not even sea trout, +fight so well as these bright, silvery "Loch Levens." They have cost us +no end of casts and flies already this season,--not yet a month old. +Experience proves, however, that ordinary _salmo fario_, or common brook +trout, are the best for turning down; for the Loch Leven trout require +deep water to grow to any size. + +When a boy, I made a strange recovery of an eel that I had hooked and +lost three weeks before. I was fishing with worms in a large deep hole +in Surrey. My hook was a salmon fly with the feathers clipped off. I +hooked what I believed to be an eel, but he broke the line through +getting it entangled in a stick on the bottom. Three weeks afterwards, +when fishing in the same fashion and in the same place, the line got +fixed up on the bottom. I pulled hard and a stick came away. On that +stick, strange to say, was entangled my old gut casting-line, and at the +end of the line was an eel of two pounds' weight! On cutting him open, +there, sure enough, was the identical clipped salmon fly; it had been +inside that eel for three weeks without hurting him. This sounds like a +regular angler's yarn, and nobody need believe it unless he likes; +nevertheless, it is perfectly true. I had got "fixed up" in the same +stick that had broken my line on the previous occasion. + +That fish have very little sense of feeling is proved time after time. +There is nothing unusual in catching a jack with several old hooks in +his mouth. With trout, however, the occurrence is more rare. Last season +my brother lost a fly and two yards of gut through a big trout breaking +his tackle, but two minutes afterwards he caught the fish and recovered +his fly and his tackle. We constantly catch fish during the may-fly time +with broken tackle in their mouths. + +Who does not recollect the rapturous excitement caused by the first fish +caught in early youth? My first capture will ever remain firmly +impressed on the tablet of the brain, for it was a red herring--"a +common or garden," prime, thoroughly salted "red herring"! It came about +in this way. At the age of nine I was taken by my father on a yachting +expedition round the lovely islands of the west coast of Scotland. We +were at anchor the first evening of the voyage in one of the beautiful +harbours of the Hebrides, and, noticing the sailors fishing over the +side of the boat, I begged to be allowed to hold the line. Somehow or +other they managed to get a "red herring" on to the hook when my +attention was diverted; so that when I hauled up a fish that in the +darkness looked fairly silvery my excitement knew no bounds. After the +sailors had taken it off the hook, and given it a knock on the head, I +rushed down with it into the cabin, where my father and three others +were dining. Throwing my fish down on to the table, I delightedly +exclaimed, "Look what I have caught, father; isn't it a lovely fish?" I +could not understand the roars of laughter which followed, as one of the +party, with a horrified glance at my capture, shouted, "Take it away, +take it away!" _Non redolet sed olet_. Oddly enough, although after this +I caught any amount of real live fish, I never realised until months +afterwards how miserably I had been taken in by the boat's crew on that +eventful night. + +Not long afterwards, whilst fishing with a worm just below the falls at +Macomber, in the Highlands, I made what was for a small boy a remarkable +catch of sea trout. I forget the exact number, but I know I had to take +them back in sacks. They were "running" at the time, and it was very +pretty to see them continually jumping up the seven-foot ladder out of +the Spean into the Lochy. Underneath this ladder, where the water boiled +and seethed in a thousand eddies, hundreds of trout lay ready to jump up +the fall. Into this foaming torrent I threw my heavily leaded bait. No +sooner was the worm in the water than it was seized by a fine sea trout. +Some of them were nearly two pounds; and although I had a strong +casting-line, they were often most difficult to land, for a series of +small cataracts dashed down amongst huge rocks and slippery boulders, +until, a hundred feet below, the calm, deep Macomber pool was reached. +As the fish, when hooked, would often dash down this foaming torrent +into the pool below, they gave a tremendous amount of play before they +were landed. There was an element of danger about it, too, as a false +step might have led to ugly complications amongst the rocks, over which +the water came pouring down at the rate of ten miles an hour. A boy of +twelve years old, as I was then, would not have stood a chance in that +roaring torrent. A terrible accident happened here a few years +afterwards. A party went from the house, where I always stayed, to fish +at Macomber Falls. There were four ladies and two men. Whilst they were +sitting eating their luncheon at this romantic spot, an argument arose +as to whether a man falling into the seething pool below the fall would +be drowned or not. The water was only about two feet deep; but the place +was a miniature whirlpool, and, once started down the pent-in torrent, a +man would be dashed along the rocky bed and carried far out into the +deep Macomber pool beyond. A gentleman from Lincolnshire argued that in +would be impossible for any one to be drowned in such shallow water. +This was at lunch. Little did he imagine that within half an hour his +theory would be put to the test. But so it was; for whilst he was +standing on the rocks fishing, with a large overcoat on, he slipped and +fell in. His fishing-line became entangled round his legs, and he was +borne away at the mercy of the current. Unfortunately only ladies were +present, his friend having gone down stream. Twice he clutched hold of +the rocky bank opposite them, but it was too slippery, and his hold gave +way. A man jumping across the chasm might possibly have saved him by +risking his own life, for it was only fourteen feet wide; but it would +have been madness for any of the ladies to have attempted it. So the +poor fellow was drowned in two feet of water, before their eyes, and in +spite of their brave endeavours to save him. He must have been stunned +by repeated blows from the rocks, or else I think he would have baffled +successfully with the torrent. The overcoat must have hampered him most +dreadfully. It was a terrible affair, reminding one of the death of +"young Romilly" in the Wharfe, of which Wordsworth tells in that +beautiful poem, the "Force of Prayer." Bolton Abbey, as everybody knows, +was built hard by, on the river bank, by the sorrowful mother, in honour +of her boy. + + "That stately priory was reared; + And Wharf, as he moved along + To matins, join'd a mournful voice, + Nor failed at evensong." + +How many a beautiful spot in the British Isles has been endowed with a +romance that will never entirely die away owing to some catastrophe of +this kind! Macomber Falls are very beautiful indeed, but one cannot pass +the place now without a shudder and a sigh. + +It has been said that "the test of a river is its power to drown a +man." There is doubtless a peculiar grandeur about the roaring torrent; +but to me there is a still greater charm in the gentle flow of a south +country trout stream, such as abound in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and in the +Cotswolds. I do not think the Coln is capable of drowning a man, though +one of the Peregrine family told me the other day that the only two men +who ever bathed in our stream died soon afterwards from the shock of the +intensely cold water! But then, it must be remembered that the old +prejudice against "cold water" still lingers amongst the country folk of +Gloucestershire; so that this story must always be taken _cum +grano salis_. + + * * * * * + +There are few trout streams to our mind more delightful from the +angler's point of view than the Gloucestershire Coln. Rising a few miles +from Cheltenham, it runs into the Thames near Lechlade, and affords some +fifteen miles or more of excellent fishing. The scenery is of that quiet +and homely type that belongs so exclusively to the chalk and limestone +streams of the south of England. + +From its source to the point at which it joins the Isis, the Coln flows +continuously through a series of parks and small well-wooded demesnes, +varied with picturesque Cotswold villages and rich water meadows. It +swells out into fishable proportions just above Lord Eldon's Stowell +property, steals gently past his beautiful woods at Chedworth and the +Roman villa discovered a few years ago, then onward through the quaint +old-world villages of Fossbridge to Winson and Coln-St-Dennis. Though +not a hundred miles from London, this part of Gloucestershire is one of +the most primitive and old-fashioned districts in England. Until the new +railway between Andover and Cheltenham was opened, four years ago, with +a small station at Fosscross, there were many inhabitants of these +old-world villages who had never seen a train or a railway. Only the +other day, on asking a good lady, the wife of a farmer, whether she had +ever been in London, I received the reply, "No, but I've been to +Cheltenham." This in a tone of voice that meant me to understand that +going to Cheltenham, a distance of about sixteen miles, was quite as +important an episode in her life as a visit to London would have been. + +On leaving Winson the Coln widens out considerably, and for the next two +miles becomes the boundary between Mr. Wykeham-Musgrave's property of +Barnsley and the manor of Ablington. It flows through the picturesque +hamlet of Ablington, within a hundred yards of the old Elizabethan manor +house, over an artificial fall in the garden, and passes onward on its +secluded way through lovely woodland scenery, until it reaches the +village of Bibury; here it runs for nearly half a mile parallel with the +main street of the village, and then enters the grounds of Bibury Court. +I know no prettier village in England than Bibury, and no snugger +hostelry than the Swan. The landlady of this inn has a nice little +stretch of water for the use of those who find their way to Bibury; and +a pleasanter place wherein to spend a few quiet days could not be found. +The garden and old court house of Bibury are sweetly pretty, the house, +like Ablington, being three hundred years old; the stream passes within +a few yards of it, over another waterfall of about ten feet, and soon +reaches Williamstrip. Here, again, the scenery is typical of rural +England in its most pleasing form; and the village of Coln-St.-Aldwyns +is scarcely less fascinating than Bibury. + +After leaving the stately pile of Hatherop Castle and Williamstrip Park +on the left, the Coln flows silently onwards through the delightful +demesne of Fairford Park. Here the stream has been broadened out into a +lake of some depth and size, and holds some very large fish. Another +mile and Fairford town is reached, another good specimen of the Cotswold +village--for it is a large village rather than a town--with its lovely +church, famous for its windows, its gabled cottages, and comfortable +Bull Inn. There are several miles of fishing at the Bull, as many an +Oxonian has discovered in times gone by, and we trust will again. + +From what we have said, it will easily be gathered that this stream is +unsurpassed for scenery of that quiet, homely type that Kingsley +eulogises so enthusiastically in his "Chalk Stream Studies," and I am +inclined to agree with him in his preference for it over the grander +surroundings of mountain streams: + +"Let the Londoner have his six weeks every year among crag and heather, +and return with lungs expanded and muscles braced to his nine months' +prison. The countryman, who needs no such change of air and scene, will +prefer more homelike, though more homely, pleasures. Dearer to him than +wild cataracts or Alpine glens are the still hidden streams which Bewick +has immortalised in his vignettes and Creswick in his pictures. The long +grassy shallow, paved with yellow gravel, where he wades up between low +walls of fern-fringed rock, beneath nut and oak and alder, to the low +bar over which the stream comes swirling and dimpling, as the +water-ouzel flits piping before him, and the murmur of the ringdove +comes soft and sleepy through the wood,--there, as he wades, he sees a +hundred sights and hears a hundred tones which are hidden from the +traveller on the dusty highway above." + +But _chacun a son gout_! Let us now see what sort of sport may be had in +the Coln. To begin with, it must be described as a "may-fly" stream. +This means, of course, that there is a tremendous rise of fly early in +June, with the inevitable slack time before and after the may-fly time. + +But there is much pleasant angling to be had at other times. The season +begins at the end of March, when a few small fish are rising, and may be +caught with the March brown or the blue and olive duns. Few big fish are +in condition until May, but much fun can be had with the smaller ones +all through April. The half-pounders fight splendidly, and give one the +idea, on being hooked, of pulling three times their real weight. The +April fishing, at all events after the middle of the month, is very +delightful in this river. One does not actually kill many fish, for a +large number are caught and returned. + +In May, when the larger fish begin to take up their places for the +summer, one may expect good sport. This season, however, has been very +disappointing; and, judging by the way the fish were feeding on the +bottom for the first fortnight of the month, one is led to expect an +early rise of the may-fly. Until the "fly is up," the April flies, +especially the olive dun, are all that are necessary. For a couple of +weeks before the "fly-fisher's carnival" sport is always uncertain. + +If the wind is in a good quarter, sport may be had; but should it be +east, the trout will not leave the caddis, with which the bed of the +river is simply alive at this time. Of late years good sport has been +obtained at the latter end of May with small flies. The may-fly +generally comes up on the higher reaches about the last week in May, or +about June 1st, though at Fairford, lower down, it is a week earlier. A +good season means a steady rise of fly, lasting for nearly three weeks, +but with no great amount of fly on any one day. A bad may-fly season +means, as a rule, a regular "glut" of fly for three or four days, so +that the fish are stuffed full almost to bursting point, and will not +look at the natural fly afterwards, much less at your neatly "cocked" +artificial one. + +Large bags can, of course, be made on certain days in the may-fly +season; but I do not know of any better than one hundred and six fish in +three days, averaging one pound apiece. + +Sport, however, is not estimated by the number of fish taken, and there +is no better day's fun for the real fisherman than killing four or five +brace of good fish when the trout are beginning to get tired of the fly, +but are still to be caught by working hard for them. The "alder" will +often do great execution at this time, and a small blue dun is sometimes +very killing in the morning or evening. + +After the "green-drake" has lived his short life and disappeared, there +is a lull in the fishing, and the sportsman may with advantage take +himself off to London to see the Oxford and Cambridge cricket match. All +through July and August, when the water gets low and clear, the best and +largest fish may be taken from an hour before sunset up to eleven +o'clock at night by the red palmer. Although it savours somewhat of +poaching, I confess to a weakness for evening and night fishing. The +cool water meadows, the setting sun, with its golden glow on the water, +add a peculiar charm to fishing at this time of day in the hot summer +months. And then--the splash of your fish as you hook him! How magnified +is the sound in the dim twilight, when you cannot see, but can only hear +and feel your quarry! And what satisfaction to know that that great +"logger-headed" two-pounder, that was devouring goodness knows how many +yearlings and fry daily, is safe out of the water and in your basket! + +On rainy days in these months good sport may be had with the wet fly; +and in September a yellow dun, or a fly that imitates the wasp, will +kill, if only you can keep out of sight, and place a well-dried fly +right on the fish's nose. + +The dry fly and up stream is of course the orthodox method of fishing in +this as in other south-country chalk or limestone streams. No flogging +the water indiscriminately all the way up, but marking your fish down, +and stalking him, is the real game. For those who fish "wet" sport is +not so good as it used to be, owing to the "schoolmaster being abroad" +amongst trout as well as amongst men; but on certain windy days this +method is the only one possible. There is a good deal of prejudice +against the "chuck-and-chance-it" style among the advocates of the +dry-fly method of fishing. That a man who fishes with a floating fly +should be set down as a better sportsman than one who allows his fly to +sink is, to my thinking, a narrow-minded argument, and one, moreover, +that is not borne out by facts. True, in some clear chalk streams the +fish can only be killed with the dry fly; and in such cases it is +unsportsmanlike to thrash the water--in the first place, because there +is no chance of catching fish, and in the second, in the interest of +other anglers, because it is likely to make the fish shy. And therefore +it is a somewhat selfish method of fishing. + +But let those accomplished exponents of the art of fishing who are too +fond of applying the epithet "poacher" to all those who do not fish in +their own particular style remember that there are but few streams in +England sluggish enough for dry-fly fishing; consequently many +first-rate fishermen have never acquired the art. The dry-fly angler has +no more right to consider himself superior as a sportsman to the +advocate of the old-fashioned method than the county cricketer has to +consider himself superior to the village player. In both cases time and +practice have done their work; but the best fishermen and the most +practised exponents of the game of cricket are very often inferior to +their less distinguished brethren as _sportsmen_. At the same time, were +I asked which of all our English sports requires the greatest amount of +perseverance, the supremest delicacy of hand, the most assiduous +practice, and the most perfect control of temper, in order that +excellence may be attained, I would unhesitatingly answer, "Dry-fly +fishing on a real chalk stream"; and I would sooner have one successful +day under such conditions than catch fifty trout by flogging a +Scotch burn. + +In the Coln the fish run largest at Fairford, where the water has been +deepened and broadened; and there three-pounders are not uncommon. Then +at Hatherop and Williamstrip there are some big fish. Higher up the +trout run up to two and a half pounds; and the average size of fish +killed after May 1st is, roughly speaking, one pound. The higher reaches +are very much easier to fish, for the following reason: at Bibury, and +at intervals of about half a mile all the way down, the river is fed by +copious springs of transparent water; the lower down you go, and the +more springs that fall into the river, the more glassy does it become. +The upper reaches of this river may be described as easy fishing. The +water, when in good trim, is of a whey colour, though after June it +becomes low and very clear. The flies I have mentioned are the only ones +really necessary, and if the fish will not take them they will probably +take nothing. They are, to sum up: + + (1) March Brown. + (2) Olive Dun. + (3) Blue Dun. + (4) May-fly. + (5) Alder. + (6) Palmer. + +"Wykeham's Fancy" and the "Grey Quill Gnat" are the only other flies +that need be mentioned. The former has a great reputation on the river, +but we ourselves have used it but little. + +The food on the Coln is most abundant, and to this must be attributed +the extraordinary size of the fish as compared with the depth and bulk +of water. That one hundred and fifty brace of trout, averaging a pound +in weight, are taken with rod and line each year on a stretch of water +two miles in length, and varying in depth from two to three feet, with a +few deep holes, the width of the water being not more than thirty feet +for the most part, is sufficient proof that there is abundance of food +in the river. + +Where the water is shallow we have found great advantage accrue by +putting in large stones and fir poles, to form ripples and also homes +for the fish. By this means shallow reaches can be made to hold good +fish, and the eddies and ripples make them easy to catch. The stones add +to the picturesqueness of the stream, for they soon become coated with +moss, and give the idea in some places of a rocky Scotch burn. A +pleasant variety of fishing is thus obtained; for at one time you are +throwing a dry fly on to the still and unruffled surface of the broader +reaches, and a hundred yards lower down you may have to use a wet fly in +the narrower and quicker parts, where the stones cause the water to +"boil up" in all directions, and the eddies give a chance to those who +are uninitiated into the mysteries of dry-fly angling. + +The large fish prefer sluggish water, but in these artificial ripples +fish may be caught on days on which the stream would be unfishable under +ordinary circumstances. It would be invidious to make comparisons +between the Coln and the Hampshire rivers--the Itchen and the +Test,--these are larger rivers, with larger fish, and they require a +better fisherman than those stretches of the Coin that we are dealing +with, although the lower reaches of the latter stream are difficult +enough for most people. + +Otters used to be considered scarce on the River Coln, but two have +lately been trapped in the parish of Bibury. With pike and coarse fish +we are not troubled on the upper reaches, though lower down they exist +in certain quantities. Of poachers I trust I may say the same. Rumour +has sometimes whispered of nets kept in Bibury and elsewhere, and of +midnight raids on the neighbouring preserves; but though I have walked +down the bank on many a summer night, I have never once come upon +anything suspicious, not even a night-line. The Gloucestershire native +is an honest man. He may think, perhaps, that he has nothing to learn +and cannot go wrong, but burglaries are practically unknown, and +poaching is not commonly practised. + +To sum up, the River Coln affords excellent sport amid surroundings +seldom to be found in these days. The whole country reminds one of the +days of Merrie England, so quaint and rural are the scenes. The houses +and cottages are all built of the native stone, which can be obtained +for the trouble of digging, so there is no danger of modern villas or +the inroads of civilisation spoiling the face of the country. And +moreover, these country people; being simple in their tastes, have never +endeavoured to improve on the old style of building; the newer cottages, +with their pointed gables, closely resemble the old Elizabethan houses. +The new stone soon tones down, and every house has a pretty garden +attached to it. + +I have just returned from a stroll by the river, with my rod in hand, on +the look-out for a rise. Not a fish was stirring. It is the middle of +May, and this glorious valley is growing more and more glorious every +day. An evening walk by the stream is delightful now, even though you +may begin to wonder if all the fish have disappeared. The air is full of +joyful sounds. The cuckoo, the corncrake, and the cock pheasant seem to +be vieing with each other; but, alas! nightingales there are none. As I +come round a bend, up get a mallard and a duck, and beautiful they look +as they swing round me in the dazzling sunlight. A little further on I +come upon a whole brood of nineteen little wild ducks. The old mothers +are a good deal tamer now than they were in the shooting season. Many a +time have they got up, just out of shot, when I was trying to wile away +the time during the great frost with a little stalking. A kingfisher +shoots past; but I have given up trying to find her nest. There is a +brood of dabchicks, and, a little further on, another family of +wild duck. + +The spring flowers are just now in their flush of pride and glory. +Clothing the banks, and reflected everywhere in the blue waters of the +stream, are great clusters of marsh marigolds painting the meadows with +their flaming gold; out of the decayed "stoles" of trees that fell by +the water's edge years and years ago springs the "glowing violet"; here +and there, as one throws a fly towards the opposite bank, a purple glow +on the surface of the stream draws the attention to a glorious mass of +violets on the mossy bank above; myriads of dainty cuckoo flowers, + + "With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, + And every flower that sad embroidery wears," + +are likewise to be seen. Farther away from the stream's bank, on the +upland lawn and along the hedge towards the downs, the deep purple of +the hyacinth and orchis, and the perfect blue of the little eyebright or +germander speedwell, are visible even at a distance. In a week the lilac +and sweet honeysuckle will fill the air with grateful redolence. + +Ah! a may-fly. But I know this is only a false alarm. There are always a +few stray ones about at this time; the fly will not be "up" for ten days +at least. When it does come, the stream, so smooth and glassy now, will +be "like a pot a-boiling," as the villagers say. You would not think it +possible that a small brook could contain so many big fish as will show +themselves when the fly is up. + +In conclusion, we will quote once more from dear old Charles Kingsley, +for what was true fifty years ago is true now--at all events, in this +part of Gloucestershire; and may it ever remain so! + +"Come, then, you who want pleasant fishing days without the waste of +time and trouble and expense involved in two hundred miles of railway +journey, and perhaps fifty more of highland road; come to pleasant +country inns, where you can always get a good dinner; or, better still, +to pleasant country houses, where you can always get good society--to +rivers which always fish brimful, instead of being, as these mountain +ones are, very like a turnpike road for three weeks, and then like +bottled porter for three days--to streams on which you have strong +south-west breezes for a week together on a clear fishing water, instead +of having, as on these mountain ones, foul rain spate as long as the +wind is south-west, and clearing water when the wind chops up to the +north,--streams, in a word, where you may kill fish four days out of +five from April to October, instead of having, as you will most probably +in the mountain, just one day's sport in the whole of your +month's holiday." + +[Illustration: A bridge over the Coln. 171.png] + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHEN THE MAY-FLY IS UP. + + "Just in the dubious point where with the pool + Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils + Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank + Reverted plays in undulating flow, + There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly." + + THOMSON'S _Seasons_. + +When does the may-fly come, the gorgeous succulent may-fly, that we all +love so well in the quiet valleys where the trout streams wend their +silent ways? + +It comes "of a Sunday," answers the keeper, who would fain see the +prejudice against fishing "on the Sabbath" scattered to the four winds +of heaven. He thinks it very contrary of the fly that it should +invariably come up "strong" on the one day in the week on which the +trout are usually allowed a rest. + +"'Tis a most comical job, but it always comes up thickest of a Sunday," +he frequently exclaims. Then, if you press him for further particulars, +he grows eloquent on the subject, and tells you as follows: "We always +reckons to kill the most fish on 'Durby day.' 'Tis a most singular +thing, but the 'Durby day' is always the best." + +Now, considering that Derby day is a movable feast, saving that it +always comes on a Wednesday, there would appear to be no more logic in +this statement than there is in the one about the fly coming up strong +on a Sunday. However, so deep rooted is the theory that the Derby and +the cream of the may-fly fishing are inseparably associated that we have +come to talk of the biggest rise of the season as "the Derby day," +whatever day of the week it may happen to be. + +Thus Tom Peregrine, the keeper, when he sees the fly gradually coming +up, will say: "I can see how it will be--next Friday will be Durby day. +You must 'meet' the fly that day; 'be sure and give it the meeting,' +sir. We shall want six rods on the water on Friday." He is so +desperately keen to kill fish that he would sooner have six rods and +moderate sport for each fisherman than three rods and good sport all +round. Wonderfully sanguine is this fellow's temperament: + + "A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays + And confident to-morrows." + +It is always "just about a good day for fishing" before you start; and +if you have a bad day, he consoles you with an account of an +extraordinary day last week, or one you are to have next week. Sometimes +it was last season that was so good; "or it will be a splendid season +next year," for some reason or other only known to himself. + +Three good anglers are quite sufficient for two miles of fishing on the +best of days. Experience has taught us that "too many cooks spoil the +broth" even in the may-fly season. + +I shall never forget a most lamentable, though somewhat laughable, +occurrence which took place five years ago. Foolishly responding to the +entreaties of our enthusiastic friend the keeper, we actually did ask +five people to fish one "Durby day." As luck would have it they all +came; but unfortunately a neighbouring squire, who owns part of the +water, but who seldom turns up to fish, also chose that day, and with +him came his son. Seven was bad enough in all conscience, but imagine my +feelings when a waggonette drove up, full of _undergraduates from +Oxford_: my brother, who was one of the undergraduates, had brought them +down on the chance, and without any warning. Of course they all wanted +to fish, though for the most part they were quite innocent of the art of +throwing a fly. Result: ten or a dozen fisherman, all in each other's +way; every rising fish in the brook frightened out of its wits; and very +little sport. The total catch for the day was only thirty trout, or +exactly what three rods ought to have caught. + +These were the sort of remarks one had to put up with: "I say, old +chap, there's a d----d fellow in a mackintosh suit up stream; he's +bagged my water"; or, "Who is that idiot who has been flogging away all +the afternoon in one place? Does he think he's beating carpets, or is he +an escaped lunatic from Hanwell?" + +The whole thing was too absurd; it was like a fishing competition on the +Thames at Twickenham. + +Since this never-to-be-forgotten day I have come to the conclusion that +to have too few anglers is better than too many; also, alas! that it is +quite useless to ask your friends to come unless they are accomplished +fishermen. It takes years of practice to learn the art of catching +south-country trout in these days, when every fish knows as well as we +do the difference between the real fly and the artificial. One might as +well ask a lot of schoolboys to a big "shoot," as issue indiscriminate +invitations to fish. + +It is a prochronism to talk of the _May_-fly; for, as a matter of fact, +the first ten days of _June_ usually constitute the may-fly season. Of +late years the rise has been earlier and more scanty than of yore. There +are always several days, however, during the rise when all the biggest +fish in the brook come out from their homes beneath the willows, take up +a favourable place in mid stream, and quietly suck down fly after fly +until they are absolutely stuffed. To have fished on one of these days +in any well-stocked south-country brook is something to look back upon +for many a long day. In a reach of water not exceeding one hundred yards +in length there will be fish enough to occupy you throughout the day. +You may catch seven or eight brace of trout, none of which are under a +pound in weight, where you did not believe any large ones existed. The +fact is, the larger fish of a trout stream are more like rats in their +habits than anything else; they stow themselves away in holes in the +bank and all sorts of inconceivable places, and are as invisible by day +as the otter itself. + +That man derives the greatest enjoyment from this annual carnival among +the trout who has been tied to London all through May, sweltering in a +stuffy office and longing for the country. Though his sympathies are +bound up heart and soul in country pursuits, he has elected to "live +laborious days" in the busy haunts of men. He does it, though he hates +it; for he has sufficient insight to know that self-denial in some form +or other is the inevitable destiny of mortal man: sooner or later it has +to be undergone by all, whether we like it or not + + "Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit + Ab dis plura feret" + +Horace never wrote anything truer than that, though we are not to +suppose that the second line will necessarily come true in this life. + +We will imagine that our friend is a briefless barrister, but a fine, +all-round sportsman; a crack batsman, perhaps, at Eton and Oxford, or +one of whom it might be said: + + "Give me the man to whom nought comes amiss, + One horse or another, that country or this-- + Who through falls and bad starts undauntedly still + Rides up to the motto, 'Be with them I will.'" + +There may be good sportsmen enough enjoying life throughout the country +villages of Merrie England, but in my humble opinion the _best_ +sportsmen must be sought in stifling offices in London, or serving +"their country and their Queen" under the burning sun of a far country, +or maybe in the reeking atmosphere of the East End, or as missionaries +in that howling wilderness the inhospitable land of "the +heathen Chinee." + +Sitting in his dusty chambers, poring over grimy books and legal +manuscripts, our "briefless" friend receives a telegram which he has +been expecting rather anxiously the last few days. As brief as he is +"briefless," it brings a flush to his cheek which has not been seen +there since that great run with the hounds last Christmas holidays. "The +fly is up; come at once." These are the magic words; and no time is lost +in responding to the invitation, for, as prearranged, he is to start for +Gloucestershire directly the wire arrives. + +There is no need to rush off to Mr. Farlow and buy up his stock of +may-flies; for though he does not tie his own flies, our angling friend +has a goodly stock of them neatly arranged in rows of cork inside a +black tin box; and, depend upon it, they are the _right_ ones. + +Many a fisherman goes through a lifetime without getting the right flies +for the water on which he angles. It is ten to one that those in the +shops are too light, both in the body and the wing; the may-flies +usually sold are likewise much too big. About half life-size is quite +big enough for the artificial fly, and as a general rule they cannot be +too _dark_. + +Some years ago we caught a live fly, and took it up to London for the +shopman to copy. "At last," we said to ourselves, "we have got the right +thing." But not a bit of it. The first cast on to the water showed us +that the fly was utterly wrong. It was far too light. The fact is, the +insect itself appears very much darker on the water than it does in the +air. But the artificial fly shows ten times lighter as it floats on the +stream than it does in the shop window. + +Dark mottled grey for your wings, and a brown hackle, with a dark rather +than a straw-coloured body, is the kind of fly we find most killing on +the upper Coln. Of course it may be different on other streams, but I +suspect there is a tendency to use too light a fly everywhere, save +among those who have learnt by experience how to catch trout. As Sir +Herbert Maxwell has proved by experiment, trout have no perception of +colour except so far as the fly is light or dark. He found dark blue and +red flies just as killing as the ordinary may-fly. + +For the dry-fly fisherman equipment is half the battle. Show me the man +who catches fish; ten to one his rod is well balanced and strong, his +line heavy, though tapered, and his gut well selected and stained. The +fly-book stamps the fisherman even more truly than the topboot stamps +the fox-hunter. Nor does the accomplished expert with the dry fly +disdain with fat of deer to grease his line, nor with paraffin to dress +his fly and make it float. But he keeps the paraffin in a leather case +by itself, so that his coat may not remain redolent for months. From +top to toe he is a fisherman. His boots are thick, even though he does +not require waders; on his knees are leather pads to ward off +rheumatism; whilst on his head is a sober-coloured cap--not a white +straw hat flashing in the sunlight, and scaring the timid trout +to death. + +Thus appears our sportsman of the Inner Temple not twelve hours after we +saw him stewing in his London chambers. What a metamorphosis is this! +Just as the may-fly, after two years of confinement as a wretched grub +in the muddy bed of the stream, throws off its shackles, gives its wings +a shake, and soars into the glorious June atmosphere, happy to be free, +so does the poor caged bird rejoice, after grubbing for an indefinite +period in a cramped cell, to leave darkness and dirt and gloom (though +not, like the may-fly, for ever), and flee away on wings the mighty +steam provides until he finds himself once again in the fresh green +fields he loves so well. And truly he gets his reward. He has come into +a new world--rather, I should say, a paradise; for he comes when meadows +are green and trees are at their prime. Though the glory of the lilac +has passed away, the buttercup still gilds the landscape; barley fields +are bright with yellow charlock, and the soft, subdued glow of sainfoin +gives colour to the breezy uplands as of acres of pink carnations. On +one side a vast sheet of saffron, on the other a lake of rubies, ripples +in the passing breeze, or breaks into rolling waves of light and shade +as the fleecy clouds sweep across azure skies. He comes when roses, pink +and white and red, are just beginning to hang their dainty heads in +modest beauty on every cottage wall or cluster round the ancient porch; +when from every lattice window in the hamlet (I wish I could say every +_open_ window) rows of red geraniums peep from their brown pots of +terra-cotta, brightening the street without, and filling the cosy rooms +with grateful, unaccustomed fragrance; when the scent of the sweet, +short-lived honeysuckle pervades the atmosphere, and the faces of the +handsome peasants are bronzed as those of dusky dwellers under +Italian skies. + + No daintie flowre or herbe that grows on ground; + No arborett with painted blossoms drest, + And smelling sweete, but there it might be found, + To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al around. + + E. SPENSER. + +What a pleasant country is this in which to spend a holiday! How white +are the limestone roads! how fresh and invigorating is the upland air! +The old manor house is deserted, its occupants having gone to London. +But a couple of bachelors can be happy in an empty house, without +servants and modern luxuries, as long as the may-fly lasts. It is +pleasant to feel that you can dine at any hour you please, and wear what +you please. The good lady who cooks for you is merely the wife of one of +the shepherds; but her cooking is fit for a king! What dinner could be +better than a trout fresh from the brook, a leg of lamb from the farm, +and a gooseberry tart from the kitchen garden? For vegetables you may +have asparagus--of such excellence that you scarcely know which end to +begin eating--and new potatoes. + +For my part, I would sooner a thousand times live on homely fare in the +country than be condemned to wade through long courses at London dinner +parties, or, worse still, pay fabulous prices at "Willis's Rooms," the +"Berkeley," or at White's Club. + +What a comfort, too, to be without housemaids to tidy up your papers in +the smoking-room and shut your windows in the evening! How healthful to +sleep in a room in which the windows have been wide open night and day +for months past! + +Sport is usually to be depended upon in the may-fly time, as long as you +are not late for the rise. Of late years the fly has "come up" so early +and in such limited quantities that but few fishermen were on the +water in time. + +We are apt to grumble, declaring that the whole river has gone to the +bad; that the fish are smaller and fewer in numbers than of yore,--but +is this borne out by facts? The year 1896 was no doubt rather a failure +as regards the may-fly; but as I glance over the pages of the game-book +in which I record as far as possible every fish that is killed, I cannot +help thinking that sport has been very wonderful, take it all round, +during six out of seven seasons. + +It is a lovely day during the last week in May. There has been no rain +for more than a fortnight; the wind is north-east, and the sun shines +brightly,--yet we walk down to the River Coln, anticinating a good day's +sport among the trout: for, during the may-fly season, no matter how +unpropitious the weather may appear, sport is more of a certainty on +this stream than at any other time of year. Early in the season drought +does not appear to have any effect on the springs; we might get no rain +from the middle of April until half-way through June, and yet the water +will keep up and remain a good colour all the time. But after June is +"out," down goes the water, lower and lower every week; no amount of +rain will then make any perceptible increase to the volume of the +stream, and not until the nights begin to lengthen out and the autumnal +gales have done their work will the water rise again to its normal +height. If you ask Tom Peregrine why these things are so, he will only +tell you that after a few gales the "springs be _frum_." The word +"frum," the derivation of which is, Anglo-Saxon, "fram," or "from" = +strong, flourishing, is the local expression for the bursting of +the springs. + +Our friend Tom Peregrine is full of these quaint expressions. When he +sees a covey of partridges dusting themselves in the roads, he will tell +you they are "bathering." A dog hunting through a wood is always said to +be "breveting." "I don't like that dog of So-and-so's, he do 'brevet' +so," is a favourite saying. The ground on a frosty morning "scrumps" or +"feels scrumpety," as you walk across the fields; and the partridges +when wild, are "teert." All these phrases are very happy, the sound of +the words illustrating exactly the idea they are intended to convey. +Besides ordinary Gloucestershire expressions, the keeper has a large +variety that he has invented for himself. + +When the river comes down clear, it is invariably described as like +looking into a gin bottle, or "as clear as gin." A trout rising boldly +at a fly is said to "'quap' up," or "boil up," or even "come at it like +a dog." The word "mess" is used to imply disgust of any sort: "I see one +boil up just above that mess of weed"; or, if you get a bit of weed on +the hook, he will exclaim, "Bother! that mess of weed has put him down." +Sometimes he remarks, "Tis these dreadful frostis that spiles +everything. 'Tis enough to sterve anybody." When he sees a bad fisherman +at work, he nods his head woefully and exclaims, "He might as well throw +his 'at in!" Then again, if he is anxious that you should catch a +particular trout, which cannot be persuaded to rise, he always says, +"Terrify him, sir; keep on terrifying of him." This does not mean that +you are to frighten the fish; on the contrary, he is urging you to stick +to him till he gets tired of being harassed, and succumbs to temptation. +All these quaint expressions make this sort of folk very amusing +companions for a day's fishing. + +It is eleven o'clock; let us walk down stream until we come to a bend in +the river where the north-east wind is less unfavourable than it is in +most parts. There is a short stretch of two hundred yards, where, as we +fish up stream, the breeze will be almost at our backs, and there are +fish enough to occupy us for an hour or so; afterwards, we shall have to +"cut the wind" as best we can. + +As we pass down stream the pale olive duns are hatching out in fair +numbers, and a few fish are already on the move. What lovely, delicate +things are these duns! and how "beautifully and wonderfully are they +made"! If you catch one you will see that it is as delicate and +transparent as it can possibly be. Not even the may-fly can compare with +the dun. And what rare food for trout they supply! For more than six +weeks, from April 1st, they hatch out by thousands every sunny day. The +may-fly may be a total failure, but week after week in the early spring +you may go down to the riverside with but one sort of fly, and if there +are fish to be caught at all, the pale-winged olive dun will catch them; +and in spite of the fact that there are a few may-flies on the water, it +is with the little duns that we intend to start our fishing to-day. The +trout have not yet got thoroughly accustomed to the green-drake, and the +"Durby day" will not be here for a week. It is far better to leave them +"to get reconciled" to the new fly (as the keeper would put it); they +will "quap" up all the better in a few days if allowed, in angling +phraseology, "to get well on to the fly." + +On arriving at the spot at which we intend commencing operations, it is +evident that the rise has begun. Happily, everything was in readiness. +Our tapered gut cast has been wetted, and a tiny-eyed fly is at the end. +The gut nearest the hook is as fine as gut can possibly be. Anything +thicker would be detected, for a spring joins the river at this point +and makes the water rather clear. Higher up we need not be so +particular. There is a fish rising fifteen yards above us; so, crouching +low and keeping back from the bank, we begin casting. A leather +kneecap, borrowed from the harness-room, is strapped on to the knee, and +is a good precaution against rheumatism. The first cast is two feet +short of the rise, but with the next we hook a trout. He makes a +tremendous rush, and runs the reel merrily. We manage to keep him out of +the weeds and land him--a silvery "Loch Leven," about three-quarters of +a pound, and in excellent condition. Only two years ago he was put into +the stream with five hundred others as a yearling. The next two rising +fish are too much for us, and we bungle them. One sees the line, owing +to our throwing too far above him, and the other is frightened out of +his life by a bit of weed or grass which gets hitched on to the barb of +the hook, and lands bang on to his nose. These accidents will happen, so +we do not swear, but pass on up stream, and soon a great brown tail +appears for a second just above some rushes on the other side. Kneeling +down again, we manage, after a few casts--luckily short of our fish--to +drop the fly a foot above him. Down it sails, not "cocking" as nicely as +could be wished, but in an exact line for his nose. There is a slight +dimple, and we have got him. For two or three minutes we are at the +mercy of our fish, for we dare not check him--the gut is too fine. But, +lacking condition, he soon tires, and is landed. He is over a pound and +a half, and rather lanky; but kill him we must, for by the size of his +head we can see that he is an old fish, and as bad as a pike for eating +fry. Two half-pounders are now landed in rapid succession, and returned +to the water. Then we hook a veritable monster; but, alas! he makes a +terrific rush down stream, and the gut breaks in the weeds. Of course he +is put down as the biggest fish ever hooked in the water. As a matter of +fact, two pounds would probably "see him." Putting on another olive dun, +we are soon playing a handsome bright fish of a pound, with thick +shoulders and a small head. And a lovely sight he is when we get him out +of the water and knock him on the head. + +We now come to a place where some big stones have been placed to make +ripples and eddies, and the stream is more rapid. Glad of the chance of +a rest from the effort of fishing "dry," which is tiring to the wrist +and back, we get closer to the bank, and flog away for five minutes +without success. Suddenly we hear a voice behind, and, looking round, +see our mysterious keeper, who is always turning up unexpectedly, +without one's being able to tell where he has sprung from. "The fish be +all alive above the washpool. I never see such a sight in all my life!" +he breathlessly exclaims. + +"All right," we reply; "we'll be up there directly. But let's first of +all try for the big one that lies just above that stone." + +"There's one up! ... There's another up! The river's boiling," says our +loquacious companion. + +"That's the big fish," we reply, vigorously flogging the air to dry the +fly; for when there is a big fish about, one always gives him as neatly +a "cocked" fly as is possible. + +"_Must_ have him! Bang over him!" exclaims Tom Peregrine excitedly. + +But there is no response from the fish. + +"Keep _terrifying_ of him, keep _terrifying_ of him," whispers Tom; +"he's bound to make a mistake sooner or later." So we try again, and at +the same moment that the fly floats down over the monster's nose he +moves a foot to the right and takes a live may-fly with a big roll and +a flop. + +"Well, I never! Try him with a may-fly, sir," says Peregrine. + +Thinking this advice sound, we hastily put on the first may-fly of the +season; and no sooner have we made our cast than, as Rudyard Kipling +once said to the writer, there is a boil in the water "like the launch +of a young yacht," a tremendous swirl, and we are fast into a famous +trout. Directly he feels the insulting sting of the hook he rushes down +stream at a terrific rate, so that the line, instead of being taut, +dangles loosely on the water. We gather the line through the rings in +breathless haste--there is no time to reel up--and once more get a tight +strain on him. Fortunately there are no weeds here; the current is too +rapid for them. Twice he jumps clean out of the water, his broad, +silvery sides flashing in the sunlight. At length, after a five minutes' +fight, during which our companion never stops talking, we land the best +fish we have caught for four years. Nearly three pounds, he is as "fat +as butter," as bright as a new shilling, with the pinkest of pink spots +along his sides, and his broad back is mottled green. The head is small, +indicating that he is not a "cannibal," but a real, good-conditioned, +pink-fleshed trout. And it is rare in May to catch a big fish that has +grown into condition. + +We have now four trout in the basket. "A pretty dish of fish," as +Peregrine ejaculates several times as we walk up stream towards the +washpool. For thirty years he has been about this water, and has seen +thousands of fish caught, yet he is as keen to-day as a boy with his +first trout. As we pass through a wood we question him as to a small +stone hut, which appeared to have fallen out of repair. + +"Oh!" he replied, "that was built in the time of the Romans"; and then +he went on to tell us how a _great_ battle was fought in the wood, and +how, about twenty years ago, they had found "a _great_ skeleton of a +man, nearly seven feet long"--a sure proof, he added, that the Romans +had fought here. + +As a matter of fact, there are several Roman villas in the +neighbourhood, and there was also fighting hereabouts in the Civil Wars. +But half the country folk look upon everything that happened more than a +hundred years ago as having taken place in the time of the Romans; and +Oliver Cromwell is to them as mythical a personage and belonging to an +equally remote antiquity as Julius Caesar. The Welsh people are just the +same. The other day we were shown a huge pair of rusty scissors whilst +staying in Breconshire. The man who found them took them to the "big +house" for the squire to keep as a curiosity, for, "no doubt," he said, +"they once belonged to _some great king_"! + +To our disgust, on reaching the upper water we found it as thick as +pea-soup. Sheep-washing had been going on a mile or so above us. Never +having had any sport under these conditions in past times, we had quite +decided to give up fishing for the day; but Tom Peregrine, who is ever +sanguine, swore he saw a fish rise. To our astonishment, on putting the +fly over the spot, we hooked and landed a large trout Proceeding up +stream, two more were quickly basketed. When the water comes down as +thick as the Thames at London Bridge, after sheep washing, the big trout +are often attracted out of their holes by the insects washed out of the +wool; but they will seldom rise freely to the artificial fly on such +occasions. To-day, oddly enough, they take any fly they can see in the +thick water, and with a "coch-y-bondu" substituted for the may-fly, as +being more easily seen in the discoloured water, any number of fish were +to be caught. But there is little merit and, consequently, little +satisfaction in pulling out big trout under these conditions, so that, +having got seven fish, weighing nine pounds, in the basket, we are +satisfied. + +As a rule, it is only in the may-fly season that the biggest fish rise +freely; an average weight of one pound per fish is usually considered +first-rate in the Coln. On this day, however, although the may-fly was +not yet properly up, the big fish, which generally feed at night, had +been brought on the rise by the sheep-washing. + +All the way home we are regaled with impossible stories of big fish +taken in these waters, one of which, the keeper says, weighed five +pounds, "all but a penny piece." As a matter of fact, this fish was +taken out of a large spring close to the river; and it is very rarely +that a three-pounder is caught in the Coln above Bibury, whilst anything +over that weight is not caught once in a month of Sundays. Last January, +however, a dead trout, weighing three pounds eight ounces, was found at +Bibury Mill, and a few others about the same size have been taken during +recent years. At Fairford, where the stream is bigger, a five-pounder +was taken during the last may-fly. + +We are pleased to find that our friend from London, who has been fishing +the same water, has done splendidly; he has killed six brace of good +trout, besides returning a large number to the water. With a glow of +satisfaction he + + "Tells from what pool the noblest had been dragg'd; + And where the very monarch of the brook, + After long struggle, had escaped at last." + + WORDSWORTH. + +We laid our combined bag on the cool stone floor in the game larder; + + "And verily the silent creatures made + A splendid sight, together thus exposed; + Dead, but not sullied or deformed by death, + That seem'd to pity what he could not spare." + + WORDSWORTH. + +But the killing of trout is only a small part of the pleasure of being +here when the may-fly is up. How pleasant to live almost entirely in the +open air! after the day's fishing is over to rest awhile in the cool +manor house hard by the stream, watching from the window of the +oak-panelled little room the wonders of creation in the garden through +which the river flows! Now, from the recesses of the overhanging boughs +on the tiny island opposite, a moorhen swims forth, cackling and pecking +at the water as she goes. She is followed by five little balls of black +fur--her red-beaked progeny; they are fairly revelling in the evening +sunlight, diving, playing with each other, and thoroughly enjoying life. + +Up on the bough of the old fir, bearing its heavy mantle of ivy from +base to topmost twig, and not twenty yards from the window, a thrush +sits and sings. You must watch him carefully ere you assure yourself +that those sweet, trilling notes of peerless music come from that tiny +throat. A rare lesson in voice production he will teach you. Deep +breathing, headnotes clear as a bell and effortless, as only three or +four singers in Europe can produce them, without the slightest sense of +strain or throatiness--such are the songs of our most gifted denizens of +the woods. + +What a wondrous amount of life is visible on an evening such as this! +Among the fast-growing nettles beyond the brook scores of rabbits are +running to and fro, some sitting up on their haunches with ears pricked, +some gamboling round the lichened trunk of the weeping ash tree. + +Out of the water may-flies are rising and soaring upwards to circle +round the topmost branches of the firs. Looking upwards, you may see +hundreds of them dancing in unalloyed delight, enjoying their brief +existence in this beautiful world. + +Birds of many kinds, swallows and swifts, sparrows, fly-catchers, +blackbirds, robins and wrens, all and sundry are busy chasing the poor +green-drakes. As soon as the flies emerge from their husks and hover +above the surface of the stream, many of them are snapped up. But the +trout have "gone down,"--they are fairly gorged for the day; they will +not trouble the fly any more to-night. + +And then those glorious bicycle rides in the long summer evenings, when, +scarcely had the sun gone down beyond the ridge of rolling uplands than +the moon, almost at the full, and gorgeously serene, cast her soft, +mysterious light upon a silent world. One such night two anglers, +gliding softly through the ancient village of Bibury, dismounted from +their machines and stood on the bridge which spans the River Coln. Below +them the peaceful waters flowed silently onwards with all the smoothness +of oil, save that ever and anon rays of silvery moonlight fell in +streaks of radiant whiteness upon its glassy surface. + +From beneath the bridge comes the sound of busy waters, a sound, as is +often the case with running water, that you do not hear unless you +listen for it carefully. Close by, too, at the famous spring, crystal +waters are welling forth from the rock, pure and stainless as they were +a thousand years ago. All else is silent in the village. The sky is +flecked by myriads of tiny cloudlets, all separate from each other, and +mostly of one shape and size; but just below the brilliant orb, which +floats serene and proud above the line of mackerel sky, fantastic peaks +of clouds, like far-off snow-capped heights of rugged Alps, are +pointing upwards. + +Suddenly there comes a change. A fairy circle of prismatic colour is +gathering round the moon, beautifying the scene a thousandfold; an inner +girdle of hazy emerald hue immediately surrounds the lurid orb, which is +now seen as "in a glass darkly"; whilst encircling all is a narrow rim +of red light, like the rosy hues of the setting sun that have scarcely +died away in the west. The beauty of this lunar rainbow is enhanced by +the framework of shapely ash trees through whose branches it is seen. + +Along the river bank, nestling under the hanging wood, are rows of old +stone cottages, with gables warped a little on one side. One light +shines forth from the lattice window of the ancient mill; but in the +cool thick-walled houses the honest peasants are slumbering in deep, +peaceful sleep. + + "Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep. + The river glideth at his own sweet will: + Dear God, the very houses seem asleep." + + WORDSWORTH. + +We are in the very heart of England. What a contrast to London at night, +where many a poor fellow must be tossing restlessly in the stifling +atmosphere! + +As we return towards the old manor house the nightjar, or goatsucker, +is droning loudly, and a nightingale--actually a nightingale!--is +singing in the copse. These birds seldom visit us in the Cotswolds. In +the deserted garden the scent of fresh-mown hay is filling the air, and + + "The moping owl doth to the moon complain + Of such as wander near her secret bower." + +As we go we pluck some sprigs of fragrant honeysuckle and carry them +indoors. And so to bed, passing on the broad oak staircase the weird +picture of the man who built this rambling old house more than three +hundred years ago. + +There is a plain everyday phenomenon connected with pictures, and more +especially photographs, which must have been noticed time after time by +thousands of people; yet I never heard it mentioned in conversation or +saw it in print. I allude to the extraordinary sympathy the features of +a portrait are capable of assuming towards the expression of countenance +of the man who is looking at it. There is something at times almost +uncanny in it. Stand opposite a photograph of a friend when you are +feeling sad, and the picture is sad. Laugh, and the mouth of your friend +seems to curl into a smile, and his eyes twinkle merrily. Relapse into +gloom and despondency, and the smile dies away from the picture. Often +in youth, when about to carry out some design or other, I used to glance +at my late father's portrait, and never failed to notice a look of +approval or condemnation on the face which left its mark on the memory +for a considerable time. The countenance of the grim old gentleman in +the portrait on the stairs ("AETATIS SUAE 92. 1614 A.D.") wore a +distinct air of satisfaction to-night as I passed by on my way to bed; +he always looks pleased after there has been a good day with the hounds, +and likewise in the summer when the may-fly is up. + +[Illustration: Burford Priory. 194.png] + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BURFORD, A COTSWOLD TOWN. + +Burford and Cirencester are two typical Cotswold towns; and perhaps the +first-named is the most characteristic, as it is also the most remote +and old-world of all places in this part of England. It was on a lovely +day in June that we resolved to go and explore the ancient priory and +glorious church of old Burford. A very slow train sets you down at +Bampton, commonly called Bampton-in-the-Bush, though the forest which +gave rise to the name has long since given place to open fields. + +There are many other curious names of this type in Gloucestershire and +the adjoining counties. Villages of the same name are often +distinguished from each other by these quaint descriptions of their +various situations. Thus: + + Moreton-in-the-Marsh distinguishes from More-ton-on-Lug. + Bourton-on-the-Water distinguishes from Bourton-on-the-Hill. + Stow-on-the-Wold distinguishes from Stowe-Nine-Churches. + +Then we find + + Shipston-on-Stour and Shipton-under-Whichwood. + Hinton-on-the-Green and Hinton-in-the-Hedges. + Aston-under-Hill and Aston-under-Edge. + +It may be noted in passing that the derivation of the word +"Moreton-in-the-Marsh" has ever been the subject of much controversy. +But the fact that the place is on the ancient trackway from Cirencester +to the north, and also that four counties meet here, is sufficient +reason for assigning Morton-hen-Mearc (=) "the place on the moor by the +old boundary" as the probable meaning of the name. + +We were fortunate enough to secure an outside seat on the rickety old +"bus" which plies between Bampton and Burford, and were soon slowly +traversing the white limestone road, stopping every now and then to set +down a passenger or deposit a parcel at some clean-looking, stone-faced +cottage in the straggling old villages. + +It was indeed a glorious morning for an expedition into the Cotswolds. +The six weeks' drought had just given place to cool, showery weather. A +light wind from the west breathed the fragrance of countless wild +flowers and sweet may blossom from the leafy hedges, and the scent of +roses and honeysuckle was wafted from every cottage garden. After a +month spent amid the languid air and depressing surroundings of London, +one felt glad at heart to experience once again the grand, pure air and +rural scenery of the Cotswold Hills. + +What strikes one so forcibly about this part of England, after a sojourn +in some smoky town, is its extraordinary cleanliness. + +There is no such thing as _dirt_ in a limestone country. The very mud +off the roads in rainy weather is not dirt at all, sticky though it +undoubtedly is. It consists almost entirely of lime, which, though it +burns all the varnish off your carriage if allowed to remain on it for a +few days, has nothing repulsive about its nature, like ordinary mud. + +How pleasant, too, is the contrast between the quiet, peaceful country +life and the restless din and never-ceasing commotion of the "busy +haunts of men"! As we pass along through villages gay with flowers, we +converse freely with the driver of the 'bus, chiefly about fishing. The +great question which every one asks in this part of the world in the +first week in June is whether the may-fly is up. The lovely green-drake +generally appears on the Windrush about this time, and then for ten days +nobody thinks or talks about anything else. Who that has ever witnessed +a real may-fly "rise" on a chalk or limestone stream will deny that it +is one of the most beautiful and interesting sights in all creation? +Myriads of olive-coloured, transparent insects, almost as large as +butterflies, rising out of the water, and floating on wings as light as +gossamer, only to live but one short day; great trout, flopping and +rolling in all directions, forgetful of all the wiles of which they are +generally capable; and then, when the evening sun is declining, the +female fly may be seen hovering over the water, and dropping her eggs +time after time, until, having accomplished the only purpose for which +she has existed in the winged state, she falls lifeless into the stream. +But though these lovely insects live but twenty-four hours, and during +that short period undergo a transformation from the _sub-imago_ to the +_imago_ state, they exist as larvae in the bed of the river for quite +two years from the time the eggs are dropped. The season of 1896 was one +of the worst ever known on some may-fly rivers; probably the great frost +two winters back was the cause of failure. The intense cold is supposed +to have killed the larvae. + +The Windrush trout are very large indeed; a five-pound fish is not at +all uncommon. The driver of the 'bus talked of monsters of eight pounds +having been taken near Burford, but we took this _cum grano salis_. + +After a five-mile drive we suddenly see the picturesque old town below +us. Like most of the villages of the country, it lies in one of the +narrow valleys which intersect the hills, so that you do not get a view +of the houses until you arrive at the edge of the depression in which +they are built. + +Having paid the modest shilling which represents the fare for the five +miles, we start off for the priory. There was no difficulty in finding +our way to it. In all the Cotswold villages and small towns the "big +house" stands out conspicuously among the old cottages and barns and +farmhouses, half hidden as it is by the dense foliage of giant elms and +beeches and chestnuts and ash; nor is Burford Priory an exception to the +rule, though its grounds are guarded by a wall of immense height on one +side. And then once more we get the view we have seen so often on +Cotswold; yet it never palls upon the senses, but thrills us with its +own mysterious charm. Who can ever get tired of the picture presented by +a gabled, mediaeval house set in a framework of stately trees, amid +whose leafy branches the rooks are cawing and chattering round their +ancestral nests, whilst down below the fertilising stream silently +fulfils its never-ceasing task, flowing onwards everlastingly, caring +nothing for the vicissitudes of our transitory life and the hopes and +fears that sway the hearts of successive generations of men? + +There the old house stands "silent in the shade"; there are the "nursery +windows," but the "children's voices" no longer break the silence of the +still summer day. Everywhere--in the hall, in the smoking-room, where +the empty gun-cases still hang, and in "my lady's bower," + + "Sorrow and silence and sadness + Are hanging over all." + +Until we arrived within a few yards of the front door we had almost +forgotten that the place was a ruin; for though the house is but an +empty shell, almost as hollow as a skull, the outer walls are +absolutely complete and undamaged. At one end is the beautiful old +chapel, built by "Speaker" Lenthall in the time of the Commonwealth. +There is an air of sanctity about this lovely white freestone temple +which no amount of neglect can eradicate. The roof, of fine stucco work, +has fallen in; the elder shrubs grow freely through the crevices in the +broken pavement under foot,--and yet you feel bound to remove your hat +as you enter, for "you are standing on holy ground." + + "EXUE CALCEOS, NAM TERRA EST SANCTA." + +Over the entrance stands boldly forth this solemn inscription, whilst +angels, wonderfully carved in white stone, watch and guard the sacred +precincts. At the north end of the chapel stands intact the altar, and, +strangely enough, the most perfectly preserved remnants of the whole +building are two white stone tablets plainly setting forth the Ten +Commandments. The sun, as we stood there, was pouring its rays through +the graceful mullioned windows, lighting up the delicate carving,--work +that is rendered more beautiful than ever by the "tender grace of a day +that is dead,"--whilst outside in the deserted garden the birds were +singing sweetly. The scene was sadly impressive; one felt as one does +when standing by the grave of some old friend. As we passed out of the +chapel we could not help reflecting on the hard-heartedness of men fifty +years ago, who could allow this consecrated place, beautiful and fair +as it still is, to fall gradually to the ground, nor attempt to put +forth a helping hand to save it ere it crumbles into dust. How +ungrateful it seems to those whose labour and hard, self-sacrificing +toil erected it two hundred and fifty years ago! Those men of whom +Ruskin wrote: "All else for which the builders sacrificed has passed +away; all their living interests and aims and achievements. We know not +for what they laboured, and we see no evidence of their reward. Victory, +wealth, authority, happiness, all have departed, though bought by many a +bitter sacrifice." + +It should be mentioned, however, that Mr. R. Hurst is at the present +time engaged in a laudable endeavour to restore this chapel to its +original state. Inside the house the most noteworthy feature of interest +is a remarkably fine ornamental ceiling. Good judges inform us that the +ballroom ceiling at Burford Priory is one of the finest examples of old +work of the kind anywhere to be seen. The room itself is a very large +and well-proportioned one; the oak panels, which completely cover the +walls, still bear the marks of the famous portraits that once adorned +them. Charles I. and Henry Prince of Wales, by Cornelius Jansen; Queen +Henrietta Maria, by Vandyke; Sir Thomas More and his family, by Holbein; +Speaker Lenthall, the former owner of the house; and many other fine +pictures hung here in former times. The staircase is a fine broad +one, of oak. + +But now let us leave the inside of the house, which _ought_ to be so +beautiful and bright, and _is_ so desolate and bare, for it is of no +great age, and let us call to mind the picture which Waller painted, +engravings of which used to adorn so many Oxford rooms: "The Empty +Saddle." For, standing in the neglected garden we may see the very +terrace and the angle of the house which were drawn so beautifully by +him. Then, as we stroll through the deserted grounds towards the +peaceful Windrush, where the great trout are still sucking down the poor +short-lived may-flies, let us try to recollect what manner of men used +to walk in these peaceful gardens in the old, stirring times. + +Little or nothing is known of the monastery which doubtless existed +somewhere hereabouts prior to the dissolution in Henry VIII.'s reign. + +Up to the Conquest the manor of Burford was held by Saxon noblemen. It +is mentioned in Doomsday Book as belonging to Earl Aubrey; but the first +notable man who held it was Hugh le Despencer. This man was one of +Edward II.'s favourites, and was ultimately hung, by the queen's +command, at the same time that Edward was committed to Kenilworth +Castle. Burford remained with his descendants till the reign of Henry +V., when it passed by marriage to a still more notable man, in the +person of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the "kingmaker." Space does +not allow us to romance on the part that this great warrior played in +the history of those times; Lord Lytton has done that for us in his +splendid book, "The Last of the Barons." Suffice it to say that he left +an undying fame to future generations, and fell in the Wars of the Roses +when fighting at the battle of Barnet against the very man he had set on +the throne. The almshouses he built for Burford are still to be seen +hard by the grand old church. + + "For who lived king, but I could dig his grave? + And who durst smile, when Warwick bent his brow? + Lo, now my glory's smear'd in dust and blood! + My parks, my walks, my manors that I had, + Even now forsake me; and of all my lands, + Is nothing left me, but my body's length!" + + 3 _King Henry VI_., V. ii. + +In the reign of Henry VIII. this manor, having lapsed to the Crown, was +granted to Edmund Harman, the royal surgeon. Then in later days Sir John +Fortescue, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth, got hold of +it, and eventually sold it to Sir Lawrence Tanfield, a great judge in +those times. The latter was buried "at twelve o'clock in the Night" in +the church of Burford; and there is a very handsome aisle there and an +immense monument to his memory. The Tanfield monument, though somewhat +ugly and grotesque, is a wonderful example of alabaster work. The cost +of erecting it and the labour bestowed must have been immense. It was +this knight who built the great house of which the present ruins form +part, and the date would probably be about 1600. But in 1808 nearly half +the original building is supposed to have been pulled down, and what was +allowed to remain, with the exception of the chapel, has been very +much altered. + +It was in the time of Lucius Carey's (second Lord Falkland) ownership of +this manor that the place was in the zenith of its fame. This +accomplished man, whose father had married Chief Justice Tanfield's +only daughter, succeeded his grandfather in the year 1625. He gathered +together, either here or at Great Tew, a few miles away, half the +literary celebrities of the day. Ben Jonson, Cowley, and Chillingworth +all visited Falkland from time to time. Lucius Carey afterwards became +the ill-fated King Charles's Secretary of State, an office which he +conscientiously filled until his untimely death. + +Falkland left little literary work behind him of any mark, yet of no +other man of those times may it be said that so great a reputation for +ability and character has been handed down to us. Novelists and authors +delight in dwelling on his good qualities. Even in this jubilee year of +1897 the author of "Sir Kenelm Digby" has written a book about the +Falklands. Whyte Melville, too, made him the hero of one of his novels, +describing him as a man in whose outward appearance there were no +indications of the intellectual superiority he enjoyed over his fellow +men. Indeed, as with Arthur Hallam in our own times, so it was with +Falkland in the mediaeval age. Neither left behind them any work of +their own by which future generations could realise their abilities and +almost godlike charm, yet each has earned a kind of immortality through +being honoured and sung by the pens of the greatest writers of his +respective age. + +That great, though somewhat bombastic, historian, Lord Clarendon, tells +us that Falkland was "a person of such prodigious parts of learning and +knowledge, of that inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation, of +so flowing and obliging a humanity and goodness to mankind, and of that +primitive simplicity and integrity of life, that if there were no other +brand upon this odious and accursed Civil War than that single loss, it +must be most infamous and execrable to all posterity." From the same +authority we learn that although he was ever anxious for peace, yet he +was the bravest of the brave. At the battle of Newbury he put himself in +the first rank of Lord Byron's regiment, when he met his end through a +musket shot. "Thus," says Clarendon, "fell that incomparable young man, +in the four-and-thirtieth year of his age, having so much despatched the +true business of life that the eldest rarely attain to that immense +knowledge, and the youngest enter not into the world with more +innocency." + +When it is remembered that Falkland was not a soldier at all, but a +learned scholar, whose natural proclivities were literature and the arts +of peace, his self-sacrifice and bravery cannot fail to call forth +admiration for the man, and we cannot but regret his untimely end. + +King Charles was several times at Burford, for it was the scene of much +fighting in the Civil Wars. + +It was in the year 1636 that Speaker Lenthall purchased Burford Priory. +He was a man of note in those troublous times, and even Cromwell seems +to have respected him; for, although the latter came down to the House +one day with a troop of musketeers, with the express intention of +turning the gallant Speaker out of his chair, and effected his object +amid the proverbial cries of "Make way for honester men!" yet we find +that within twelve months the crafty old gentleman had once more got +back again into the chair, and remained Speaker during the Protectorate +of Richard Cromwell. He declared on his deathbed that, although, like +Saul, he held the clothes of the murderers, yet that he never consented +to the death of the king, but was deceived by Cromwell and his agents. + +The priory remained in the Lenthall family up to the year 1821. At the +present time it belongs to the Hurst family. + +We have now briefly traced the history of the manor from the time of the +Conquest, and, doubtless, all the men whose names occur have spent a +good deal of time on this beautiful spot. + +Alas that the garden should be but a wilderness! The carriage drive +consists of rich green turf. In a summer-house in the grounds John +Prior, Speaker Lenthall's faithful servant, was murdered in the year +1697. The Earl of Abercorn was accused of the murder, but was acquitted. + +In addition to King Charles I., many other royal personages have visited +this place. Queen Elizabeth once visited the town, and came with +great pomp. + +The Burgesses' Book has a note to the effect that in 1663 twenty-one +pounds was paid for three saddles presented to Charles II. and his +brother the Duke of York. Burford was celebrated for its saddles in +those days. It was a great racing centre, and both here and at Bibury +(ten miles off) flat racing was constantly attracting people from all +parts. Bibury was a sort of Newmarket in old days. Charles II. was at +Burford on three occasions at least. + +It was in the year 1681 that the Newmarket spring meeting was +transferred to Bibury. Parliament was then sitting at Oxford, some +thirty miles away; so that the new rendezvous was more convenient than +the old. Nell Gwynne accompanied the king to the course. For a hundred +and fifty years the Bibury club held its meetings here. The oldest +racing club in England, it still flourishes, and will in future hold its +meetings near Salisbury. + +In 1695 King William III. came to Burford in order to influence the +votes in the forthcoming parliamentary election. Macaulay tells us that +two of the famous saddles were presented to this monarch, and remarks +that one of the Burford saddlers was the best in Europe. William III. +slept that night at the priory. The famous "Nimrod," in his "Life of a +Sportsman," gives us a picture, by Alken, of Bibury racecourse, and +tells us how gay Burford was a hundred years ago: + +"Those were Bibury's very best days. In addition to the presence of +George IV., then Prince of Wales, who was received by Lord Sherborne for +the race week at his seat in the neighbourhood, and who every day +appeared on the course as a private gentleman, there was a galaxy of +gentlemen jockeys, who alone rode at this meeting, which has never since +been equalled. Amongst them were the Duke of Dorset, who always rode for +the Prince; the late Mr. Delme-Radcliffe; the late Lords Charles +Somerset and Milsington; Lord Delamere, Sir Tatton Sykes, and many other +first-raters. + +"I well remember the scenes at Burford and all the neighbouring towns +after the races were over. That at Burford 'beggars' description; for, +independently of the bustle occasioned by the accommodation necessary +for the club who were domiciled in the town, the concourse of persons of +all sorts and degrees was immense." + +Old Mr. Peregrine told me the other day that during the race week the +shopkeepers at Bibury village used to let their bedrooms to the +visitors, and sleep on the shop board, while the rest of the family +slept underneath the counter. + + * * * * * + +Ah well! _Tempora mutantur!_ "Nimrod" and his "notables" are all gone. + + "The knights' bones are dust, + And their good swords rust, + Their souls are with the saints, I trust." + +And whereas up to fifty years ago Burford was a rich country town, +famous for the manufacture of paper, malt, and sailcloth--enriched, too, +by the constant passage of numerous coaches stopping on their way from +Oxford to Gloucester--it is now little more than a village--the +quietest, the cleanest, and the quaintest place in Oxfordshire. Perhaps +its citizens are to be envied rather than pitied: + + "bene est cui deus obtulit + Parca, quod satis est, manu." + +Let us go up to the top of the main street, and sit down on the ancient +oak bench high up on the hill, whence we can look down on the old-world +place and get a birdseye view of the quaint houses and the surrounding +country. And now we may exclaim with Ossian, "A tale of the times of +old! The deeds of days of other years!" For yonder, a mile away from the +town, the kings of Mercia and Wessex fought a desperate battle in the +year A.D. 685. Quite recently a tomb was found there containing a stone +coffin weighing nearly a ton. The bones of the warrior who fought and +died there were marvellously complete when disturbed in their +resting-place--in fact, the skeleton was a perfect one. + +"Whose fame is in that dark green tomb? Four stones with their heads of +moss stand there. They mark the narrow house of death. Some chief of +fame is here! Raise the songs of old! Awake their memory in the +tomb." [4] + +[Footnote 4: Ossian.] + +Tradition has it that this was the body of a great Saxon chief, +Aethelhum, the mighty standard-bearer of the Mercian King Ethelbald. It +was in honour of this great warrior that the people of Burford carried a +standard emblazoned with a golden dragon through the old streets on +midsummer eve, annually, for nigh on a thousand years. We are told that +it was only during last century that the custom died out. + +How beautiful are some of the old houses in the broad and stately High +Street! + +The ancient building in the centre of the town is called the "Tolsey"; +it must be more than four hundred years old. The name originated in the +custom of paying tolls due to the lord of the manor in the building. +There are some grand old iron chests here; one of these old boxes +contains many interesting charters and deeds, some of them bearing the +signatures of chancellors Morton, Stephen Gardiner, and Ellesmere. There +are letters from Elizabeth, and an order from the Privy Council with +Arlington's signature attached. "The stocks" used to stand on the north +side of this building, but have lately been removed. Then the houses +opposite the Tolsey are as beautiful as they possibly can be. They are +fifteenth century, and have oak verge-boards round their gables, carved +in very delicate tracery. + +Another house has a wonderful cellar, filled with grandly carved +stonework, like the aisle of a church; this crypt is probably more than +five hundred years old. Perhaps this vaulted Gothic chamber is a remnant +of the old monastery, the site of which is not known. Close by is an +ancient building, now turned into an inn; and this also may have been +part of the dwelling-place of the monks of Burford. From the vaulted +cellar beneath the house, now occupied by Mr. Chandler, ran an +underground passage, evidently connected with some other building. + +How sweetly pretty is the house at the foot of the bridge, as seen from +the High Street above! The following inscription stands out prominently +on the front:-- + + "SYMON WYSDOM ALDERMAN + THE FYRST FOUNDER OR THE SCHOLE + IN BURFORD GAVE THE TENEMENES + IN A.D. 1577." + +The old almshouses on the green by the church have an inscription to +the effect that they were founded by Richard Earl of Warwick (the +kingmaker), in the year 1457. They were practically rebuilt about +seventy years ago; but remnants of beautiful Gothic architecture still +remain in the old stone belfry, and here and there a piece of tracery +has been preserved. In all parts of the town one suddenly alights upon +beautiful bits of carved stone--an Early English gateway in one street, +and lancet doorways to many a cottage in another. Oriel windows are also +plentiful. Behind the almshouses is a cottage with massive buttresses, +and everywhere broken pieces of quaint gargoyles, pinnacles, and other +remnants of Gothic workmanship are to be seen lying about on the walls +and in odd corners. A careful search would doubtless reveal many a fine +piece of tracery in the cottages and buildings. At some period, however, +vandalism has evidently been rampant. Happening to find our way into the +back premises of an ancient inn, we noticed that the coals were heaped +up against a wall of old oak panelling. + +And now we come to the most beautiful piece of architecture in the +place--the magnificent old church. It is grandly situated close to the +banks of the Windrush, and is more like a cathedral than a village +church. The front of the porch is worked with figures representing our +Lord, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. John the Evangelist; but the heads +were unfortunately destroyed in the Civil Wars. Inside the porch the +rich fan-tracery, which rises from the pilasters on each side, is carved +with consummate skill. + +Space does not allow us to dwell on the grandeur of the massive Norman +tower, the great doorway at the western entrance with its splendid +moulding, the quaint low arch leading from nave to chancel, and the +other specimens of Norman work to be seen in all parts of this +magnificent edifice. Nor can we do justice to the glorious nave, with +its roof of oak; nor the aisles and the chancel; nor the beautiful +Leggare chapel, with its oak screen, carved in its upper part in +fifteenth-century tracery, its faded frescoes and ancient altar tomb. +The glass of the upper portion of the great west window and the window +of St Thomas' chapel are indeed "labyrinths of twisted tracery and +starry light" such as would delight the fastidious taste of Ruskin. +Several pages might easily be written in describing the wonderful and +grotesque example of alabaster work known as the Tanfield tomb. The only +regret one feels on gazing at this grand old specimen of the toil of our +simple ancestors is that it is seldom visited save by the natives of +rural Burford, many of whom, alas! must realise but little the +exceptional beauty and stateliness of the lovely old church with which +they have been so familiar all their lives. + +A few years ago Mr. Oman, Fellow of All Souls', Oxford, made a curious +discovery. Whilst going through some documents that had been for many +years in the hands of the last survivor of the ancient corporation, and +being one of the few men in England in a position to identify the +handwriting, he came across a deed or charter signed by "the great +kingmaker" himself; it was in the form of a letter, and had reference +to the gift of almshouses he made to Burford in 1457 A.D. The boldly +written "R.I. Warrewyck" at the end is the only signature of the +kingmaker's known to exist save the one at Belvoir. In this letter +prayers are besought for the founder and the Countess Anne his wife, +whilst attached to it is a seal with the arms of Neville, Montacute, +Despencer, and Beauchamp. + +On the font in the church is a roughly chiselled name: + + "ANTHONY SEDLEY. 1649. Prisner." + +Not only prisoners, but even their _horses_, were shut up in these grand +old churches during the Civil Wars. This Anthony Sedley must have been +one of the three hundred and forty Levellers who were imprisoned here +in 1649. + +The register has the following entry:-- + +"1649. Three soldiers shot to death in Burford Churchyard, buried May +17th." + +Burford was the scene of a good deal of fighting during the Civil Wars. +On January 1st, 1642, in the dead of night, Sir John Byron's regiment +had a sharp encounter with two hundred dragoons of the Parliamentary +forces. A fierce struggle took place round the market cross, during +which Sir John Byron was wounded in the face with a poleaxe. Cromwell's +soldiers, however, were routed and driven out of the town. + +In the parish register is the following entry :-- + +"1642. Robert Varney of Stowe, slain in Burford and buried January 1st. + +"1642. Six soldiers slain in Burford, buried 2nd January. + +"1642. William Junks slain with the shot of musket, buried January 10th. + +"1642. A soldier hurt at Cirencester road was buried." + +Many other entries of the same nature are to be seen in the parish +register. + +The old market cross of Burford has indeed seen some strange things. Mr. +W.J. Monk, to whose "History of Burford" I am indebted for valuable +information, tells us that the penance enjoined on various citizens of +Burford for such crimes as buying a Bible in the year 1521 was as +follows:-- + +"Everyone to go upon a market day thrice about the market of Burford, +and then to stand up upon the highest steps of the cross there, a +quarter of an hour, with a faggot of wood upon his shoulder. + +"Everyone also to beare a faggot of wood before the procession on a +certain Sunday at Burford from the Quire doore going out, to the quire +doore going in, and once to bear a faggot at the burning of a heretic. + +"Also none of them to hide their mark [+] upon their cheek (branded +in)," etc., etc. + +"In the event of refusal, they were to be given up to the civil +authorities to be burnt." + +[Illustration: The Manor-House, Coln St. Aldwyns. 214.png] + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A STROLL THROUGH THE COTSWOLDS. + + "In Gloucestershire + These high, wild hills and rough, uneven ways + Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome." + +_King Richard II_. + +It cannot be said that there are many pleasant walks and drives in the +Cotswold country, because, as a rule, the roads run over the bleak +tableland for miles and miles, and the landscape generally consists of +ploughed fields divided by grey stone walls; the downs I have referred +to at different times are only to be met with in certain districts. Once +upon a time the whole of Cotswold was one vast sheep walk from beginning +to end. It was about a hundred and fifty years ago that the idea of +enclosing the land was started by the first Lord Bathurst. Early in the +eighteenth century he converted a large tract of downland round +Cirencester into arable fields; his example was soon followed by others, +so that by the middle of last century the transformation of three +hundred square miles of downs into wheat-growing ploughed fields had +been accomplished. It is chiefly owing to the depression in agricultural +produce that there are any downs now, for they merely exist because the +tenants have found during the last twenty years that it does not pay to +cultivate their farms, hence they let a large proportion go back +to grass. + +But there is one very pleasant walk in that part of the Cotswolds we +know best, and this takes you up the valley of the Coln to the Roman +villa at Chedworth. + +The distance by road from Fairford to the Chedworth woods is about +twelve miles; and at any time of the year, but more especially in the +spring and autumn, it is a truly delightful pilgrimage. + +And here it is worth our while to consider for a moment how tremendously +the abolition of the stage coach has affected places like Fairford, +Burford, and other Cotswold towns and villages. It was through these +old-world places, past these very walls and gables, that the mail +coaches rattled day after day when they "went down with victory" +conveying the news of Waterloo and Trafalgar into the heart of merry +England. In his immortal essay on "The English Mail Coach," De Quincey +has told us how between the years 1805 and 1815 it was worth paying +down five years of life for an outside place on a coach "going down with +victory." "On any night the spectacle was beautiful. The absolute +perfection of all the appointments about the carriages and the harness, +their strength, their brilliant cleanliness, their beautiful +simplicity--but more than all, the royal magnificence of the +horses--were what might first have fixed the attention. But the night +before us is a night of victory: and behold! to the ordinary display +what a heart-shaking addition! horses, men, carriages, all are dressed +in laurels and flowers, oak leaves and ribbons." The brilliancy of the +royal liveries, the thundering of the wheels, the tramp of those +generous horses, the sounding of the coach horn in the calm evening air, +and last, but not least, the intense enthusiasm of travellers and +spectators alike, as amid such cries as "Salamanca for ever!" "Hurrah +for Waterloo!" they cheered and cheered again, letting slip the dogs of +victory throughout those old English villages,--all these things must +have united the hearts of the classes and masses in one common bond, +rendering such occasions memorable for ever in the hearts of the simple +country folk. In small towns like Burford and Northleach, situated five +or six miles from any railway station, the prosperity and happiness of +the natives has suffered enormously by the decay of the stage coach; and +even in smaller villages the cheering sound of the horn must have been +very welcome, forming as it did a connecting link between these remote +hamlets of Gloucestershire and the great metropolis a hundred +miles away. + +Fairford Church is known far and wide as containing the most beautiful +painted glass of the early part of the sixteenth century to be found +anywhere in England. The windows, twenty-eight in number, are usually +attributed to Albert Duerer; but Mr. J.G. Joyce, who published a treatise +on them some twenty years ago, together with certain other high +authorities, considered them to be of English design and workmanship. +They would doubtless have been destroyed in the time of the Civil Wars +by the Puritans had they not been taken down and hidden away by a member +of the Oldysworth family, whose tomb is in the middle chancel. + +John Tame, having purchased the manor of Fairford in 1498, immediately +set about building the church. He died two years later, and his son +completed the building, and also erected two other very fine churches in +the neighbourhood--those at Rendcombe and Barnsley. He was a great +benefactor to the Cotswold country. Leland tells us that the town of +Fairford never flourished "before the cumming of the Tames into it." + +You may see John Tame's effigy on his tomb, together with that of his +wife, and underneath these pathetic lines: + + "For thus, Love, pray for me. + I may not pray more, pray ye: + With a pater noster and an ave: + That my paynys relessyd be." + +If I remember rightly his helmet and other parts of his armour still +hang on the church wall. Leland describes Fairford as a "praty +uplandish towne," meaning, I suppose, that it is situated on high +ground. It is certainly a delightful old-fashioned place--a very good +type of what the Cotswold towns are like. Chipping-Campden and Burford +are, however, the two most typical Cotswold towns I know. + +In the year 1850 a remarkable discovery was made in a field close to +Fairford. No less than a hundred and fifty skeletons were unearthed, and +with them a large number of very interesting Anglo-Saxon relics, some of +them in good preservation. In many of the graves an iron knife was found +lying by the skeleton; in others the bodies were decorated with bronze +fibulae, richly gilt, and ornamented in front. Mr. W. Wylie, in his +interesting account of these Anglo-Saxon graves, tells us that some of +the bodies were as large as six feet six inches; whilst one or two +warriors of seven feet were unearthed. All the skeletons were very +perfect, even though no signs of any coffins were to be seen. Bronze +bowls and various kinds of pottery, spearheads of several shapes, a +large number of coloured beads, bosses of shields, knives, shears, and +two remarkably fine swords were some of the relics found with the +bodies. A glass vessel, coloured yellow by means of a chemical process +in which iron was utilised, is considered by Mr. Wylie to be of Saxon +manufacture, and not Venetian or Roman, as other authorities hold. + +Whether this is merely an Anglo-Saxon burial-place, or whether the +bodies are those of the warriors who fell in a great battle such as that +fought in A.D. 577, when the Saxons overthrew the Britons and took from +them the cities of Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath, it is impossible +to determine. The natives are firmly convinced that the skeletons +represent the slain in a great battle fought near this spot; but this is +only tradition. At all events, the words of prophecy attributed to the +old Scotch bard Ossian have a very literal application with reference to +this interesting relic of bygone times: "The stranger shall come and +build there and remove the heaped-up earth. An half-worn sword shall +rise before him. Bending above it, he will say, 'These are the arms of +the chiefs of old, but their names are not in song.'" The "heaped-up" +earth has long ago disappeared, for there are no "barrows" now to be +seen. Cottages stand where the old burial mounds doubtless once existed, +and all monumental evidences of those mighty men--the last, perhaps, of +an ancient race--have long since been destroyed by the ruthless hand +of time. + +The manor of Fairford now belongs to the Barker family, to whom it came +through the female line about a century ago. + +We must now leave Fairford, and start on our pilgrimage to the Roman +villa of Chedworth. At present we have not got very far, having lingered +at our starting-point longer than we had intended. The first two miles +are the least interesting of the whole journey; the Coln, broadened out +for some distance to the size of a lake, is hidden from our view by the +tall trees of Fairford Park. It was along this road that John Keble, the +poet used to walk day by day to his cure at Coln-St.-Aldwyns. His home +was at Fairford. Two eminent American artists have made their home in +Fairford during recent years--Mr. Edwin Abbey and Mr. J. Sargent, both +R.A's. Close by, too, at Kelmscott, dwelt William Morris, the poet. + +On reaching Quenington we catch a glimpse of the river, whilst high up +on the hill to our right stands the great pile of Hatherop Castle. This +place, the present owner of which is Sir Thomas Bazley, formerly +belonged to the nunnery of Lacock. After the suppression of the +monasteries it passed through various heiresses to the family of Ashley. +It was practically rebuilt by William Spencer Ponsonby, first Lord de +Mauley; his son, Mr. Ashley Ponsonby, sold it to Prince Duleep Singh, +from whom it passed to the present owner. Sir Thomas Bazley has done +much for the village which is fortunate enough to claim him as a +resident; his estate is a model of what country estates ought to be, +unprofitable though it must have proved as an investment. + +As we pass on through the fair villages of Quenington and +Coln-St.-Aldwyns we cannot help noticing the delightful character of the +houses from a picturesque point of view; in both these hamlets there are +the same clean-looking stone cottages and stone-tiled roofs. Here and +there the newer cottages are roofed with ordinary slate; and this seems +a pity. Nevertheless, there still remains much that is picturesque to be +seen on all sides. Roses grow in every garden, clematis relieves with +its rich purple shade the walls of many a cosy little dwelling-house, +and the old white mills, with their latticed windows and pointed +gables, are a feature of every tiny hamlet through which the +river flows. + + "How gay the habitations that adorn + This fertile valley! Not a house but seems + To give assurance of content within, + Embosom'd happiness, and placid love." + + WORDSWORTH. + +The beautiful gabled house close to the Norman church of +Coln-St.-Aldwyns is the old original manor house. Inside it is an old +oak staircase, besides other interesting relics of the Elizabethan age. +For many years this has been a farmhouse, but it has recently been +restored by its owner, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the present Chancellor +of the Exchequer, who intends to make it his country abode. A piece of +carved stone with four heads was discovered by the workmen engaged in +the restoration, and is to be placed over the front door. It is +doubtless a remnant of an old monastery, and dates back to Norman times. + +Williamstrip House and Park lie on your right-hand side as you leave the +village of "Coln" behind you. This place also belongs to Sir Michael +Hicks-Beach; it has always seemed to us the _beau-ideal_ of an English +home. A medium-sized, comfortable square house of the time of George I., +surrounded by some splendid old trees, in a park not too large, a couple +of miles or so of excellent trout-fishing, very fair shooting, and good +hunting would seem to be a combination of sporting advantages that few +country places enjoy. Williamstrip came into the family of the present +owner in 1784. The three parishes of Hatherop, Quenington, and +Coln-St.-Aldwyns practically adjoin each other. Each has its beautiful +church, the Norman doorways in that of Quenington being well worth a +visit. Close to the church of Quenington are the remnants of an ancient +monastery. + +The "Knights Templar" of Quenington were famous in times gone by. There +is a fine entrance gate and porch on the roadside, which no doubt led to +the abbey. + +There is little else left to remind us of these Knights Templar. Here +and there are an old lancet window or a little piece of Gothic tracery +on an ancient wall, an old worm-eaten roof of oak or a heap of ruined +stones on a moat-surrounded close,--these are all the remnants to be +found of the days of chivalry and the monks of old. + +We have now two rather uneventful miles to traverse between +Coln-St.-Aldwyns and Bibury, for we must once more leave the valley and +set out across the bleak uplands. On the high ground we have the +advantage of splendid bracing air at all events. The hills have a charm +of their own on a fine day, more especially when the fields are full of +golden corn and the old-fashioned Cotswold men are busy among +the sheaves. + +And very soon we get a view which we would gladly have walked twenty +miles to see. Down below us and not more than half a mile away is the +fine old Elizabethan house of Bibury, standing out from a background of +magnificent trees. Close to the house is the grey Norman tower of the +village church, which has stood there for mote than six centuries. +Nestling round about are the old stone-roofed cottages, like those we +have seen in the other villages we have passed through. A broad reach of +the Coln and a grand waterfall enhance the quiet and peaceful beauty of +the scene. But this description falls very short of conveying any +adequate idea of the truly delightful effect which the old grey +buildings set in a framework of wood and water present on a fine +autumnal afternoon. + +Never shall I forget seeing this old place from the hill above during +one September sunset. There was a marvellous glow suffused over the +western sky, infinitely beautiful while it lasted; and immediately below +a silvery mist had risen from the surface of the broad trout stream, and +was hanging over the old Norman tower of the church. Amid the rush of +the waterfall could be heard the distant voices of children in the +village street. Then on a sudden the church clock struck the hour of +six, in deep, solemn tones. Against the russet-tinted woods in the +background the old court house stood out grey and silent under the +shadow of the church tower, preaching as good a sermon as any I +ever heard. + + "An English home, grey twilight poured + On dewy pastures, dewy trees, + Softer than sleep,--all things in order stored, + A haunt of ancient peace." + +Bibury Court is a most beautiful old house. Some of it dates back to +Henry VIII.'s time. The most remarkable characteristic of its interior +is a very fine carved oak staircase. The greater part of this house was +built in the year 1623 by Sir Thomas Sackville. It was long the seat of +the Creswell family, before passing by purchase to the family of the +present owner--Lord Sherborne. The fine old church has some Saxon work +in it, whilst the doorways and many other portions are Norman. Its +delightful simplicity and brightness is what pleases one most. On coming +down into the village, one notices a little square on the left, not at +all like those one sees in London, but very picturesque and clean +looking. In the olden times were to be seen in many villages little +courts of this kind; in the centre of them was usually a great tree, +round which the old people would sit on summer evenings, while the +children danced and played around. Gilbert White speaks of one at +Selborne, which he calls the "Plestor." The original name was +"Pleystow," which means a play place. We have noticed them in many parts +of the Cotswold country. Here, too, children are playing about under the +shade of some delightful trees in the centre of the miniature square, +whilst the variegated foliage sets off the gabled cottages which form +three sides of it. + +I have often wondered, as I stood by these chestnut trees, whether there +is any architecture more perfect in its simplicity and grace than that +which lies around me here. Not a cottage is in sight that is not worthy +of the painter's brush; not a gable or a chimney that would not be +worthy of a place in the Royal Academy. The little square is bordered +for six months of the year with the prettiest of flowers. Even as late +as December you may see roses in bloom on the walls, and chrysanthemums +of varied shade in every garden. Then, as we passed onwards, + + "On the stream's bank, and everywhere, appeared + Fair dwellings, single or in social knots; + Some scattered o'er the level, others perch'd + On the hill-sides--a cheerful, quiet scene." + + WORDSWORTH. + +There is a Gothic quaintness about all the buildings in the Cotswolds, +great and small alike, which is very charming. Bibury is indeed a pretty +village. As you walk along the main street which runs parallel with the +river, an angler is busy "swishing" his rod violently in the air to +"dry" the fly, ere he essays to drop it over the nose of one of the +speckled fario which abound; so be careful to step down off the path +which runs alongside the stream, in case you should put the fish "down" +and spoil the sport. And now on our left, beyond the green, may be seen +a line of gabled cottages called "Arlington Row," a picture of which by +G. Leslie was hung at the Royal Academy this year (1898). + +A few hundred yards on you stop to inspect the spring which rises in the +garden of the Swan Hotel. It has been said that two million gallons a +day is the minimum amount of water poured out by this spring. It +consists of the rain, which, falling on a large area of the hill +country, gradually finds its way through the limestone rocks and +eventually comes out here. It would be interesting to trace the course +of some of these underground rivers; for a torrent of water such as this +cannot flow down through the soft rock without in the course of +thousands of years, producing caves and grottoes and underground +galleries and all the wonders of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, with its +stalactite pillars and fairy avenues and domes--though the Cotswold +caves are naturally on a much smaller scale. At Torquay and on the +Mendip Hills, as everybody knows, there are caves of wondrous beauty, +carved by the water within the living rock. + +Probably within a hundred yards of Bibury spring there are beautiful +hidden caves, such as those funny little "palaeolithic" men lived in a +few thousand years ago; but why there have not been more discoveries of +this nature in this part of the Cotswolds it is difficult to say. There +is a cave hereabouts, men say, but the entrance to it cannot now be +found. There is likewise a Roman villa on the hill here which has not +yet been dug out of its earthy bed. A hundred years ago a large number +of Roman antiquities were discovered near this village. + +We now leave Bibury behind us, and a mile on we pass through the hamlet +of Ablington, which is very like Bibury on a smaller scale, with its +ancient cottages, tithe barns and manor house; its springs of +transparent water, its brook, and wealth of fine old trees. We have no +time to linger in this hamlet to-day, though we would fain pause to +admire the old house. + + "The pillar'd porch, elaborately embossed; + The low, wide windows with their mullions old; + The cornice richly fretted of grey stone; + And that smooth slope from which the dwelling rose + By beds and banks Arcadian of gay flowers, + And flowering shrubs, protected and adorned." + + WORDSWORTH + +After leaving Ablington we once more ascend the hill and make our way +along an old, disused road, probably an ancient British track, in +preference to keeping to the highway--in the first place because it is +by far the shortest, and secondly because we intend to go somewhat out +of our way to inspect two ancient barrows, the resting-place of the +chiefs of old, of whom Ossian (or was it Macpherson?)[5] sang: "If fall +I must in the field, raise high my grave. Grey stones and heaped-up +earth shall mark me to future times. When the hunter shall sit by the +mound and produce his food at noon, 'Some warrior rests here,' he will +say; and my fame shall live in his praise." + +[Footnote 5: In spite of Dr. Johnson and other eminent critics, one +cannot help believing in the genuineness of some of the poems attributed +to Ossian. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating"; and those +wonderful old songs are too wild and lifelike to have had their origin +in the eighteenth century. Macpherson doubtless enlarged upon the +originals, but he must have had a good foundation to work upon.] + +A very large barrow lies about a mile out of our track to the right +hand; as it is somewhat different from the other barrows in the +neighbourhood, we will briefly describe it. It is a "long barrow," with +the two horns at one end that are usually associated with "long" +barrows. In the middle of the curve between these ends stands a great +stone about five feet square, not very unlike our own gravestones, +though worn by the rains of thousands of years. The mound is surrounded +by a double wall of masonry. At the north end, when it was opened forty +years ago, a chamber was found containing human bones. It is supposed +that this mound was the burying-place of a race which dwelt on Cotswold +at least three thousand years ago. From the nature of the stone +implements found, it is conjectured that the people who raised it were +unacquainted with the use of metal. + +Now we will have a look at another barrow a few fields away. This is a +mound of a somewhat later age; for it was raised over the ashes of a +body or bodies that had been cremated. It was probably the Celts who +raised this barrow. The other day it was opened for a distinguished +society of antiquaries to inspect; they found that in the centre were +stones carefully laid, encircling a small chamber, whilst the outer +portions were of ordinary rubble. Nothing but lime-dust and dirt was +found in the chamber; but in the course of thousands of years most of +these barrows have probably been opened a good many times by Cotswold +natives in search of "golden coffins" and other treasures. + +There is a small, round underground chamber within a short distance of +these barrows, which the natives consider to be a shepherd's hut, put up +about two centuries back, and before the country was enclosed, as a +retreat to shelter the men who looked after the flocks. It has been +declared, however, by those who have studied the question of burial +mounds, that it was built in very early times, and contained bodies that +had not been cremated. The antiquaries who came a short time back to +view these remains describe it as "an underground chamber, circular in +shape, and an excellent sample of dry walling. The roof is dome-shaped, +and gradually projects inwards." I narrowly escaped taking this +"society" for a band of poachers; for when out shooting the other day, +somebody remarked, "Look at all those fellows climbing over the wall of +the fox-covert." + +Now the fox-covert is a very sacred institution in these parts; for it +is a place of only four acres, standing isolated in the midst of a fine, +open country--so that no human being is allowed to enter therein save to +"stop the earth" the night before hunting. We rushed up in great haste, +fully prepared for mortal combat with this gang of ruffians, until, when +within a hundred yards, the thought crossed us that we had given leave +to the Cotswold Naturalist Society to make a tour of inspection, and +that one of the barrows was in our fox-covert. + +Labouring friends of mine often bring me relics of the stone age which +they have picked up whilst at work in the fields. Quite recently a +shepherd brought me a knife blade and two flint arrow-heads. He also +tells me they have lately found a "himmige" up in old Mr. Peregrine's +"barn-ground." Tom Peregrine possesses a bag of old coins of all dates +and sizes, which he tells you with great pride have been an heirloom in +his family for generations. + +When we once more resume our pilgrimage along the track which leads to +Chedworth we find ourselves in a country which is never explored by the +tourist. Far removed from railways and the "busy haunts of men," it is +not even mentioned in the guide-books. Our way lies along the edge of +the hill for the next few miles, and we look down upon the picturesque +valley of the Coln. Four villages, all very like those we have +described, are passed in rapid succession. Winson, Coln Rogers, +Coln-St.-Dennis, and Fossbridge all lie below us as we wend our way +westwards. But although the architecture is of the same massive yet +graceful style, and the old Norman churches still tower their grand old +heads and cast their shadows over the cottages and farm buildings, there +are no manor houses of note in any of these four villages, and no +well-timbered demesnes; so that they are not so interesting as some of +those we have passed through. In all, however, there dwell the good old +honest labouring folk, toiling hard day by day at "the trivial round, +the common task," just earning enough to scrape up a livelihood, but +enjoying few of the amenities of life. The village parsons--good, pious +men--share in the quiet, uneventful life of their flock. And who shall +contemn their lot? As Horace tells us: + + "Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum + Splendet in mensa tenui salinum + Nec leves somnos timor aut cupido + Sordidus aufert." + +These four villages were all built two centuries or more ago, when the +Cotswolds were the centre of much life and activity and the days of +agricultural depression were not known. When we look down on their old, +grey houses nestling among the great trees which thrive by the banks of +the fertilising stream, we cannot but speculate on their future fate. +Gradually the population diminishes, as work gets scarcer and scarcer. +Unless there is an unexpected revival in prices through some measure of +"protection" being granted by law, or the medium of a great European +war, or some such far-reaching dispensation of Providence, terrible to +think of for those who live to see it, but with all its possibilities of +"good arising out of evil" for future generations, these old villages +will contain scarcely a single inhabitant in a hundred year's time. This +part of the Cotswold country will once more become a huge open plain, +retaining only long rows of tumbled-down stone walls as evidences of its +former enclosed state; no longer on Sundays will the notes of the +beautiful bells call the toilers to prayer and thanksgiving, and all +will be desolation. If only the capitalist or wealthy man of business +would take up his abode in these places, all might be well. But, alas! +the peace and quiet of such out-of-the-way spots, with all their +fascinating contrast to the smoke and din of a manufacturing town, have +little attraction for those who are unused to them. And yet there is +much happiness and content in these rural villages. The lot of those who +are able to get work is a thousand times more supportable than that of +the toiling millions in our great cities. There is less drinking and +less vice among these villagers than there is in any part of this world +that we are acquainted with; consequently you find them cheerful, +good-humoured, and, if they only knew it, happy. Grumble they must, or +they would not be mortal. Ah! if they could but realise the blessings of +the elixir of life--pure air, and fresh, clear, spring water, and +sunshine--three inestimable privileges that they enjoy all the year +round, and which are denied to so many of the inhabitants of this +globe--there would be little grumbling in the Cotswolds. + + "From toil he wins his spirits light, + From busy day the peaceful night; + Rich from the very want of wealth + In heaven's best treasures, peace and health." + + GRAY. + +"But these villages are so _dull_, and life is so monotonous there," is +the constant complaint. But what part of this earth is there, may I ask, +that is not dull to those who live there, unless we drive out dull care +and _ennui_ by that glorious antidote to gloom and despondency, a fully +occupied mind? There are two chapters in Carlyle's "Past and Present" +that ought to be printed in letters of gold, set in an ivory frame, and +hung up in the sleeping apartment of every man, woman, and child on the +face of this earth. They are called "Labour" and "Reward." In those few +short pages is embodied the whole secret of content and happiness for +the dwellers in quiet country villages and smoky towns alike. They +contain the philosopher's stone, which makes men cheerful under all +circumstances, but especially those who are poor and down-trodden. The +secret is a very simple one; but if the educated classes are continually +losing sight of it, how much easier is it for those who have only the +bare necessaries of life and few of the comforts to become deadened to +its influence! It lies first of all in the realisation of the fact that +the object of life is not to get, still less to enjoy, riches and +pleasure. It teaches for the thousandth time that the humblest and the +highest of us alike are immortal souls imprisoned for threescore years +and ten in a tenement of clay, preparing for a better and higher +existence. It reverses the position of things on earth--placing the +crown of kings on the head of the toiling labourer, and making "the last +first and the first last." Its very essence lies in the dictum of the +old monks, "_Laborare est orare_" ("Work is worship"). + +It was one of the chief characteristics of the Roman people in the time +of their greatness that their most successful generals were content to +return to the plough after their wars were over. Thus Pliny in his +"Natural History" remarks as follows: "Then were the fields cultivated +by the hands of the generals themselves, and the earth rejoiced, tilled +as it was by a ploughshare crowned with laurels, he who guided the wheel +being himself fresh from glorious victories." And no sooner did honest +hand labour become despised than effeminacy crept in, and this once +haughty nation was practically blotted out from the face of the earth. + +Let the Cotswold labourer realise that to work on the land, ploughing +and reaping, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, come weal, come +woe, is no mean destiny for an honest man; there is scope for the +display of a noble and generous spirit in the beautiful green fields as +well as in the smoky atmosphere of the east end of London, in a +Birmingham factory, or a Warrington forge. + +"What is the meaning of nobleness?" asks Carlyle. "In a valiant +suffering for others did nobleness ever lie. Every noble crown is, and +on earth will for ever be, a crown of thorns. All true work is sacred. +In all true work, were it but true hand labour, there is something of +divineness. Sweat of the brow; and up from that to sweat of the brain, +sweat of the heart; up to that 'agony of bloody sweat' which all men +have called divine. Oh, brother, if this is not worship, then, I say, +the more pity for worship: for this is the noblest thing yet discovered +under God's sky. Who art thou that complainest of thy life of toil? +Complain not. Look up, my wearied brother; see thy fellow workmen there +in God's eternity surviving those, they alone surviving; peopling, they +alone, the unmeasured solitudes of Time. To thee Heaven, though severe, +is not unkind. Heaven is kind, as a noble mother; as that Spartan +mother, saying, while she gave her son his shield, 'With it, my son, or +upon it, thou, too, shalt return home in honour--to thy far distant home +in honour--doubt it not--if in the battle thou keep thy shield!' Thou in +the eternities and deepest death kingdoms art not an alien; thou +everywhere art a denizen. Complain not; the very Spartans did not +complain." + +Would that the toiling labourer in the Cotswolds and in our great smoky +cities might keep these words continually before him, so that he might +grasp, not merely the secret of content and happiness in this life, but +the golden key to the immeasurable blessings of "the sure and certain +hope" of that life which is to come! Then shall he hear the words: + + "King, thou wast called Conqueror; + In every battle thou bearest the prize." + +Conqueror will he be in life's battle if he follow in the footsteps of +the Spartan of old or of Wordsworth's "Happy Warrior": + + "Who, doomed to go in company with pain, + And fear, and bloodshed--miserable train!-- + Turns his necessity to glorious gain." + +Finally, the countryman who feels discontented with his lot--and there +are few indeed who do not occasionally pine for a change of +employment--should go on a railway journey through "the black country" +at night, and mark the fierce light that reddens the murky skies as the +factory fires send forth their livid flames and clouds of sooty smoke. +He should watch the swarms of long-suffering human beings going to and +fro and in and out like busy bees around their hive, toiling, ever +toiling, round about the blazing fires. He should spend an hour in the +streets of Birmingham, where, as I passed through one fine September +morning recently on my way to Ireland, the atmosphere was darkened and +the human lungs stifled by a thick yellow fog. Or he should go down to +the engine-room of a mighty liner, when it is doing its twenty knots +across the seas, and then think of his own life in the happy hamlets and +the fresh, green fields of our English country. + + * * * * * + +Coming once more down the hill into the valley of the Coln, we must +cross the old Roman road known as the Fossway, follow the course of the +stream, and, about a mile beyond the snug little village of Fossbridge, +we reach the great woods of Chedworth. + +These coverts form part of the property of Lord Eldon. His house of +Stowell stands well up on the hill. It is a grey, square building of +some size, placed so as to catch all the sun and the breezes too,--very +much more healthy and bright than most of the old houses we have passed, +which were built much too low down in the valley, where the winter +sunbeams seldom penetrate and the river mists rise damp and cold at +night. As we walk along the drive which leads through the woods to the +Roman villa, any amount of rabbits and pheasants are to be seen. And +here take place annually some of those big shoots which ignorant people +are so fond of condemning as unsportsmanlike, simply because they have +not the remotest idea what they are talking about. Why it should be +cruel to kill a thousand head in a day instead of two hundred on five +separate days, one fails to understand. As a matter of fact, the bigger +the "shoot" the less cruelty takes place, because bad shots are not +likely to be present on these occasions, whilst in small "shoots" they +are the rule rather than the exception. Instead of birds and ground game +being wounded time after time, at big _battues_ they are killed stone +dead by some well-known and acknowledged good shot. To see a real +workman knocking down rocketer after rocketer at a height which would be +considered impossible by half the men who go but shooting is to witness +an exhibition of skill and correct timing which can only be attained by +the most assiduous practice and the quickest of eyes. No, it is the +pottering hedgerow shooter, generally on his neighbour's boundary, who +is often unsportsmanlike. We know one or two who would have no +hesitation in shooting at a covey of partridges on the ground, when they +were within shot of the boundary hedge; and if they wounded three or +four and picked them up, they would carry them home fluttering and +gasping, because they are too heartless to think of putting the wretched +creatures out of their sufferings. + +The extensive Roman remains discovered some years ago in the heart of +this forest doubtless formed the country house of some Roman squire. +They are well away from the river bank, and about three parts of the way +up the sloping hillside. The house faced as nearly as possible +south-east. In this point, as in many others, the Romans showed their +superiority of intellect over our ancestors of Elizabethan and other +days. Nowadays we begin to realise that houses should be built on high +ground, and that the aspect that gives most sun in winter is south-east. +The old Romans realised this fifteen hundred years ago. In other words, +our ancestors in the dark ages were infinitely behind the Romans in +intellect, and we are just reaching their standard of common sense. The +characteristics of the interior of these old dwellings are simplicity +combined with refinement and good taste. And it is worthy of remark that +the men who are ahead of the thought and feeling of the present day are +crying out for more simplicity in our homes and furniture, as well as +for more refinement and real architectural merit. No useless luxuries +and nick-nacks, but plenty of public baths, and mosaic pavements +laboriously put together by hard hand labour,--these are the points that +Ruskin and the Romans liked in common. + +With this grandly timbered valley spread beneath them, no more suitable +spot on which to build a house could anywhere be found. And though the +Romans who inhabited this villa could not from its windows see the sun +go down in the purple west, emblematic of that which was shortly to set +over Rome, they could see the glorious dawn of a new day--boding forth +the dawn that was already brightening over England, even as "The old +order changeth, yielding place to new";--and they could see the +splendours of the moon rising in the eastern sky. + +The principal apartment in this Roman country house measures about +thirty feet by twenty; it was probably divided into two parts, forming +the dining-room and drawing-room as well. The tessellated pavements are +wonderfully preserved, though not quite so perfect as a few others that +have been found in England. With all their beautiful colouring they are +merely formed of different shades of local stone, together with a little +terra-cotta. Perhaps these pavements, with their rich mellow tints of +red sandstone, and their shades of white, yellow, brown, and grey, +afforded by different varieties of limestone, are examples of the most +perfect kind of work which the labours of mankind, combined with the +softening influences of time, are able to produce. In one corner the +design is that of a man with a rabbit in his hand; and no doubt there +were lots of rabbits in these woods in those days, as well as deer and +other wild animals long since extinct. + +In these woods of Chedworth the rose bay willow herbs grow taller and +finer than is their wont elsewhere. In every direction they spring up in +hundreds, painting the woodlands with a wondrously rich purple glow. +Here, too, the bracken thrives, and many a fine old oak tree spreads its +branches, revelling in the clay soil. On the limestone of the Cotswolds +oaks are seldom seen; but wherever a vein of clay is found, there will +be the oaks and the bracken. Every forest tree thrives hereabouts; and +in the open spaces that occur at intervals in the forest there grow such +masses of wild flowers as are nowhere else to be seen in the Cotswold +district. White spiraea, or meadow-sweet, crowds into every nook and +corner of open ground, raising its graceful stems in almost tropical +luxuriance by the brook-side. Campanula and the blue geranium or meadow +crane's-bill, with flowers of perfect blue, grow everywhere amid the +white blossoms of the spiraea. St John's wort, with its star-shaped +golden flowers, white and red campion, and a host of others, are larger +and more beautiful on the rich loam than they are on the stony hills. +Even the lily-of-the-valley thrives here. + +In the bathroom may be seen an excellent example of the hypocaust--an +ingenious contrivance, by means of which the rooms were heated with hot +air, which passed along beneath the floors. + +In the museum are portions of the skulls of men and of oxen, the +antlers of red deer, oyster shells, knives, spear-heads, arrow-heads, +bits of locks with keys, and excellent horseshoes, not to speak of such +things as bronze spurs, spoons, part of a Roman weighing-machine, and a +splendid pair of compasses. There are pieces of earthenware with +potter's marks on them, and red tiles bearing unmistakable marks of +fingering, as well as footprints of dogs and goats; these impressions +must have been made when the tiles were in a soft state. But the most +interesting relics are three freestone slabs, on which are inscribed the +Greek letters [Greek: chi] and [Greek: rho]. It was Mr. Lysons who first +noticed this evidence of ancient faith, and he is naturally of the +opinion that the sacred inscription proves that the builder was a +Christian. Another stone in this collection has the word "PRASIATA" +roughly chiselled on it. + +There was a British king, by name Prasutagus, said to have been a +Christian, and possibly it was this man who built the old house in the +midst of the Chedworth woods. A mile beyond this interesting relic of +Roman times is the manor house of Cassey Compton, built by Sir Richard +Howe about the middle of the seventeenth century. It stands on the banks +of the Coln, and in olden times was approached by a drawbridge and +surrounded by a moat. The farmer by whom it is inhabited tells me that, +judging by the fish-ponds situated close by, he imagines it was once a +monastery. This was undoubtedly the case, for we find in Fozbrooke that +the Archbishop of York had license to "embattle his house" here in the +reign of Edward I. + +A mosaic pavement, discovered here about 1811, was placed in the +British Museum. + +It is very sad to come upon these remote manor houses in all parts of +the Cotswold district, and to find that their ancient glory is departed, +even though their walls are as good as they were two hundred years ago, +when the old squires lived their jovial lives, and those halls echoed +the mirth and merriment which characterised the life of "the good old +English gentleman, all of the olden time." + +Other fine old houses in this immediate district which have not been +mentioned are Ampney Park, a Jacobean house containing an oak-panelled +apartment, with magnificently carved ceiling and fine stone fireplace; +Barnsley and Sherborne, partly built by Inigo Jones; Missarden, +Duntisborne Abbots, Kemble, and Barrington. Rendcombe is a modern house +of some size, built rather with a view to internal comfort than external +grace and symmetry. + +[Illustration: Village cricketers 242.png] + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +COTSWOLD PASTIMES. + +It is not surprising that in those countries which abound in sunshine +and fresh, health-giving air, the inhabitants will invariably be found +to be not only keen sportsmen, but also accomplished experts in all the +games and pastimes for which England has long been famous. Given good +health and plenty of work mankind cannot help being cheerful and +sociably inclined; for this reason we have christened the district of +which we write the "Merrie Cotswolds." From time immemorial the country +people have delighted in sports and manly exercises. On the north wall +of the nave in Cirencester Church is a representation of the ancient +custom of Whitsun ale. The Whitsuntide sports were always a great +speciality on Cotswold, and continue to the present day, though in a +somewhat modified form. + +The custom portrayed in the church of Cirencester was as follows:-- + +The villagers would assemble together in one of the beautiful old barns +which are so plentiful in every hamlet. Two of them, a boy and a girl, +were then chosen out and appointed Lord and Lady of the Yule. These are +depicted on the church wall; and round about them, dressed in their +proper garb, are pages and jesters, standard-bearer, purse-bearer, +mace-bearer, and a numerous company of dancers. + +The reason that a representation of this very secular custom is seen in +the church probably arises from the fact that the Church ales were +feasts instituted for the purpose of raising money for the repair of the +church. The churchwardens would receive presents of malt from the +farmers and squires around; they sold the beer they brewed from it to +the villagers, who were obliged to attend or else pay a fine. + +The church house--a building still to be seen in many villages--was +usually the scene of the festivities. + +The "Diary of Master William Silence" tells us that the quiet little +hamlets presented an unusually gay appearance on these memorable +occasions. "The village green was covered with booths. There were +attractions of various kinds. The churchwardens had taken advantage of +the unusual concourse of strangers as the occasion of a Church ale. +Great barrels of ale, the product of malt contributed by the +parishioners according to their several abilities, were set abroach in +the north aisle of the church, and their contents sold to the public. +This was an ordinary way of providing for church expenses, against which +earnest reformers inveighed, but as yet in vain so far as Shallow was +concerned. The church stood conveniently near the village green, and the +brisk trade which was carried on all day was not interrupted by the +progress of divine service." The parson's discourse, however, appears to +have suffered some interruption by reason of the numbers who crowded +into the aisles to patronise the churchwardens' excellent ale. + +In the reign of James I. one, Robert Dover, revived the old Olympic +games on Cotswold. Dover's Hill, near Weston-under-Edge, was called +after him. + +These sports included horse-racing, coursing, cock-fighting, and such +games as quoits, football, skittles, wrestling, dancing, jumping in +sacks, and all the athletic exercises. + +The "Annalia Dubrensia" contain many verses about these sports by the +hand of Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, and others. + + "On Cotteswold Hills there meets + A greater troop of gallants than Rome's streets + E'er saw in Pompey's triumphs: beauties, too, + More than Diana's beavie of nymphs could show + On their great hunting days." + +That hunting was practised here in these days is evident, for Thomas +Randall, of Cambridge, writes in the same volume: + + "Such royal pastimes Cotteswold mountains fill, + When gentle swains visit Anglonicus hill, + When with such packs of hounds they hunting go + As Cyrus never woon'd his bugle to." + +Fozbrooke tells us that the Whitsuntide sports are the _floralia_ of the +Romans. They are still a great institution in all parts of the +Cotswolds, though Church ales, like cock-fighting and other barbaric +amusements, have happily long since died out. + +Golf and archery are popular pastimes in the merry Cotswolds. It is +somewhat remarkable that this district has produced in recent years the +amateur lady champions of England in each of these fascinating pastimes, +Lady Margaret Scott, of Stowell, being _facile princeps_ among lady +golfers, whilst Mrs. Christopher Bowly, of Siddington, even now holds +the same position in relation to the ancient practice of archery. + +The ancient art of falconry is still practised in these parts. Thirty +years ago, when Duleep Singh lived at Hatherop, hawking on the downs was +one of his chief amusements. But the only hawking club hereabouts that +we know of is at Swindon, in Wiltshire. + +Coursing is as popular as ever among the Cotswold farmers. These hills +have always been noted for the sport. Drayton tells us that the prize at +the coursing meetings held on the Cotswolds in his day was a +silver-studded collar. Shakespeare, in his _Merry Wives of Windsor_ +alludes to the coursing on "Cotsall." There is an excellent club at +Cirencester. The hares in this district are remarkably big and +strong-running. The whole district lends itself particularly to this +sport, owing to the large fields and fine stretches of open downs. + + + +CRICKET. + +In an agricultural district such as the Cotswolds it is inevitable that +the game of cricket should be somewhat neglected. Men who work day after +day in the open air, and to whom a half-holiday is a very rare +experience, naturally seek their recreations in less energetic fashion +than the noble game of cricket demands of its votaries. The class who +derive most benefit from this game spring as a rule from towns and +manufacturing centres and those whose work and interests confine them +indoors the greater part of their time. Among the Cotswold farmers, +however, a great deal of interest is shown; the scores of county matches +are eagerly pursued in the daily papers; and if there is a big match on +at Cheltenham or any other neighbouring town, a large number invariably +go to see it. There is some difficulty in finding suitable sites for +your ground in these parts, for the hill turf is very stony and shallow; +it is not always easy to find a flat piece of ground handy to the +villages. A cricket ground is useless to the villagers if it is perched +up on the hill half a mile away. It must be at their doors; and even +then, though they may occasionally play, they will never by any chance +trouble to roll it. We made a ground in the valley of the Coln some +years ago, and went to some expense in the way of levelling, filling up +gravel pits, and removing obstructions like cowsheds; but unless we had +looked after it ourselves and made preparations for a match, it would +have soon gone back to its original rough state again. And yet two of +the young Peregrines in the village are wonderfully good cricketers, and +as "keen as mustard" about it; though when it comes to rolling and +mowing the ground they are not quite as keen. They will throw you over +for a match in the most unceremonious way if, when the day comes, they +don't feel inclined to play. We have often tried to persuade these two +young fellows to become professional cricketers, there being such a poor +prospect in the farming line; but they have not the slightest ambition +to play for the county, though they are quite good enough; so they +"waste their sweetness on the desert air." + +Old Mr. Peregrine, a man of nearly eighty years of age, is splendid fun +when he is watching his boys play cricket. He goes mad with excitement; +and if you take them off bowling, however much the batsmen appear to +relish their attack, he won't forgive you for the rest of the day. + +His eldest son, Tom--our old friend the keeper--generally stands umpire; +he is not so useful to his side as village umpires usually are, because +he hasn't got the moral courage to give his side "in" when he knows +perfectly well they are "out." The other day, however, he made a slight +error; for, on being appealed to for the most palpable piece of +"stumping" ever seen in the cricket field, the ball bouncing back on to +the wicket from the wicket-keeper's pads while the batsman was two yards +out of his ground, he said, "Not out; it hit the wicket-keeper's pads." +He imagined he was being asked whether the batsman had been bowled, and +it never occurred to him that you could be "stumped out" in this way. +Altogether, Cotswold cricket is great fun. + +The district is full of memories of the prehistoric age, and in certain +parts of the country _prehistoric_ cricket is still indulged in. Never +shall I forget going over to Edgeworth with the Winson Cricket XI. to +play a _grand_ match at that seat of Roman antiquities. The carrier +drove us over in his pair-horse brake--a rickety old machine, with a +pony of fourteen hands and a lanky, ragged-hipped old mare over sixteen +hands high in the shafts together. A most useful man in the field was +the honest carrier, whether at point or at any other place where the +ball comes sharp and quick; for, to quote Shakespeare, + + "he was a man + Of an unbounded stomach." + +The rest of our team included the jovial miller; two of the village +carpenter's sons--excellent folk; the village curate, who captained the +side, and stood six feet five inches without his cricket shoes; one or +two farmers; a footman, and a somewhat fat and apoplectic butler. + +The colours mostly worn by the Winson cricketers are black, red, and +gold--a Zingaric band inverted (black on top); their motto I believe to +be "Tired, though united." + +As the ground stands about eight hundred feet above sea level, all of +us, but especially the fat butler, found considerable difficulty in +getting to the top of the hill, after the brake had set us down at the +village public. But once arrived, a magnificent view was to be had, +extending thirty miles and more across the wolds to the White Horse Hill +in Berkshire. However, we had not come to admire the view so much as to +play the game of cricket. We therefore proceeded to look for the pitch. +It was known to be in the field in which we stood, because a large red +flag floated at one end and proclaimed that somewhere hereabouts was the +scene of combat. It was the fat butler, I think, who, after sailing +about in a sea of waving buttercups like a veritable Christopher +Columbus, first discovered the stumps among the mowing grass. + +Evident preparations had been made either that morning or the previous +night for a grand match; a large number of sods of turf had been taken +up and hastily replaced on that portion of the wicket where the ball is +supposed to pitch when it leaves the bowler's hand. There had been no +rain for a month, but just where the stumps were stuck a bucket or two +of water had been dashed hastily on to the arid soil; while, to crown +all, a chain or rib roller--a ghastly instrument used by agriculturists +for scrunching up the lumps and bumps on the ploughed fields, and +pulverising the soil--had been used with such effect that the surface of +the pitch to the depth of about an inch had been reduced to dust. + +In spite of this we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Delightful +old-fashioned people, both farmers and labourers, were playing against +us; quaint (I use the word in its true sense) and simple folk, who +looked as if they had been dug up with the other Saxon and Roman +antiquities for which Edgeworth is so famous. + +I was quite certain that the man who bowled me out was a direct +descendant of Julius Caesar. He delivered the ball underhand at a rapid +rate. It came twisting along, now to the right, now to the left; seemed +to disappear beneath the surface of the soil, then suddenly came in +sight again, shooting past the block. Eventually they told me it removed +the left bail, and struck the wicket-keeper a fearful blow on the chest. +It was generally agreed that such a ball had never been bowled before. +"'Twas a _pretty_ ball!" as Tom Peregrine pronounced it, standing umpire +in an enormous wideawake hat and a white coat reaching down to his +knees, and smoking a bad cigar. "A very pretty ball," said my fellow +batsman at the other wicket "A d--d pretty ball," I reiterated _sotto +voce_, as I beat a retreat towards the flag in the corner of the field, +which served as a pavilion. + +When I went on to bowl left-handed "donkey-drops," Tom Peregrine (my own +servant, if you please) was very nearly no-balling me. "For," said he, +"I 'ate that drabby-handed business; it looks so awkid. Muddling work, I +calls it." But I am anticipating. + +As I prepared myself for the fray, and carefully donned a pair of +well-stuffed pads and an enormously thick woollen jersey for protection, +not so much against the cold as against the "flying ball," it flashed +across me that I was about to personify the immortal Dumkins of Pickwick +fame; whilst in my companion, the stout butler, it was impossible not +to detect the complacent features and rounded form of Mr. Podder. Up to +a certain point the analogy was complete. Let the Winson Invincibles +equal the All Muggleton C.C., while the Edgeworth Daisy Cutters shall be +represented by Dingley Dell; then sing us, thou divine author of +Pickwick, the glories of that never-to-be-forgotten day. + +"All Muggleton had the first innings, and the interest became intense +when Mr. Dumkins and Mr. Podder--two of the most renowned members of +that distinguished club--walked bat in hand to their respective wickets. +Mr. Luffy, the highest ornament of Dingley Dell, was pitched to bowl +against the redoubtable Dumkins, and Mr. Struggles was selected to do +the same kind office for the hitherto unconquered Podder...The umpires +were stationed behind the wickets [Tom Peregrine had been suborned for +Winson, and proved the most useful man on the side], the scorers were +prepared to notch the runs. A breathless silence ensued. Mr. Luffy +retired a few paces behind the wicket of the passive Podder, and applied +the ball to his right eye for several seconds. Dumkins [the author] +confidently awaited its coming with his eyes fixed on the motions of Mr. +Luffy. 'Play!' suddenly cried the bowler. The ball flew from his hand +straight and swift towards the centre stump of the wicket. The wary +Dumkins was on the alert; it fell upon the tip of his bat...." + +Here, with deep sorrow, let it be stated that the writer failed to +evince the admirable skill displayed by his worthy prototype; the +Dumkins of grim reality was unable to compete with the Dumkins of +fiction. Instead of "sending the ball far away over the heads of the +scouts; who just stooped low enough to let it fly over them," I caught +it just as it pitched on a rabbit-hole, and sent it straight up into the +air like a soaring rocket. "Right, right, I have it!" yelled bowler and +wicket-keeper simultaneously. "Run two, Podder; they'll never catch it!" +shouted Dumkins with all his might. "Catch it in your 'at, Bill!" +screamed the Edgeworth eleven. Never was such confusion! I was already +starting for the second run, whilst my stout fellow batsman was halfway +through the first, when the ball came down like a meteor, and, narrowly +shaving the luckless "Podder's" head, hit the ground with a loud thud +about five yards distant from the outstretched hands of the anxious +bowler, who collided with his ally, the wicket-keeper, in the middle of +the pitch. Half stunned by the shock, and disappointed at his want of +success in his attempt to "judge" the catch, the bowler had yet presence +of mind enough to seize the ball and hurl it madly at the stumps. But +the wicket-keeper being still _hors de combat_, it flew away towards the +spectators, and buried itself among the mowing grass. "Come six, +Podder!" I shouted, amid cries of "Keep on running!" "Run it out!" etc., +from spectators and scouts alike. And run we did, for the umpire forgot +to call "lost ball," and we should have been running still but for the +ingenuity of one of our opponents; for, whilst all were busily engaged +in searching among the grass, a red-faced yokel stole up unawares, with +an innocent expression on his face, raced poor "Podder" down the pitch, +produced the ball from his trouser pocket, and knocked off the bails in +the nick of time. "Out," says Peregrine, amid a roar of laughter from +the whole field; and Mr. "Podder" had to go. + +Now came the question how many runs should be scored, for I had passed +my fellow batsman in the race, having completed seven runs to his five. +Eventually it was decided to split the difference and call it a sixer; +the suggestion of a member of our side that seven should be scored to me +and five to Mr. "Podder" (making twelve in all) being rejected after +careful consideration. + +Thus, from the first ball bowled in this historic match there arose the +whole of the remarkable events recorded above. Therein is shown the +complete performances with the bat of two renowned cricketers; for, alas +I in once more trying to play up to the form of Dumkins, I was bowled +"slick" the very next ball, "as hath been said or sung." + +There was much good-natured chaff flying about during the match, but no +fighting and squabbling, save when a boundary hit was made, when the +batsman always shouted "Three runs," and the bowler "No, only one." The +scores were not high; but I remember that we won by three runs, that the +carpenter's son got a black eye, that we had tea in an old manor house +turned into an inn, and drove home in the glow of a glorious sunset, not +entirely displeased with our first experience of "prehistoric" cricket. + +Some of the pleasantest matches we have ever taken part in have been +those at Bourton-on-the-Water. Owing to the very soft wicket which he +found on arriving, this place was once christened by a well-known +cricketer _Bourton-on-the-Bog_. Indeed, it is often a case of +Bourton-_under_-the-Water; but, in spite of a soft pitch, there is great +keenness and plenty of good-tempered rivalry about these matches. +Bourton is a truly delightful village. The Windrush, like the Coln at +Bibury, runs for some distance alongside of the village street. + +The M.C.C., or "premier club"--as the sporting press delight to call the +famous institution at Lord's--generally get thoroughly well beaten by +the local club. For so small a place they certainly put a wonderfully +strong team into the field; on their own native "bog" they are fairly +invincible, though we fancy on the hard-baked clay at Lord's their +bowlers would lose a little of their cunning. + +In the luncheon tent at Bourton there are usually more wasps than are +ever seen gathered together in one place; they come in thousands from +their nests in the banks of the Windrush. + +If you are playing a match there, it is advisable to tuck your trousers +into your socks when you sit down to luncheon. This, together with the +fact that the tent has been known to blow down in the middle of +luncheon, makes these matches very lively and amusing. What more lively +scene could be imagined than a large tent with twenty-two cricketers and +a few hundred wasps hard at work eating and drinking; then, on the tent +suddenly collapsing, the said cricketers and the said wasps, mixed up +with chairs, tables, ham, beef, salad-dressing, and apple tart, and the +various ingredients of a cricket lunch, all struggling on the floor, and +striving in vain to find their way out as best they can? Fortunately, on +the only occasion that the tent blew down when we were present, it was +not a good wasp year. + +Besides the matches at Bourton, there is plenty of cricket at +Cirencester, Northleach, and other centres in the Cotswolds. The "hunt" +matches are great institutions, even though hunting people as a rule do +not care for cricket, and invariably drop a catch. A good sportsman and +excellent fellow has lately presented a cup to be competed for by the +village clubs of this district. This, no doubt, will give a great +impetus to the game amongst all classes; our village club has already +been revived in order to compete. Our only fear with regard to the cup +competition is that when you get two elevens on to a ground, and two +umpires, none of whom know the rules (for cricket laws are the most +"misunderstandable" things in creation), the final tie will degenerate +into a free fight. + +Be this as it may, anything that can make the greatest pastime of this +country popular in the "merrie Cotswolds" is a step in the right +direction. It is pleasing to watch boys and men hard at work practising +on summer evenings. The rougher the ground the more they like it. +Scorning pads and gloves, they "go in" to bat, and make Herculean +efforts to hit the ball. And this, with fast bowling and the bumpy +nature of the pitch, is a very difficult thing to do. They play on, long +after sunset,--the darker it gets, and the more dangerous to life and +limb the game becomes, the happier they are. We are bound to admit that +when we play with them, a good pitch is generally prepared. It would be +bad policy to endeavour to compete in the game they play, as we should +merely expose ourselves to ridicule, and one's reputation as the man who +has been known "to play in the papers," as they are accustomed to call +big county matches, would very soon be entirely lost. + +I was much amused a few years ago, on arriving home after playing for +Somersetshire in some cricket matches, when Tom Peregrine made up to me +with "a face like a benediction," and asked if I was the gentleman who +had been playing "in the papers." + +While on the subject of cricket, for some time past we have made +experiments of all sorts of cricket grounds, and have come to the +conclusion that the following is the best recipe to prepare a pitch on a +dry and bumpy ground. A week before your match get a wheelbarrow full of +clay, and put it into a water-cart, or any receptacle for holding water. +Having mixed your clay with water, keep pouring the mixture on to your +pitch, taking care that the stones and gravel which sink to the bottom +do not fall out. When you have emptied your water-cart, get some more +clay and water, and continue pouring it on to the ground until you have +covered a patch about twenty-two yards long and three yards wide, always +remembering not to empty out the sediment at the bottom of the +water-cart, for this will spoil all. Then, setting to work with your +roller, roll the clay and water into the ground. Never mind if it picks +up on to the roller: a little more water will soon put that to rights. +After an hour's rolling you will have a level and true cricket pitch, +requiring but two or three days' sun to make it hard and true as +asphalt. You may think you have killed the grass; but if you water your +pitch in the absence of rain the day after you have played on it, the +grass will not die. It is chiefly in Australia that cricket grounds are +treated in this way; they are dressed with mud off the harbours, and +rolled simultaneously. Such grounds are wonderfully true and durable. + +If the pitch is naturally a clay one, it might be sufficient to use +water only, and roll at the same time; but for renovating a worn clay +pitch, a little strong loamy soil, washed in with water and rolled down +will fill up all the "chinks" and holes. It will make an old pitch as +good as new. + +The reason that nine out of ten village grounds are bad and bumpy is +that they are not rolled soon enough after rain or after being watered. +Roll and water them simultaneously, and they will be much improved. + +Another excellent plan is to soak the ground with clay and water, and +leave it alone for a week or ten days before rolling. Permanent benefit +will be done to the soil by this method. For golf greens and lawn-tennis +courts situated on light soil, loam is an indispensable dressing. Any +loamy substance will vastly improve the texture of a light soil and the +quality of the herbage. Yet it is most difficult to convince people of +this fact. We have known cases in which hundreds of pounds have been +expended on cricket grounds and golf greens when an application of clay +top-dressing would have put the whole thing to rights at the cost of a +few shillings. One committee had artificial wells made on every "putting +green" of their golf course, in order to have water handy for keeping +the turf cool and green. What better receptacle for water could they +have found than a top-dressing of half an inch of loam or clay, +retaining as it does every drop of moisture that falls in the shape of +dew or rain, instead of allowing it to percolate through like a sieve, +as is the case with an ordinary sandy soil? Yet this clay dressing, +while retaining water, becomes hard, firm, and as level as a billiard +table on the timely application of the roller. + +Those who look after cricket grounds and the like have seldom any +acquaintance with the constitution of soils; they are apt to treat all, +whether sand, light loam, strong loam, heavy clay, or even peat, in +exactly the same way, instead of recollecting that, as in agriculture, a +judicious combination will alone give us that _ideal loam_ which +produces the best turf, and the best soil for every purpose. I am quite +convinced that our farmers do not realise how much worthless light land +may be improved by a dressing of clay or loam. Such dressings are +expensive without a doubt, but the amelioration of the soil is so marked +that in favourable localities the process ought to pay in the long run. + +Turning to cricket in general, perhaps the modern game, as played on a +good wicket, is in every respect, save one, perfection. If only +something could be done to curtail the length of matches, and rid us of +that awful nuisance the poking, time-wasting batsman, there would be +little improvement possible. + +"All the world's a stage," and even at cricket the analogy holds good. +Thus Shakespeare: + + "As in a theatre the eyes of men, + After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, + Are idly bent on him that enters next, + Thinking his prattle to be tedious." + +So also one may say of some dull and lifeless cricketer who, after the +famous Gloucestershire hitter has made things merry for spectators and +scouts alike, "enters next": + + "As in a cricket field the eyes of men, + After a well-_Graced_ player leaves the _sticks_, + Are idly bent on him that enters next, + Thinking his _batting_ to be tedious." + +On the other hand, if we sow the wild oats of cricket--in other words, +if we risk everything for the fleeting satisfaction of a blind +"slog"--we shall be bowled, stumped, or caught out for a moral +certainty. It is only a matter of time. + +Perhaps the addition of another stump might help towards the very +desirable end of shortening the length of matches, and thus enable more +amateurs to take part in them. I cannot agree with those who lament the +improved state of our best English cricket grounds; if only the batsmen +play a free game and do not waste time, the game is far more +entertaining for players and spectators alike, when a true wicket is +provided. The heroes of old, + + "When Bird and Beldham, Budd, and such as they,-- + Lord Frederick, too, once England's chief and flower,-- + Astonished all who came to see them play," + +those "scorners of the ground" and of pads and gloves doubtless +displayed more _pluck_ on their rough, bumpy grounds than is now called +forth in facing the attack of Kortright, Mold, or Richardson. But on the +other hand, on rough grounds much is left to chance and _luck_; cricket, +as played on a billiard-table wicket certainly favours the batsman, but +it admits of a brilliancy and finish in the matter of style that are +impossible on the old-fashioned wicket. Whilst the modern bowler has +learnt extraordinary accuracy of pitch, the batsman has perfected the +art of "timing" the ball. And what a subtle, delicate art is correct +"timing"!--the skilful embodiment of thought in action, depending for +success on that absolute sympathy of hand and eye which only assiduous +practice, confidence, and a good digestion can give. And on uncertain, +treacherous ground confident play is never seen. A ball cannot be "cut" +or driven with any real brilliancy of style when there is a likelihood +of its abruptly "shooting" or bumping. No; if we would leave as little +as possible to chance, our grounds cannot be too good. Even from a +purely selfish point of view, apart from the welfare of our side, the +pleasure derived from a good "innings" on a first-rate cricket ground +is as great as that bestowed by any other physical amusement. + +Perhaps one ought not to think of comparing the sport of fox-hunting, +with its extraordinary variety of incident and surroundings, the study +of a lifetime, to the game of cricket. At the same time, for actual +all-round enjoyment, and for economy, the game holds its own against all +amusements. + +Bromley-Davenport has said that given a _good_ country and a _good_ fox, +_and_ a burning scent, the man on a _good_ horse with a good _start_, +for twenty or thirty minutes absorbs as much happiness into his mental +and physical organisation as human nature is capable of containing at +one time. This is very true. But how seldom the five necessary +conditions are forthcoming simultaneously the keen hunting man has +learnt from bitter experience. You will be lucky if the real good thing +comes off once for every ten days you hunt. In cricket a man is +dependent on his own quickness of hand and eye; in hunting there is that +vital contingency of the well-filled purse. "'Tis money that makes the +mare to go." + +Then what a grand school is cricket for some of the most useful lessons +of life! Its extraordinary fluctuations are bound to teach us sooner +or later + + "Rebus angustis animosus atque + Fortis appare." + +The _rebus angustis_ are often painfully impressed on the memory by a +long sequence of "duck's eggs"; and how difficult is the _animosus atque +fortis appare_ when we return to the pavilion with a "pair of +spectacles" to our credit! + +Then, again, cricketers are taught to preserve a mind + + "Ab insolenti temperatam + Laetitia." + +We must not permit the _laetitia insolenti_ to creep in when we have +made a big score. How often do we see young cricketers over-elated under +these circumstances, and suffering afterwards from temporary +over-confidence and consequent carelessness! + +But we must have no more Horace, lest our readers exclaim, with Jack +Cade, "Away with him! away with him! he speaks _Latin_!" + +Hope, energy, perseverance, and courage,--all these qualities are learnt +in our grand English game. There is always hope for the struggling +cricketer. In no other pursuit are energy and perseverance so absolutely +sure of bearing fruit, if we only stick to it long enough. + +The fact is that cricket, like many other things, is but the image and +prototype of life in general. And the same qualities that, earnestly +cultivated in spite of repeated failure and disappointment, make good +cricketers lead ultimately to success in all the walks of life. In spite +of the improvement in grounds, cricket is still an excellent school for +teaching physical courage. Many grounds are somewhat rough and bumpy to +field on, beautifully smooth though they look from the pavilion. We have +only to stand "mid-off" or "point" on a cold day at the beginning of +May whilst a hard-hitting batsman, well set on a true wicket, is +driving or cutting ball after ball against our hands and shins, to +realise what a capital school for courage the game is! + +How exacting is the critic in this matter of fielding! and how +delightfully simple the bowling looks from that admirably safe +vantage-ground, the pavilion! Just as to a man comfortably stationed in +the grand-stand at Aintree nothing looks easier than the way in which +the best horses in the world flit over the five-foot fences, leaving +them behind with scarcely an effort, their riders sitting quietly in the +saddle all the while, so does the pavilion critic pride himself on the +way he would have "cut" that short one instead of merely stopping it, or +blocked that simple ball that went straight on and bowled the wicket. +Everything that is well and gracefully performed appears easy to the +looker-on. But that ease and grace, whether in the racehorse or in the +man, has only been acquired by months and years of training +and practice. + +It is seldom that the spectator is able to form a true and unbiassed +opinion as to the varied contingencies which lead to victory or defeat +in cricket. The actual players and the umpires are perhaps alone +qualified to judge to what extent the fluctuations of the game are +affected by the vagaries of weather and ground. For this reason it is +well to take newspaper criticism _cum grano salis_. + +What is the cause of the extraordinary fluctuations of form which all +cricketers, from the greatest to the least, are more or less subject to? +It cannot be set down altogether to luck, for a run of bad luck, such +as all men have at times experienced, is often compatible with being in +the very best form. A man who is playing very well at the net often gets +out directly he goes in to bat in a match, whilst many a good player, +who tells you "he has not had a bat in his hand this season," in his +very first innings for the year makes a big score. In subsequent +innings's, oddly enough, he feels the want of net practice. _Confidence_ +would seem to be the _sine qua non_ for the successful batsman. Nothing +succeeds like success; and once fairly started on a sequence of big +scores, the cricketer goes on day by day piling up runs and _vires +acquirit eundo_. + +Perhaps "being in form" does not depend so much on the state of the +digestion as on the state of the _mind_. Anxiety or excitement, fostered +by over-keenness, usually results in a blank score-sheet. Some men, like +horses, are totally unable to do themselves credit on great occasions. +They go off their feed, and are utterly out of sorts in consequence. On +the other hand, sheer force of will has often enabled men to make a big +score. Many a good batsman can recall occasions on which he made a +mental resolve on the morning of a match to make a century, and did it. + +How curious it is that really good players, from staleness or some +unknown cause, occasionally become absolutely useless for a time! Every +fresh failure seems to bring more and more nervousness, until, from +sheer lack of confidence, their case becomes hopeless, and a child could +bowl them out. Ah well! we must not grumble at the ups and downs of the +finest game in creation: "every dog will have his day" sooner or later; +of that we may be sure. + +And not the least of the advantages of cricket is the large number of +friends made on the tented field. For this reason the jolliest cricket +is undoubtedly that which is played by the various wandering clubs. +Whether you are fighting under the banner of the brotherhood whose motto +is "United though untied," [6] or under the flag of the "Red, Black, and +Gold," [7] or with any other of the many excellent clubs that abound +nowadays, you will have an enjoyable game, whether you make fifty runs +or a duck's egg. + +[Footnote 6: The Free Foresters.] + +[Footnote 7: The I Zingari.] + +County cricket is nowadays a little over done. Two three-day matches a +week throughout the summer don't leave much time for other pursuits. A +liberal education at a good public school and university seems to be +thrown away if it is to be followed by five or six days a week at +cricket all through the summer year after year. Most of our best +amateurs realise this, and, knowing that if they go in for county +cricket at all they must play regularly, they give it up, and are +content to take a back seat. They do wisely, for let us always remember +that cricket is a game and not a business. + +On the other hand, much good results from the presence in county cricket +of a leavening of gentle; for they prevent the further development of +professionalism. It is doubtless owing to the "piping times of peace" +England has enjoyed during the past fifty years that cricket has +developed to such an abnormal extent. The British public are +essentially hero worshippers, and especially do they worship men who +show manliness and pluck; and those feelings of respect and admiration +that it is to be hoped in more stirring times would be reserved for a +Nelson or a Wellington have been recently lavished on our Graces, our +Stoddarts, our Ranjitsinhjis, and our Steels. + +As long as war is absent, and we "live at home at ease," so long will +our sports and pastimes flourish and increase. And long may they +flourish, more especially those in which the quality of courage is +essential for success! It will be a bad day for England when success in +our sports and pastimes no longer depends on the exercise of pluck and +manliness; when hunting gives place to bicycling, and cricket to golf; +when, in fact, the wholesome element of _danger_ is removed from our +recreation and pursuits. Should, in the near future, the long-talked-of +invasion of this country by a combination of European powers become an +accomplished fact, Englishmen may perchance be glad, as the cannon balls +and musket shots are whizzing round their heads, that on the mimic +battlefields of cricket, football, polo, and fox-hunting they learnt two +of the most useful lessons of life--coolness and courage. + +[Illustration: Hawking 267.png] + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE COTSWOLDS THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. + +Nowadays, thanks in a great measure to Mr. Madden's book, the "Diary of +Master William Silence," it is beginning to dawn on us that the +Cotswolds are more or less connected with the great poet of +Stratford-on-Avon. + +Mr. Blunt, in his "Cotswold Dialect," gives no less than fifty-eight +passages from the works of Shakespeare, in which words and phrases +peculiar to the district are made use of. Up to the reign of Queen Anne +this vast open tract of downland formed a happy hunting ground for the +inhabitants of all the surrounding counties. Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, +and Wiltshire, as well as Gloucestershire folk repaired to the wolds for +hunting, coursing, hawking, and other amusements; and in olden times, +even more than to-day, Cotswold was, as Burton described it, "a type of +what is most commodious for hawking, hunting, wood, waters, and all +manner of pleasures." There never was a district so well adapted for +stag-hunting. Nowadays the Cotswold district falls short in one +desideratum, and that a most essential one, of being a first-rate +hunting country. The large extent of ploughed land and the extreme +dryness and poverty of the soil cause it on four days out of five to +carry a most indifferent scent. But to-day we pursue the fox; in +Shakespeare's time the stag was the quarry. And, as hunting men are well +aware, the scent given off by a stag is not only ravishing to hounds, +but it actually increases as the quarry tires, whilst that from a fox +"grows small by degrees and beautifully less." + +As with hunting, so also with coursing and hawking; the Cotswolds were +the grand centre of Elizabethan sport. Here it was that Shakespeare +marked the falcon "waiting on and towering in her pride of place." Here +he saw the fallow greyhounds competing for the silver-studded collar. + +What an interest and a dignity does a district such as this draw from +even the slenderest association with the splendid name of William +Shakespeare! For my part I freely confess that scenery, however grand +and sublime, appeals but little to the imagination unless it be hallowed +by association or blended in the thoughts with the recollection of those +we have either loved or admired. Thus in India, in Natal and Cape +Colony, in glorious Ceylon, I could admire those wonderful purple +mountains and that tropical luxuriance of fertility and verdure; but I +could not _feel_ them. The boundless wolds of Africa, reminding one so +much of Gloucestershire, yet far grander and far finer than anything of +the kind in England, were to me a dreary wilderness. Passing through the +fine broken hill country of Natal was like visiting chaos, a waste, +inhospitable land, + + "Where no one comes + Or hath come since the making of the world." + +How well I remember the first sight of the wolds of South Africa! It was +the hour of uncertain light that comes before the dawn; and as our +railway train wound its tortuous course like a snake up the awful +heights that would ultimately end in Majuba Hill--to which ill-fated +spot I was bound--the billowy waves of rolling down seemed gradually to +change to an immensely rough ocean running mountains high, and the +mimosa trees dotting the plain for hundreds of miles appeared like +armies of the souls of all the black men that ever lived on earth since +the world began. There were passes and chasms like the portals of +far-off, inaccessible Paradise, + + "With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms." + +And then the scene changed. The hills rose like graves of white men and +barrows to the long-forgotten dead. Great oblong barrows, round Celtic +barrows, and stately sarcophagi. Monumental effigies in alabaster, +granite and porphyry; grim Gothic castles dating back to the foundation +of the world, and grim Gothic cathedrals with long-drawn aisles, where +the "great organ of Eternity" kept thundering ceaselessly. For the +lightning and the thunder are powers to be reckoned with in those awful +realms of chaos. And then the scene changed again. There suddenly uprose +weird shapes of giants and leviathans, huge mammoths and whole regiments +of fantastic monsters that looked like clouds and yet were mountains; +and there were fortresses and towers of silence, with vultures hovering +over them, and cliffs and crags and jutting promontories that looked +like mountains, but were really clouds: for the black clouds and the +frowning hills were so much alike that, save when the lightning shone, +you could not say where the sky ended and the land began. But there was +one gleam of hope in this weird and dismal scene, for on the farthest +verge of the horizon there appeared, as it were, a lake--such a lake as +saw the passing of Arthur, vanishing in mystery and silently floating +away upon a barge towards the east. It was a lake of beryl, whose +far-off golden shores were set with rubies and sardonyx, and beyond +these, again, were the more distant waters of the silver sea; and as +when Sir Bedivere + + "... saw, + Straining his eyes beneath an arch of hand, + Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King, + Down that long water opening on the deep + Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go + From less to less and vanish into light. + And the new sun rose bringing the new year,--" + +so over the plains of Africa rose the mighty Alchemist and great +revealer of truth, the scatterer of dreary darkness and secret night, +turning those shadowy hills to purple and those mystic waters in the +eastern sky to gold. + +How different are our feelings when we traverse, either in reality or in +fancy, such parts of the earth as are deeply blended in our hearts and +minds with old familiar associations! Whilst wandering through the Lake +District of England, how are we reminded of Wordsworth and the +"Excursion"! How can we visit Devonshire and the West Country without +summoning up pleasant thoughts of Charles Kingsley and Amyas Leigh; of +the men of Bideford, Sir Richard Grenville, Kt., and "The little +Revenge"? How vividly do the Trossachs recall "The Lady of the Lake" and +Walter Scott! How with Edinburgh do we connect the sad story of Mary, +the ill-fated queen! At Killarney, or standing amid the Gothic tracery +of Tintern, how do we think on Alfred Tennyson and "the days that are no +more"! These are only a few of the places in the British Isles that by +universal consent are hallowed by tender associations. Of those spots in +England which are dear to our hearts for personal reasons, there are of +course hundreds. Every man has his own peculiar prejudices in this +respect. To some London is the most sacred spot on earth. And who shall +deny that with all her faults London is not a vastly interesting place? +Is not every street hallowed by its associations with some great name or +some great event in English history? Which of us can stand amid the +Gothic tracery and the crumbling cloisters of Westminster, or under the +shadow of the old grey towers of Whitehall, without recalling +heart-stirring scenes and "paths of glory that lead but to the grave"? +Who can stand unmoved on any of the famous bridges that span the silent +river? Dr. Johnson, who acted up to Pope's well-known motto, + + "The proper study of mankind is man," + +thought Fleet Street the most interesting place on the face of the +earth; and perhaps he was right. Let us hear what he has to say about +this halo of old association: "To abstract the mind from all local +emotion would be impossible if it were endeavoured; and would be foolish +if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; +whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the +present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and +from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent +and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, +or virtue." + +This, then, is the difference between the plains of Africa and the hills +and valleys of England. The one is at present a vast inhospitable chaos, +the other a land in which there is scarcely an acre that has not been +dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. Such are the signs by which we +are to distinguish Cosmos from Chaos. + +How far into the Cotswold Hills the halo of Stratford-on-Avon's glory +may be said to extend it is not easy to determine. Let us allow at all +events that the _reflection_ from the arc reaches across the whole +extent of the wolds as far as Dursley. For here on the western edge of +the Cotswolds it is probable that Shakespeare spent that portion of his +life which has always been involved in obscurity--the interval between +his removal from Warwickshire and his arrival in London. + +On a fine autumnal evening in the year 1592 a horseman, mounted on a +little ambling nag, neared the Cotswold village of Bibury. Both man and +steed showed unmistakable signs of weariness. The horse especially, +though of that wiry kind known as the Irish hobby, hard as iron, and +accustomed to long journeys, evinced by that sober and even dejected +expression of countenance so well known to hunting men, that he had been +ridden both far and fast. The saddle too, as well as the legs, chest, +and flanks of the nag, appeared wet and mud-stained, as if some brook +had been swum or some deep and muddy river forded, whilst the left +shoulder and knee of the rider bore marks which told tales of a fall. +The personal appearance of the man was not such as to excite the +interest of the casual passer-by; for his dress, though extremly neat, +was that worn by clerks and other townsfolk of the day; yet a keen +observer might have noticed that the features were those of a man of +uncommon character, in whom, as Carlyle would have said, a germ of +irrepressible force had been implanted. + +It had indeed been a glorious day. The hounds, after meeting close to +Moreton-in-the-Marsh, in Warwickshire, had found a great hart in the +forest near Seizincote, and had hunted him "at force" over the deep +undrained vale up on to the Cotswold Hills, away past Stow-on-the-Wold +and Bourton-on-the-Water, towards the great woods of Chedworth. But the +stag, after crossing the Windrush close to Mr. Dutton's house at +Sherborne, had failed to make his point, and had "taken soil" in a deep +pool of the river Coln, near the little village of Coln-St-Dennis, where +eventually the mort had sounded. Such a run had not been seen for many a +long day; for it measured no less than fourteen miles "as the crow +flies," and about five-and-twenty as the hounds ran. The time occupied +had been close on seven hours. There had of course been several checks; +but so strong had been the scent of this hart that, in spite of two +"lets" of some twenty minutes' duration, the pack had been able to hunt +their quarry to the bitter end. Only two men had seen the end. The pride +and chivalry of Warwickshire, mounted on their high-priced Flanders +mares, their Galway nags, and their splendid Barbaries, had been +hopelessly thrown out of the chase; and besides the huntsman, on his +plain-bred little English horse, the only remnant of the field was our +friend with his tough and wiry Irish hobby. + +It is five o'clock, and the sun as it disappears beyond a high ridge of +the wolds, is tinging the grey walls of an ancient Gothic fane with a +rosy glow. This our sportsman does not fail to notice; but in spite of +his keen appreciation of the beauties of nature, the question uppermost +in his mind, as he jogs along the rough, uneven road or track which +leads to Bibury, is where to spend the night. The thought of returning +home at that late hour does not enter his head; for the stag having +gone away in exactly the opposite direction to that from which the +Warwickshire man had set out early in the morning, there are no less +than three-and-thirty long and weary miles between the hunter and his +home. In the days of good Queen Bess, however, hospitality was +proverbially free, and any decently set up Englishman was tolerably sure +of a welcome at any of the country houses which were then, as now, +scattered at long intervals over this wild, uncultivated district. And +as he rides round a bend in the valley, a fair manor house comes into +view, pleasantly placed in a sheltered spot hard by the River Coln. It +was built in the style which had just come into vogue--the Elizabethan +form of architecture; and in honour of the reigning monarch its front +presented the appearance of the letter E. The windows, instead of being +made of horn, were of glass; and tall stone chimneys (a modern luxury +but lately invented) carried away the smoke from the chambers within. + +It so happened that at the moment the stranger was passing, the owner of +the house--a squire of some sixty years of age, but hale and hearty--was +standing in front of his porch taking the evening air. This fact the +horseman did not fail to notice, and with a ready eye to the main +chance, which showed its possessor to be a man of no ordinary +apprehension, he glanced approvingly at the groined porch, the richly +carved pinnacles above it, and at the quaint belfry beyond, exclaiming +with great enthusiasm: + +"'Fore God, you have a goodly dwelling and a rich here. I do envy thee +thine house, sir." + +"Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all," [8] was the reply, +to which, after a pause, the squire added, "Marry, good air." + +[Footnote 8: _2 Henry IV_, V. iii.] + +"Ah, 'tis a good air up on these wolds," replied the sportsman. "But I +am a stranger here in Gloucestershire; these high wild hills and rough, +uneven ways draw out our miles and make them wearisome.[9] How far is it +to Stratford?" + +[Footnote 9: _King Richard II._, II. iii.] + +"Marry, 'tis nigh on forty mile, I warrant. Thou'll not see Stratford +to-night, sir; thy horse is wappered[10] out, and that I plainly see." + +[Footnote 10: _Wappered_ = tired. A Cotswold word.] + +To him replied the stranger wearily: + + Where is the horse that doth untread again + His tedious measures with the unbated fire + That he did pace them first? All things that are, + Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed.[11] + +[Footnote 11: _Merchant of Venice_, II. vi.] + +"Hast been with the hounds to-day?" enquired the honest squire. + +"Ah, sir, and that I have," was the reply; "and never have I seen such +sport before. For seven long hours they made the welkin ring, and ran +like swallows o'er the plain." [12] + +[Footnote 12: _Titus Andronicus_, II. ii.] + +"Please to step in; we be just a-settin' down to supper--a cold capon +and a venison pasty. I'll tell my serving man to take thy nag to yonder +yard, and make him comfortable for the night." + +"Thanks, sir, I'll take him round myself, and give the honest beast a +drench of barley broth,[13] and afterwards, to cheer him up a bit, a +handful or two of dried peas." [14] + +[Footnote 13: _Henry V_., III. v.] + +[Footnote 14: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, IV. i.] + +Whilst the hunter was seeing to his nag, the squire thus addressed his +serving man: + +"Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, +and any pretty tiny kickshaws, tell William cook." [15] + +[Footnote 15: 2 _Henry IV_., V. i.] + +DAVY: "Doth the hunter stay all night, sir?" + +SQUIRE: "Yes, Davy. I will use him well; good sportsmen are ever welcome +on Cotswold." + +The wants of the Irish hobby having been thoroughly attended to, and the +game little fellow having recovered in some measure his natural gaiety +of spirits, the squire ushered the stranger into a long low hall, hung +with pikes and guns and bows, and relics of the chase as well as of the +wars. The stone floor was strewed with clean rushes, and lying about on +tables were trashes, collars, and whips for hounds, as well as hoods, +perches, jesses, and bells for hawks; whilst a variety of odds and ends, +such as crossbows and jumping-poles, were scattered about the apartment. +An enormous wood fire blazed at one end of the hall, and in the +inglenook sat a girl of some twenty summers. + +"My daughter, sir," exclaimed the squire; "as good a girl as ever lived +to make a cheese, brew good beer, preserve all sorts of wines, and cook +a capon with a chaudron! Marry! I forgot to ask thee thy name?" + +"Oh, my name is Shakespeare--William Shakespeare, sir. I come from +Stratford-on-the-Avon, up to'rds Warwick." + +"Shakespy, Shakespy; a' don't know that name. Dost bear arms, sir?" + +"I am entitled to them--a spear on a bend sable, and a falcon for my +crest; but we have not yet applied to the heralds for the confirmation. +And you, sir?" + +"He writes himself _armigero_ in any bill, warrant, quittance, or +obligation," here put in Davy the serving man. + +"Ah, that I do! and have done any time these three hundred years." + +"All his successors gone before him hath done it; and all his ancestors +that come after him may," added Davy, with pride. + +"To be sure, to be sure," said the squire. "Well, welcome to Cotswold, +Master Shakespeare; good sportsmen are ever welcome on Cotswold. But +tell me, how didst thou get thy downfall?" + +"The first was at the mound into the tyning by Master Blackett's house +at Iccomb; old Dobbin breasted it, and the stones did rattle round mine +ears like a house a-coming down. We made a shard[16] that let the rest +of 'em through. It was the only wall that came in the way of the chase +to-day. The second downfall was at the brook by Bourton-Windrush, I +think they call it. Dobbin being a bit short of wind, and quilting +sadly, stuck fast in the mire, and tumbled on to his nose in scrambling +out. Marry, sir, but 'twas a famous chase; the like of it I never saw +before. 'Twas grand at first to see the hart unharboured--a stag with +all his rights, 'brow, bay, and trey.'" + +[Footnote 16: A Cotswold word = breach.] + +"Thou shouldst know, our hounds at Warwick are a noted pack, + + So flew'd, so sanded, and their beads are hung + With ears that sweep away the morning dew; + Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls; + Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells, + Each under each. A cry more tuneable + Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn.'" [17] + +[Footnote 17: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, IV. i.] + +Then he told how, after leaving behind the deep undrained grass country +round Moreton-in-the-Marsh, they rose the hills by Stow and came across +the moor. How the riders who spurred their horses up the steep uprising +ascent were soon left behind. For + + "To climb steep hills + Requires slow pace at first; anger is like + A full hot horse, who, being allowed his way, + Self mettle tires him." + +He told how, after an hour's steady running over the wolds, a "let" [18] +occurred, and "the hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt";[19] +how Mountain, Fury, Tyrant, and Ringwood, who had been leading the rest +of the pack, strove in vain for a considerable time to pick out the cold +scent, until suddenly the cheery sound of the old huntsman's voice was +heard crying: + +[Footnote 18: _Two Noble Kinsmen_, III. v.] + +[Footnote 19: _Venus and Adonis_, 692.] + +"Fury! Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark! Hark!" [20] + +and the whole pack went "yoppeting" off as happy as the hunt was long. +He told how Belman fairly surpassed himself, and "twice to-day picked +out the dullest scent";[21] and how little Dobbin, the Irish hobby, went +cantering on "as true as truest horse, that yet would never tire." [22] +He told how, after running from scent to view, they came down into the +woodlands of the valley of the Coln, and awoke the echoes with their +"gallant chiding." + +[Footnote 20: _Tempest_, IV, i.] + +[Footnote 21: _Taming of the Shrew_, Introduction.] + +[Footnote 22: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, III. i.] + + "... besides the groves, + The skies, the fountains, every region near + Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard + So musical a discord, such sweet thunder." [23] + +[Footnote 23: _Midsummer Night's Dream_, IV.] + +And how the noble animal took soil in the Coln, + + "Under an oak whose antique root peeps out + Upon the brook that brawls along this wood: + To the which place our poor sequester'd stag + Did come to languish; and indeed, my lord, + The wretched animal heaved forth such groans + That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat + Almost to bursting, and the big round tears + Coursed one another down his innocent nose + In piteous chase. + + Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends, + ''Tis right,' quoth he: 'thus misery doth part + The flux of company': anon a careless herd, + Full of the pasture, jumps along by him, + And never stays to greet him. 'Ah,' quoth Jaques, + 'Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens; + 'Tis just the fashion: wherefore do you look + Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?'" [24] + +[Footnote 24: _As You Like It_, II. i.] + +And finally he told how the gallant beast died a soldier's death, +fighting to the bitter end. + +"Marry, 'twas a right good chase, and bravely must thy steed have borne +thee. But thou wast too venturesome, Master Shakespeare," exclaimed the +squire, "a-trying to jump that mound into the tyning by Master +Blackett's house." + +"Tell me, I prithee," answered Shakespeare, anxious to turn the +conversation from his own share in the day's proceedings, "whose dog won +the silver-studded collar this year in the coursing matches on +Cotswold?" [25] + +[Footnote 25: _Merry Wives of Windsor_,] + +"Our Bill Peregrine, here, at the farm, carried it off. A prettier bit +of coursing I never did see!" + +"Ah! that was the country fellow that turned up when we sounded the mort +by Col-Dene. He seemed to spring up out of the ground. He is a snapper +up of unconsidered trifles, I'll be bound. The fellow claimed the hide: +he said the skin was the keeper's fee." [26] + +[Footnote 26: 3 _Henry VI_, III. i.] + +"That 'ould be he. I warrant he lent a hand in taking assay and +breaking up the deer. Tis just what he enjoys." + +"Ah! I marked him disembowelling the poor dead beast in right good will, +with hands besmeared with blood." [27] + +[Footnote 27: _Henry IV._, V. iv.] + +Then they fell to talking of other things; and the honest old squire +began to brag about his London days, and how he was once of +Clement's Inn. + +"There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George +Barnes, and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele, a Cotswold man; you had +not four such swinge-bucklers in all the Inns o' Court again." [28] + +[Footnote 28: _Henry IV._, III. ii.] + +But the old man was far too interested in his own doings to ask if his +guest had ever been in London. It is the prerogative of age to take for +granted that all younger men are of no account, and even as children, +"to be seen and not heard." + +"To-morrow," said the squire, "at break of day, we be a-going a-birding, +to try some young falcons Bill Peregrine has lately trained. Wilt join +us, Master Shakespeare?" + +"Ah, that I will, sir! I know a hawk from a handsaw, or my name's not +William Shakespeare." + +By this time the cold capon and the venison pasty, as well as the +"little tiny kickshaws," together with a gallon of "good sherris-sack," +had been considerably reduced by the united efforts of the squire, the +famished hunter, and those below the salt. During the meal such scraps +of conversation as this might have been heard: + +"Will you please to take a bit of bacon, Master Shakespeare?" + +"Not any, I thank you," replied the poet. + +"What, no bacon!" put in the serving man from behind, in a voice of +surprise bordering on disappointment. + +"No bacon for me, I thank you; _I never take bacon_," repeated +Shakespeare, with some emphasis. + +Then the master of the house would occasionally address a remark to his +serving man about the farm, such as, "How a good yoke of bullocks at +Ciren Fair?" or, "How a score of ewes now?" meaning how much are they +worth. Once the serving man took the initiative, asking, "Shall we sow +the headlands with wheat?" receiving the reply, "With red wheat, +Davy." [29] + +[Footnote 29: 2 _Henry IV_, V. i.] + +Then there was some discussion concerning the stopping of William's +(Peregrine's?) wages, "About the sack he lost the other day at +Hinckley Fair." + +SHAKESPEARE: "This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving man +and your husbandman." + +SQUIRE: "A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet.... By the +mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper! A good varlet." [30] + +[Footnote 30: 2 _Henry IV_, V. iii.] + +These were the squire's last words that night. He soon slept peacefully, +as was his wont after his evening meal; whereupon the poet, with his +accustomed gallantry, commenced making love in right good earnest to the +fair daughter of the house. + +The Cotswold girls, like the Irish, have always been famous for their +beauty. Even amongst the peasants you may nowadays see the most +beautiful and graceful women in the world, though their attire is +usually of a plain and unbecoming character, and but ill adapted to set +off the features and form of the wearer. The squire's daughter, whom we +will call Jessica, was no exception to the rule. She was a handsome +brunette--indeed, the squire called her a "black ousel." Shakespeare +fell in love with her at once, and, forgetting all about the family at +Stratford, he plunged into the most desperate flirtation. The girl, with +that natural perception of the divine in man common to her sex, could +not help feeling a strange admiration for this unexpected, though not +unwelcome, guest. There was something about his countenance which +exercised a peculiar charm and fascination. The thoughtful brow, the +keen hazel eye, and the gentle bearing of the man were what at first +attracted attention. But it was his manner and speech, half serious and +half mirthful, which made such an impression on her mind; and perhaps +she felt that, "to the face whose beauty is the harmony between that +which speaks from within and the form through which it speaks, power is +added by all that causes the outer man to bear more deeply the impress +of the inner." + +The surroundings, too, were as romantic as they possibly could be. A +pair of rush candles were shedding their dim light through the long low +oak-panelled apartment; they were the only lights that were burning, and +even these flickered ominously at times, as if threatening to go out and +leave the place in total darkness. A full moon, however, was casting her +silvery beams through the great lattice casement, and in one of the +upper panes of this window were richly emblazoned the arms of which the +squire was so proud. + +It was a glorious evening. Opening the window, William Shakespeare +looked out upon the peaceful garden. The moon was shedding a pale light +upon the woods and the stream, "decking with liquid pearl the bladed +grass." A hundred yards away the silent Coln was gliding slowly onwards +towards the sea. Owls were breathing heavily in the hanging wood, and a +pair of otters were hunting in the pool. + +As the two sat by the open window, the poet's own life and its prospects +formed the principal topic of conversation. After years of toil in +London his fortunes were beginning at length to improve. He was manager +of a theatre, and was at length earning a moderate competency. He had +already saved a little money, and hoped soon to buy a house at +Stratford. He looked forward some day to returning to his native place +and living a country life. At present he was enjoying a short holiday, +the first for over a year. + +As they sat and talked over these matters, a minstrel began to play in +one of the cottages of the village; the sound of the harp added another +charm to the peaceful surroundings, and filled the poet's mind with a +strange delight. + +"I am never merry when I hear sweet music," said Jessica. + +Whereupon her companion replied: + + "' ... soft stillness and the night + Become the touches of sweet harmony. + Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven + Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: + There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st + But in his motion like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; + Such harmony is in immortal souls; + But whilst this muddy vesture of decay + Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.'" [31] + +[Footnote 31: _Merchant of Venice_, V. i.] + +Sweet is the sound of soft melodious music on a moonlight night; sweet +the faint sigh of the breeze among the elms, and the light upon the +silent stream; but sweeter far is music on a moonlight night, sweeter +the faint sigh of the breeze, and the light upon the silent stream, when +hope, renewed after years of sorrow and sadness, flatters once again the +aims and objects of youth, gilding the landscape of life with wondrous +alchemy, shedding rays of happy sunshine on the vague, mysterious +yearnings of the soul of man towards the hidden destinies of the +boundless future. + +It was not long, however, before Shakespeare bade the fair Jessica +good-night and retired to his sleeping apartment; for a run of such +uncommon excellence as he had enjoyed that day was calculated to produce +the tired, though not unpleasant, sensation which even now sends the +hunting man sleepy, though happy, to bed. + +So, lulled by the strains of the minstrel's harp did William Shakespeare +seek his couch and sleep the sleep of the just But even while the body +was wrapped in slumber, the highly wrought, powerful mind, though yet +unconscious of its awful destiny, was hard at work, "moving about in +worlds not realised." Yonder on the turret of that grey Gothic castle, +whose pinnacles point ever upwards to the skies, they stand and wait, a +glorious throng; and as they stand they wave him onwards. Dante, Homer, +Virgil, Chaucer, Plutarch, Montaigne, and many another hero of old is +waiting there. See the sharp-pointed features of the Italian bard, and +Homer no longer blind! The two are holding animated converse, and ever +beckoning him on. And a voice seemed to speak out loud and clear amid +the solemn silence of eternity: + + "Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, + Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues + Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike + As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd + But to fine issues." [32] + +[Footnote 32: _Measure for Measure_, I. i.] + +Can he linger? Away with blank misgivings, fears, and doubts! He will +climb the rugged, steep ascent, and follow even unto the end. + +The following morning a little before sunrise saw a party of five +assembled for a hawking expedition on the downs. Besides the squire and +William Shakespeare, the parson had turned up, whilst Bill Peregrine +(ancestor of all the Peregrines, including, no doubt, the famous +Peregrine Pickle) brought one of his brothers from the farm to "help him +out" with the hawks. It was somewhat of a peculiar dawn--one of those +dull grey mornings which often bodes a fine day. The bard was much +interested in the glowing eastern sky, and as the sun began to appear he +turned to William Peregrine and enthusiastically exclaimed: + + "'.... what envious streaks + Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: + Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.'" [33] + +[Footnote 33: _Romeo and Juliet_, III. v.] + +"To be sure, to be sure, it do look a bit comical, don't it?" answered +the yeoman, with a cackle; and then, turning to his brother, he said, +"Ain't 'e ever seen the sun rise before?" + +"Please, squire, who be the gent from Warwickshire?" says Peregrine, +_sotto voce_; "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is!" + +"Oh! 'is name's Shakespy, William Shakespy. A good un at his books, I'll +be bound. Get the hawks, Bill; the sun be up. A' must be off to +Stratford shortly," answered the squire, glancing at the poet. + +Whereupon the yeoman opened the door of a long covered shed commonly +called the "mews," and shortly appeared again with four hooded +hawks--two falcons, and two males or tiercel-gentles--placed on a wooden +frame or cadge. These he handed to a stout yokel to carry, and the whole +party sallied forth towards the downs. The squire and the parson were +mounted on their palfreys, the rest of the party being on foot. + +It was not long before William Peregrine started an interesting +conversation with the stranger somewhat after this manner: + +"Did you 'ave a pretty good day's spart yesterday, Master Quakespear?" + +"Ah, that we had! I never saw such a day's sport in all my life!" + +"I thought ye did. I could see the 'art was tired smartish. I qeum along +by the bruk, and give un the meeting. When I sees un I says, 'I can see +you've 'ad a smartish doing, old boy.' Then the 'ounds qeum yoppeting +along as nice as could be. Then I sees you and the 'untsman lolloping +along arter the dogs, and soon arter I 'urd the trumpets goin'; and so +says I, 'It's a _case_,' and I qeums up and skins un. 'E did skin +beautiful to be sure! I never see a better job in all my life--never!" + +"'Twas a fine hart," replied Shakespeare, "and no dull and muddy-mettled +rascal!" [34] + +[Footnote 34: _Hamlet_, II. ii.] + +"I be fond of a bit of spart like that," continued Peregrine; "but I +never could away with books and larning. Muddling work, I calls it, +messing over books. Do you care for that kind of stuff, Master +Quakespear?" + +"I dabble in it when I am away from the country," was the reply. + +Then the Warwickshire man began soliloquising again, somewhat after this +manner: + + "'In his brain + He hath strange places crammed with observation, + The which he vents in mangled forms.'" [35] + +[Footnote 35: _As you Like It_ vii.] + +"Drat the fellow!" whispered Peregrine, turning to the parson, who +happened to be riding alongside "I don't like un, 'e's so unkit." + +PARSON: "What makes him talk so, William?" + +PEREGRINE (_touching his forehead_): "It's a case; I'll be bound it's a +case. 'E's unkit." + +"Would you mind saying that again, sir," said the bard, producing a +notebook. + +Peregrine goes into a fit of giggling, so Shakespeare writes down from +memory; whereupon the yeoman makes up to the squire, and says, "Hist, +squire, we must 'ave a care; 'e's takin' notes 'o anything we says. 'Tis +my belief 'e's got to do with that 'ere case of Tom Barton's they're +makin' such a fuss and do about at Coln. We shall all be 'ung for a set +o' sheep-stealing ruffians." + +"Thee be quite right, William," put in the parson "I thought a' looked a +bit suspicious. If I was you, squire, I'd clap the baggage into +Northleach gaol, and exercise the justice of the peace agin un for an +idle varmint." + +"Yet a milder mannered man I never saw," said the squire. + +PARSON: "Mild-mannered fiddlestick!" Then, raising his voice so that the +stranger should get the full benefit, he added, "He's as mild a mannered +man as ever scuttled ship or cut a throat!" + +Shakespeare hurriedly draws out notebook, and smilingly writes down the +parson's words; then, in perfect good humour, he says: + +"You must excuse me, gentlemen, but I have somewhat of a passion for +writing down such sayings as suit my humour, lest I forget what good +company I keep." + +SQUIRE (_excitedly_): "Let go the hawk, Tom; there's a great lanky +heron risin' at the withybed yonder." + +And here it is necessary to say something about the methods and language +of falconry as practised by our forefathers. + +Shakespeare tells us to choose "a falcon or tercel for flying at the +brook, and a hawk for the bush." In other words, we are to select the +nobler species, the long-winged peregrine falcon, the male of which was +called a tiercel-gentle, for flying at the heron or the mallard; and a +short-winged hawk, such as the goshawk or sparrow-hawk, for blackbirds +and other hedgerow birds. For as Mr. Madden explains, not only does the +true falcon, be she peregrine, gerfalcon, merlin, or hobby, differ in +size and structure of wing and beak from the short-winged hawks, but she +also differs in her method of hunting and seizing her prey. + +The falcons are "hawks of the tower and lure." They tower aloft and +swoop down on partridge, rabbit, or heron, finally returning to the +lure; and be it noted that the lure is a sham bird, with a "train" of +food to entice the falcons back to their master. + +The short-winged hawks, on the other hand, are birds of the fist or the +bush. Instead of "towering" and "stooping," they lurch after their prey +in wandering flight, finally returning to their master's fist. + +In _Macbeth_ we find allusion to the "falcon towering in her pride of +place"; and indeed there is no prettier sport on a still day than a +flight at the partridge or the heron with the noble peregrine falcon or +her mate the tiercel-gentle. + +At the honest squire's word of command, a male peregrine is forthwith +despatched, and, soaring upwards into the air, he is almost lost to +sight in the clouds, though the faint tinkling of the bells attached to +his feet may yet be heard; then, stooping from the skies, the +tiercel-gentle descends from the heavens and strikes his long-beaked +adversary. Down, down they come, fighting and struggling in the air, +until, exhausted by the unequal combat, the heron gradually falls to the +ground, and receives from the falconer his final _coup de grace_. +Sometimes a pair of hawks are thrown off against a heron. + +Now comes a flight at the partridge. First of all the spaniel is +despatched to search the fields for a covey of birds. The desired quarry +being found, he "points" to them, and this time the female peregrine or +true falcon is sent on her way. Away she soars upwards, "waiting on and +towering in her pride of place." Then the birds, lying like stones +beneath her savage ken, are flushed by the dog, and the cruel peregrine, +after selecting her bird, with her characteristic "swoop" brings it to +the ground. If she is unsuccessful in her first attempt, she will tower +again, and renew the attack. The riders have to gallop as fast as their +nags can go, if they would keep in with the sport, for as often as not a +mile or more of ground has to be covered in a long flight, ere the +falcon "souses" [36] her prey. After the flight, a well-trained falcon +will invariably return to the lure with its "train" of food. + +[Footnote 36: _King John_. V. ii.] + +As Mr. Madden has proved, the whole of Shakespeare's works teem with +allusions to the art of falconry. + + "HENRY: But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, + And what a pitch she flew above the rest! + To see how God in all His creatures works! + Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. + + SUFFOLK: No marvel, an it like your majesty, + My lord protector's hawks do tower so well; + They know their master loves to be aloft + And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. + + GLOUCESTER: My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind + That mounts no higher than a bird can soar." [37] + +[Footnote 37: 2 _Henry VI_., II. i.] + +But it was not the death of the poor partridge that appealed to the +poet's mind so much as the pride and cunning of the mighty peregrine, +and the beauty and stillness of the autumnal morning. He loved to hear +the faint tinkling of the falcon's bells, the homely cry of the plover, +and the sweet carol of the lark; but more than all he felt the mystery +of the downs, wondering by what power and when those old seas were +converted into a sea of grass. + +But whilst the hawking party was moving slowly across the wolds to try +fresh ground an event occurred which had the effect of bringing the +morning's sport, as far as hawks were concerned, to an abrupt +conclusion. This was nothing more nor less than the sight of a great +Cotswold fox of the greyhound breed making his way towards a copse on +the squire's demesne. The quick eye of the Peregrine family was the +first to view him, and forthwith both Bill and his brother screamed in +unison: "What's that sneaking across Smoke Acre yonder? 'Tis a fox--a +great, lanky, thieving, villainous fox, darned if it ain't!" + +"Where?" said parson and squire excitedly. + +"There," said Peregrine, "over agin Smoke Acre." + +"By jabbers, so it be!" said the parson. "Now look thee here, Joe +Peregrine, go thee to the sexton and tell 'un to ring the church bells +for the folks to come for a fox; and be sure and tell the +churchwardens." + +"Ah!" said the poet, almost as excited as the rest of the party, + + "'And do not stand on quillets how to slay him: + Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety, + Sleeping or waking, 'tis no matter how, + So he be dead.'" [38] + +[Footnote 38: _2 Henry VI._, III. i.] + +Thus abruptly ended this hawking expedition on the Cotswolds; for the +whole party made off to the manor house to fetch guns, spades, pickaxes, +and dogs, as was the custom in those days, when a "lanky, villainous +fox" was viewed. + +As for Shakespeare, after bidding adieu to the old squire, and thanking +him for his hospitality, he mounted his game little Irish hobby and +steered his course due northward for Stow-on-the-Wold. His track lay +along the old Fossway, a road infested in those days by murderous +highwaymen; yet, unarmed and unattended, unknown and unappreciated, did +that mighty man of genius set cheerfully out on his long and +solitary way. + +[Illustration: The Abbey Gateway, Cirencester 295.png] + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CIRENCESTER. + +The ancient town of Cirencester--the Caerceri of the early Britons, the +Corinium of the Romans, and the Saxon Cyrencerne--has been a place of +importance on the Cotswolds from time immemorial. The abbreviations +Cisetre and Cysseter were in use as long ago as the fifteenth century, +though some of the natives are now in the habit of calling it Ciren. The +correct modern abbreviation is Ciceter. + +The place is so rich in Roman antiquities that we must perforce devote a +few lines to their consideration. A whole book would not be sufficient +to do full justice to them. + +No less than four important Roman roads meet within a short distance of +Cirencester; and very fine and broad ones they are, generally running as +straight as the proverbial arrow. + +1. The Irmin Way, between Cricklade and Gloucester, _via_ Cirencester. + +2. Acman Street connects Cirencester with Bath. + +3. Icknield Street, running to Oxford. + +4. The Fossway, extending far into the north of England. This +magnificent road may be said to connect Exeter in the south with Lincoln +in the north. It is raised several feet above the natural level of the +country, and in many places there still remain traces of the ancient +ditch which was dug on either side of its course. + +In the year 1849 two very fine tessellated pavements were unearthed in +Dyer Street, and removed to a museum which Lord Bathurst built purposely +for their reception and preservation. Another fine specimen of this kind +of work may be seen in its original position at a house called the +"Barton" in the park. It is a representation of Orpheus and his lute; +and the various animals which he is said to have charmed are wonderfully +worked in the coloured pavements. Even as far back as three hundred +years ago these beautiful relics were being discovered in this town; for +Leland in his "Itinerary," mentions the finding of some tesserae; +unfortunately but few have been preserved. + +There are two inscribed stones in this collection which deserve special +mention, as they are marvellously well preserved, considering the fact +that they are probably eighteen hundred years old. They are about six +feet in height and about half that breadth; on each is carved the figure +of a mounted soldier, spear in hand. On the ground lies his prostrate +foe, pierced by his adversary's spear. Underneath one of these carvings +are inscribed the following words:-- + + DANNICVS. EQES. AIAE. + INDIAN. TVR. ALBANI. + STIP. XVI. CIVES. RAVR. + CVR. FVLVIVS. NATALIS. IT. + FVLIVS. BITVCVS. EX. TESTAME. + H S E. + +The meaning of the above words is as follows:-- + +"Dannicus, a horseman of Indus's Cavalry, of the squadron of Albanus. He +had seen sixteen years' service. A citizen of Rauricum. Fulvius Natalis +and Fulvius Bitucus have caused this monument to be made in accordance +with his will. He is buried here." + +The other stone has a somewhat similar inscription. + +The Romans, who did not use wallpapers, were in the habit of colouring +their plaster with various pigments. Some very interesting specimens of +wall-painting are preserved at Cirencester, and may be seen in the +museum. The most remarkable example of the kind is a piece of coloured +plaster, with the following square scratched on its surface:-- + + ROTAS + OPERA + TENET + AREPO + SATOR + +It will be noticed that these five words, the meaning of which is, +"Arepo, the sower, guides the wheels at work," form a kind of puzzle; +they may be read in eight different directions. + +A large variety of sepulchral urns have been found at Cirencester. When +dug up they usually contain little besides the ashes of the dead, though +a few coins are sometimes included. There is a very perfect specimen of +a glass urn--a large green bottle, square, wide-mouthed, and absolutely +intact--in this collection. It was found, wrapped in lead and enclosed +in a hollow stone, somewhere near the town about the year 1758. + +A fine specimen of a stone coffin is likewise to be seen. When +discovered at Latton it was found to contain an iron axe, a dish of +black ware of the kind frequently discovered at Upchurch in Kent, a +juglike-handled vase of a light red colour, and some human bones. + +The various kinds of pottery in the Corinium Museum are interesting on +account of the potters' marks found on them. There must be considerably +over a hundred different marks in this collection, chiefly of the +following kind:-- + +_Putri M_. (Manu Putri), by the hand of Putrus. + +_Mara. F_. (Forma Marci), from the mould of Marcus. + +_Olini Off_. (Officina Olini), from the workshop of Olinus. + +The museum contains many good specimens of iron and bronze implements, +as well as coins and stonework, and is well worthy of the attention +bestowed on it, not only by antiquaries, but by the public at large. + +At a place called the Querns, a short distance from the town, is a very +interesting old amphitheatre called the Bull-ring. This is an ellipse of +about sixty yards long by forty-five wide; it is surrounded by mounds +twenty feet high. Originally the scene of the combats of Roman +gladiators, in mediaeval times it was probably used for the pastime of +bull-baiting, a barbarous amusement which has happily long since +died out. + +Amphitheatres of the same type are to be seen at Dorchester, Old Sarum, +Silchester, and other Roman stations. + +Mr. Wilfred Cripps, C.B., the head of a family that has been seated at +Cirencester for many hundreds of years, has an interesting private +collection of Roman antiquities which have been found in the +neighbourhood from time to time. He has quite recently discovered the +remnants of the Basilica or Roman law-courts. + +Turning to the place as it now stands, one is struck on entering the +town by the breadth and clean appearance of the main street, known as +the market-place. The shops are almost as good as those to be found in +the principal thoroughfares of London. + +I have spoken before of the magnificent old church. There is, perhaps, +no sacred building, except St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol and Beverley +Minster, that we know of in England which for perfect proportion and +symmetry can vie with the imposing grandeur of this pile, as seen from +the Cricklade-street end of Cirencester market-place. + +The south porch is a very beautiful and ornamental piece of +architecture. The work is of fifteenth-century design, the interior of +the porch consisting of delicately wrought fan-tracery groining. The +carving outside is most picturesque, there being many handsome niches +and six fine oriel windows. The whole of the _facade_ is crowned with +very large pierced battlements and crocketed pinnacles. Over this porch +is one of those grand old sixteenth-century halls such as were built in +former times in front of the churches. It is called the "Parvise," a +word derived from the same source as Paradise, which in the language of +architecture means a cloistered court adjoining a church. Many of these +beautiful old apartments existed at one time in England, but were pulled +down by religious enthusiasts because they were considered to be out of +place when attached to the church and used for secular purposes. This is +now known as the town hall, and contrasts very favourably with the +hideous erections built in modern times in some of our English towns for +this purpose. + +The church of Cirencester contains a large amount of beautiful +Perpendicular work. + +In the grand old tower are twelve bells of excellent tone. The Early +English stonework in the chancel and chapels is very curious, a fine +arch opening from the nave to the tower. There is, in fact, a great deal +to be seen on all sides which would delight the lover of architecture. + +Some ancient brasses of great interest and beautiful design in various +parts of this church claim attention; the earliest of them is as old as +1360; a pulpit cloth of blue velvet, made from the cape of one Ralph +Parsons in 1478 and presented by him, is still preserved. + +Cirencester House stands but a stone's throw from the railway station, +but is hidden from sight by a high wall and a gigantic yew hedge. Behind +it and on all sides, save one, the park--one of the largest in +England--stretches away for miles. So beautiful and rural are the +surroundings that the visitor to the house can hardly realise that the +place is not far removed from the busy haunts of men. + +The Cirencester estate was purchased by Sir Benjamin Bathurst rather +more than two hundred years ago. This family has done good service to +their king and country for many centuries. We read the other day that no +less than _six_ of Sir Benjamin's brothers died fighting for the king in +the Civil Wars. Nor have they been less conspicuous in serving their +country in times of peace. + +The park, which was designed to a great extent by the first earl, with +the assistance of Pope, has been entirely thrown open to the people of +Cirencester; and "the future and as yet visionary beauties of the noble +scenes, openings, and avenues" which that great poet used to delight in +dwelling upon have become accomplished facts. The "ten rides"--lengthy +avenues of fine trees radiating in all directions from a central point +in the middle of the park--are a picturesque feature of the landscape. + +The lover of horses and riding finds here a paradise of grassy glades, +where he can gallop for miles on end, and tire the most obstinate of +"pullers." + +Picnic parties, horse shows, cricket matches, and the chase of the fox +all find a place in this romantic demesne in their proper seasons. The +enthusiast for woodland hunting, or the man who hates the sight of a +fence of any description, may hunt the fox here day after day and never +leave the recesses of the park. + +The antiquary will find much to delight him. Here is the ancient high +cross, erected in the fourteenth century, which once stood in front of +the old Ram Inn. The pedestal is hewn from a single block of stone, and +beautifully wrought with Gothic arcades and panelled quatrefoils; this +and the shaft are the sole relics of the old cross. We may go into +raptures over the ivy-covered ruin known as Alfred's Hall, fitted up as +it is with black oak and rusty armour and all the pompous simplicity of +the old baronial halls of England. Antiquaries of a certain order are +easily deceived; and this delightful old ruin, though but two hundred +years old, has been so skilfully put together as to represent an ancient +British castle. That celebrated, though indelicate divine, Dean Swift, +was, like Alexander Pope, deeply interested in the designing of +this park. + +As long ago as 1733 Alfred's Hall was a snare and delusion to +antiquaries. In that year Swift received a letter stating that "My Lord +Bathurst has greatly improved the Wood-House, which you may remember was +a cottage, not a bit better than an Irish cabin. It is now a venerable +castle, and has been taken by an antiquary for one of King Arthur's." + +The kennels of the V.W.H. hounds are in the park. Here the lover of +hounds can spend hours discussing the merits of "Songster" and +"Rosebud," or the latest and most promising additions to the families of +"Brocklesby Acrobat" or "Cotteswold Flier." + +In this house are some very interesting portraits. Full-length pictures +of the members of the Cabal Ministry adorn the dining-room--all fine +examples of Lely's brush; then there is a very large representation of +the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo mounted on his favourite charger +"Copenhagen" by Lawrence; two "Romneys," one "Sir Joshua," and several +"Knellers." + +Turning to the Abbey, the seat for the last three hundred and thirty +years of the Master family, we find another instance of a large country +house standing practically in a town. The house is situated immediately +behind the church and within a stone's throw of the market-place. But on +the side away from the town the view from this house extends over a +large extent of rural scenery. The site of the mitred Abbey of Saint +Mary is somewhere hereabouts, but in the time of the suppression of the +monasteries every stone of the old abbey was pulled down and carried +away; so that the twelfth-century gateway and some remnants of pillars +are the sole traces that remain. This gateway, which is a very fine one, +is still used as a lodge entrance. Queen Elizabeth granted this estate +to Richard Master in 1564. When King Charles was at Cirencester in the +time of the Rebellion he twice stayed at this house. In 1642 the +townspeople of Cirencester rose in a body, and tried to prevent the lord +lieutenant of the county, Lord Chandos, from carrying out the King's +Commission of Array. For a time they gained their ends, but in the +following year there was a sharp encounter between Prince Rupert's force +and the people of Cirencester, resulting in the total defeat of the +latter. Three hundred of them were killed, and over a thousand taken +prisoners. They were confined in the church, and eventually taken to +Oxford, where, upon their submitting humbly to the king, he pardoned +them, and they were released. This is one account. It is only fair to +state that another account is less complimentary to Charles. + +When Charles II. escaped from Worcester he put up at an old hostelry in +Cirencester called the Sun. King James and, still later, Queen Anne paid +visits to this town. + +Altogether the town of Cirencester is a very fascinating old place. The +lot of its inhabitants is indeed cast in pleasant places. The grand +bracing air of the Cotswold Hills is a tonic which drives dull care away +from these Gloucestershire people; and when it is remembered that they +enjoy the freedom of Lord Bathurst's beautiful park, that the +neighbourhood is, in spite of agricultural depression, well off in this +world's goods, it is not surprising that the pallid cheeks and drooping +figures to be met with in most of our towns are conspicuous by their +absence here. The Cotswold farmers may be making no profit in these days +of low prices and competition, but against this must be set the fact +that their fathers and grandfathers made considerable fortunes in +farming three decades ago, and for this we must be thankful. + +The merry capital of the Cotswolds abounds in good cheer and good +fellowship all the year round; and one has only to pay a visit to the +market-place on a Monday to meet the best of fellows and the most genial +sportsmen anywhere to be found amongst the farming community of England. + +One of the old institutions which still remain in the Cotswolds is the +annual "mop," or hiring fair. At Cirencester these take place twice in +October. Every labouring man in the district hurries into the town, +where all sorts of entertainments are held in the market-place, +including "whirly-go-rounds," discordant music, and the usual "shows" +which go to make up a country fair. "Hiring" used to be the great +feature of these fairs. In the days before local newspapers were +invented every sort of servant, from a farm bailiff to a +maid-of-all-work, was hired for the year at the annual mop. The word +"mop" is derived from an old custom which ordained that the +maid-servants who came to find situations should bring their badge of +office with them to the fair. They came with their brooms and mops, just +as a carter would tie a piece of whipcord to his coat, and a shepherd's +hat would be decorated with a tuft of wool. Time was when the labouring +man was never happy unless he changed his abode from year to year. He +would get tired of one master and one village, and be off to Cirencester +mop, where he was pretty sure to get a fresh job. But nowadays the +Cotswold men are beginning to realise that "Two removes are as bad as a +fire." The best of them stay for years in the same village. This is very +much more satisfactory for all concerned. Deeply rooted though the love +of change appears to be in the hearts of nine-tenths of the human race, +the restless spirit seldom enjoys real peace and quiet; and the +discontent and poverty of the labouring class in times gone by may +safely be attributed to their never-ceasing changes and removal of their +belongings to other parts of the country. + +Now that these old fairs no longer answer the purpose for which they +existed for hundreds of years, they will doubtless gradually die out. +And they have their drawbacks. An occasion of this kind is always +associated with a good deal of drunkenness; the old market-place of +Cirencester for a few days in each autumn becomes a regular pandemonium. +It is marvellous how quickly all traces of the great show are swept away +and the place once more settles down to the normal condition of an +old-fashioned though well-to-do country town. + +There are many old houses in Cirencester of more than average interest, +but there is nothing as far as we know that needs special description. +The Fleece Hotel is one of the largest and most beautiful of the +mediaeval buildings. It should be noted that some of the new buildings +in this town, such as that which contains the post office, have been +erected in the best possible taste. With the exception of some of the +work which Mr. Bodley has done at Oxford in recent years, notably the +new buildings at Magdalen College, we have never seen modern +architecture of greater excellence than these Cirencester houses. They +are as picturesque as houses containing shops possibly can be. + +HUNTING FROM CICETER. + +But it is as a hunting centre that Ciceter is best known to the world at +large, and in this respect it is almost unique. The "Melton of the +west," it contains a large number of hunting residents who are not mere +"birds of passage," but men who live the best part of the year in or +near the town. The country round about, from a hunting point of view, is +good enough for most people. Five days a week can be enjoyed, over a +variety of hill and vale, all of which is "rideable"; nor can there be +any question but that the sport obtainable compares favourably with that +enjoyed in the more grassy Midlands. Not that there is much plough round +about Cirencester nowadays; agricultural depression has diminished the +amount of arable in recent years. The best grass country round about, +however, with the exception of the Crudwell and Oaksey district, rides +decidedly deep. The enclosures are small and the fences rough and +straggling. + +A clever, bold horse, with plenty of jumping power in his quarters and +hocks, is essential. It may safely be said that a man who can command +hounds in the Braydon and Swindon district will find the "shires" +comparatively plain sailing. The wall country of the Cotswold tableland +is exactly the reverse of the vale. The pace there is often tremendous, +but the obstacles are not formidable enough to those accustomed to +walls to keep the eager field from pressing the pack, save on those rare +occasions when, on a burning scent, the hounds manage to get a start of +horses; and then they will never be caught. Well-bred horses are almost +invariably ridden in this wall country; if in hard condition, and there +are no steep hills to be crossed, they can go as fast and stay almost as +long as hounds, for the going is good, and they are always galloping on +the top of the ground. + +At the time of writing, there are over two hundred hunters stabled in +the little town of Cirencester, to say nothing of those kept at the +numerous hunting boxes around. More than this need not be said to show +the undoubted popularity of the place as a hunting centre. And a very +sporting lot the people are. Brought up to the sport from the cradle, +the Gloucestershire natives, squires, farmers, all sorts and conditions +of men, ride as straight as a die. + +From what has been said it will be readily gathered that the attraction +of the place as a hunting centre lies in the variety of country it +commands. Not only is a different stamp of country to be met with each +day of the week, but on one and the same day you may be riding over +banks, small flying fences, and sound grass, or deep ploughs and pasture +divided by hairy bullfinches, or, again, over light plough and stone +walls; and to this fact may be attributed the exceptional number of good +performers over a country that this district turns out. Both men and +horses have always appeared to us to reach a very high standard of +cleverness. + +To Leicestershire, Northants, Warwick, and the Vale of Aylesbury +belongs by undisputed right the credit of the finest grass country in +hunting England. But for Ireland and the rougher shires I claim the +honour of showing not only the straightest foxes, but also the best +sportsmen and the boldest riders. The reason seems to me to be this: in +Leicestershire you find the field composed largely of smart London men; +and after a certain age a man "goes to hounds" in inverse ratio to the +pace at which he travels as a man about town. The latter (with a few +brilliant exceptions to prove the rule) is not so quick and determined +when he sees a nasty piece of timber or an awkward hairy fence as his +reputation at the clubs would lead you to expect; whilst the rougher +countryman, be he yeoman or squire, farmer or peer, endowed with nerves +of iron, is able to cross a country with a confidence and a dash that +are denied to the average dandy, with his big stud, immaculate +"leathers," and expensive cigars. In Gloucestershire many an honest +yeoman goes out twice a week and endeavours to drown for a while all +thoughts of hard times and low prices, content for the day if the fates +have left him a sound horse and the consolation of a gallop over the +grass. Let it here be said that there are no grooms in the world who +better understand conditioning hunters than those of Leicestershire. +Nowhere can you see horses better bred or fitter to go; and he who rides +a-hunting on _fat_ horses must himself be _fat_. + +The V.W.H. hounds, on Mr. Hoare's retirement in 1886, were divided into +two packs. Mr. T. Butt Miller hunts three days a week on the eastern +side, with Cricklade as his centre; whilst Lord Bathurst has sufficient +ground for two days on the west, where the country flanks with the Duke +of Beaufort's domain on the south and the Cotswold hounds on the north. +Mr. Miller retains the original pack, and a very fine one it is. Lord +Bathurst likewise, by dint of sparing no pains, and by bringing in the +best blood obtainable from Belvoir, Brocklesby, and other kennels, has +gradually brought his pack to a high state of excellence. + +Turning to the week's programme for a man hunting five or six days a +week from Cirencester, Monday is the day for the duke's hounds. Here you +may be riding over some of the best of the grass, where light flying +fences grow on the top of low banks, or else it will be a stone-wall +country of mixed grass and light plough. In either case the country is +very rideable, and sport usually excellent. The Badminton hounds and +Lord Worcester's skill as a huntsman are too well known to require any +description here. + +On Tuesday Lord Bathurst's hounds are always within seven miles of the +town, and the country is a very open one, but one that requires plenty +of wet to carry scent. Though on certain days there is but little scent, +in favourable seasons during recent years wonderful sport has been shown +in this country. In the season of 1895-6 especially, a fine gallop came +off regularly every Tuesday from October to the end of February. In '97, +on the other hand, little was done. There is far more grass than there +used to be, owing to so much of the land having gone out of cultivation. +The plough rides lighter than grass does in nine counties out of ten, +the coverts are small, and the pace often tremendous. Every country has +its drawback, and in this case it lies partly in bad scent and partly in +the fences being too easy. Men who know the walls with which the +Cotswold tableland is almost entirely enclosed, ride far too close to +hounds: thus, the pack and the huntsman not being allowed a chance, +sport is often spoiled. Occasionally, when a real scent is forthcoming, +the hounds can run right away from the field; but as a rule they are +shamefully over-ridden. The fact is that in the hunting field, as +elsewhere, John Wolcot's epigram, written a hundred years ago, exactly +hits the nail on the head: + + "What rage for fame attends both great and small! + Better be d--d than mentioned not at all." + +We all want to ride in the front rank, and are, or ought to be, d--d +accordingly by the long-suffering M.F.H. + +On Wednesdays the Cotswold hounds are always within easy reach of +Cirencester. There are few better packs than the Cotswold. Started forty +years ago with part of the V.W.H. pack which Lord Gifford was giving up, +the Cotswold hounds have received strains of the best blood of the +Brocklesby, Badminton, Belvoir, and Berkeley kennels. They have +therefore both speed and stamina as well as good noses. Their huntsman, +Charles Travess, has no superior as far as we know; the result is that +for dash and drive these hounds are unequalled. Notwithstanding the +severe pace at which they are able to run, owing to the absence of high +hedges and other impediments--for most of the country is enclosed with +stone walls--they hunt marvellously well together and do not tail; they +are wonderfully musical, too,--more so than any other pack. + +Here it is worth our while to analyse briefly the qualities which +combine to make this huntsman so deservedly popular with all who follow +the Cotswold hounds. We venture to say that he pleases all and sundry, +"thrusters," hound-men, and _liver-men_ alike, because he invariably has +a double object in view--he hunts his fox and he humours his field. And +firstly he hunts his fox in the best possible method, having regard to +the scenting capabilities of the Cotswold Hills. + +He is quick as lightning, yet he is never in a hurry--that is to say, in +a "_bad_ hurry." When the hounds "throw up" or "check," like all other +good huntsmen he gives them plenty of time. He stands still and he +_makes his field stand still_; then may be seen that magnificent proof +of canine brain-power, the fan-shaped forward movement of a +well-drafted, old-established pack of foxhounds, making good by two +distinct casts--right-and left-handed--the ground that lies in front of +them and on each side. Should they fail to hit off the line, the +advantage of a brilliant huntsman immediately asserts itself. Partly by +certain set rules and partly by a knowledge of the country and the run +of foxes, but more than all by that _daring_ genius which was the +making of Shakespeare and the great men of all time, he takes his hounds +admirably in hand, aided by two quiet, unassuming whippers-in, and in +four cases out of five brings them either at the first or second cast to +the very hedgerow where five minutes before Reynard took his sneaking, +solitary way. It may be "forward," or it may be down wind, right or +left-handed, but it is at all events the _right_ way; thus, owing to +this happy knack of making the proper cast at a large percentage of +checks this man establishes his reputation as a first-class huntsman. + +Should the day be propitious, a run is now assured, unless some +unforeseen occurrence, such as the fox going to ground, necessitates a +draw for a fresh one; but in any case, owing to this marvellous knack of +hitting off the line at the first check, our huntsman generally +contrives to show a run some time during the day. + +So much for the methods by which this William Shakespeare of the hunting +field is wont to pursue his fox. But we have not done with him yet. What +does he do on those bad scenting days which on the dry and stony +Cotswold Hills are the rule rather than the exception? On such days, as +well as hunting his fox, he humours his field. In the first place, +unless he has distinct proof to the contrary, he invariably gives his +fox credit for being a straight-necked one. He keeps moving on at a +steady pace in the direction in which his instinct and knowledge lead +him, even though there may be no scent, either on the ground or in the +air, to guide the hounds. Every piece of good scenting ground--and he +knows the capabilities of every field in this respect--is made the most +of; "carrying" or dusty ploughs are scrupulously avoided. If he "lifts," +it is done so quietly and cunningly that the majority of the riders are +unaware of the fact; and the hounds never become wild and untractable. +It is this free and generous method of hunting the fox that pleases his +followers. Travess's casts are not made in cramped and stingy fashion, +but a wide extent of country is covered even on a bad day; there is no +rat-hunting. After a time all save a dozen sportsmen are left several +fields behind. "They won't run to-day," is the general cry; "there is no +hurry." But meantime some large grass fields are met with, or the +huntsman brings the pack on to better terms with the fox, or maybe a +fresh one jumps up, and away go the hounds for seven or eight minutes as +hard as they can pelt. Only a dozen men know exactly what has happened. +Most of the thrusters and all the _liver-men_ have to gallop in earnest +for half an hour to come up with the hunt; indeed, on many days they +never see either huntsman or hounds again, and go tearing about the +country cursing their luck in missing so fine a run! It is the old story +of the hare and the tortoise. But herein lies the "humour" of it: the +hare is pleased and the tortoise is pleased. The former, as represented +by the field, has enjoyed a fine scamper, and lots of air (bother the +currant jelly!) and exercise; the tortoise, on the other hand, has had a +fine hunting run, and possibly by creeping slowly on for some hours it +has killed its fox; whilst several good sportsmen have enjoyed an +old-fashioned hunt in a wild country with a kill in the open. + +_Verbum sap:_ If you want to humour your field, you must leave them +behind. It must not be done intentionally, however; the riders must be +allowed, so to speak, to work out their own salvation in this respect. + +Major de Freville's country as a whole is more suited to the "houndman" +than for him who hunts to ride. The hills, save in one district, are so +severe that hounds often beat horses; the result is, many are tempted to +station themselves on the top of a hill, whence a wide view is +obtainable, and trust to the hounds coming back after running a ring. +Given the right sort of horse, however--short-backed, thoroughbred if +possible, and with good enough manners to descend a steep place without +boring and tearing his rider's arms almost out of their sockets--many a +fine run may be seen in this wild district. Much of the arable land has +gone back to grass, so that it is quite a fair scenting country; and the +foxes are stronger and more straight-necked than in more civilised +parts. One of the best days the writer ever had in his life was with +these hounds. Meeting at Puesdown, they ran for an hour in the morning +at a great pace, with an eight-mile point; whilst in the afternoon came +a run of one-and-a-half hours, with a point of somewhere about +ten miles. + +With the exception of a small vale between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, +which is very good indeed, the Puesdown country is about the best, the +undulations being less severe than in other parts. + +On Thursdays Cirencester commands Mr. Miller's Braydon country. This +country is a very great contrast to that which is ridden over on +Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and requires a very stout horse. It rides +tremendously deep at times; and the fences, which come very frequently +in a run, owing to the small size of the enclosures, are both big and +blind. It is practically all grass. But there are several large +woodlands, with deep clay rides, in which one is not unlikely to spend a +part of Thursday; and these woods, owing in part to the shooting being +let to Londoners, are none too plentifully provided with foxes. Wire, +too, has sprung up in some parts of Mr. Miller's Braydon country. Few +people have large enough studs to stand the wear and tear of this fine, +wild country; consequently the fields are generally small. Sport, though +not so good as it used to be, is still very fair, and to run down to +Great Wood in the duke's country is sufficient to tax the powers of the +finest weight-carrying hunter, whilst only the man with a quick eye to a +country can live with hounds. It is often stated that blood horses are +the best for galloping through deep ground. This is true in one way, +though not on the whole. Thoroughbred horses are practically useless in +this sort of country; their feet are often so small that they stick in +the deep clay. A horse with small feet is no good at all in Braydon. A +short-legged Irish hunter, about three parts bred, with tremendous +strength in hocks and quarters, and biggish feet, is the sort the writer +would choose. If up to quite two stone more than his rider's weight, +and a safe and temperate fencer, he will carry you well up with hounds +over any country. A fast horse is not required; for a racer that can do +the mile on the flat at Newmarket in something under two minutes is +reduced in really deep ground to an eight-mile-an-hour canter, and your +short-legged horse from the Emerald Isle will leave him standing still +in the Braydon Vale. + +Some countries never ride really deep. The shires, for instance, though +often said to be deep, will seldom let a horse in to any great +extent--the ridge and furrow drains the field so well; and in that sort +of deep ground which is met with in Leicestershire a thoroughbred one +will gallop and "stay" all day. But a ride in Braydon or in the Bicester +"Claydons" will convince us that a stouter stamp of horse is necessary +to combat a deep, undrained clay country. + +We must now leave the sporting Thursday country of the V.W.H. and turn +to Friday. + +Eastcourt, Crudwell, Oaksey, Brinkworth, Lea Schools--such are some of +Lord Bathurst's Friday meets; and the pen can hardly write fast enough +in singing the praises of this country. Strong, well-preserved coverts, +sound grass fields, flying fences, sometimes set on a low bank, +sometimes without a bank, varied by an occasional brook, with now and +then a fence big enough to choke off all but the "customers"--such is +the bill of fare for Fridays. To run from Stonehill Wood, _via_ Charlton +and Garsdon, to Redborn in the duke's country, as the hounds did on the +first day of 1897, is, as "Brooksby" would say, "a line fit for a king, +be that king but well minded and well mounted." + +Stand on Garsdon Hill, and look down on the grassy vale mapped out +below, and tell me, if you dare, that you ever saw a pleasanter stretch +of country. How dear to the hunting man are green fields and +sweet-scenting pastures, where the fences are fair and clean and the +ditches broad and deep, where there is room to gallop and room to jump, +and where, as he sails along on a well-bred horse or reclines perchance +in a muddy ditch (Professor Raleigh! what a watery bathos!), he may +often say to himself, "It is good for me to be here!" For when the +hounds cross this country there are always "wigs on the green" in +abundance; and in spite of barbed wire we may still sing with Horace, + + "Nec fortuitum spernere caespitem + Leges sinebant," + +which, at the risk of offending all classical scholars, I must here +translate: "Nor do the laws allow us to despise a chance tumble on +the turf." + +Round Oaksey, too, is a rare galloping ground. Should you be lucky +enough to get a start from "Flistridge" and come down to the brook at a +jumpable place, in less than ten minutes you will be, if not _in_ +Paradise, at all events as near as you are ever likely to be on this +earth. This is literally true, for half way between "Flistridge" and +Kemble Wood, and in the midst of Elysian grass fields, is a narrow strip +of covert happily christened "Paradise." + +Would that there was a larger extent of this sort of country, for it is +not every Friday that hounds cross it! The duke's hounds have a happy +knack of crossing it occasionally on a Monday, however, and on Thursdays +Mr. Miller's hounds may drive a fox that way. + +This district is not so easy for a stranger to ride his own line over as +the Midlands; it is not half so stiff, but it is often cramped and +trappy. But then you must "look before you leap" in most countries +nowadays. In this Friday country wire is comparatively scarce. The +fields run very large on this day,--quite two hundred horsemen are to be +seen at favourite fixtures. About half this number would belong to the +country, and the other half come from the duke's country and elsewhere. +These Friday fields are as well mounted and well appointed as any in +England. And to see a run one must have a good horse,--not necessarily +an expensive one, for "good" and "expensive" are by no means synonymous +terms with regard to horseflesh. It is with regret that we must add that +foxes were decidedly scarce here last season (1897-8). + +On Saturdays the Cirencester brigade will hunt with Mr. Miller. +Fairford, Lechlade, Kempsford, and Water-Eaton are some of the meets. +Here we have a totally different country from any yet considered. It is +a wonderfully sporting one; and last season these hounds never had a bad +Saturday, and often a 'clinker' resulted. Here again one can never +anticipate what sort of ground will be traversed; but the best of it +consists of a fine open country of grass and plough intermingled, the +fields being intersected by small flying fences and exceptionally wide +and deep ditches. "Snowstorm"--a small gorse half way between Fairford +and Lechlade stations on the Great Western Railway--is a favourite draw. +If a fox goes away you see men sitting down in their saddles and +cramming at the fences as hard as their horses can gallop. There appears +to be nothing to jump until you are close up to the fence; but +nevertheless pace is required to clear them, for there is hardly a ditch +anywhere round "Snowstorm" that is not ten feet wide and eight feet or +more deep, and if you are unlucky your horse may have to clear fourteen +feet. On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing that a horse going +fast cannot clear almost without an effort if he jumps at all. So you +may ride in confidence at every fence, and take it where you please. The +depth of the ditch is what frightens a timid horse and, I may add, a +timid rider; and if your horse stops dead, and then tries to jump it +standing, you are very apt to tumble in. + +A rare sporting country is this district; and as the horses and their +riders know it, there are comparatively few falls. Round Kempsford and +Lechlade the Thames and the canal are apt to get in the way, but once +clear of these impediments a very open country is entered, either of +grass and flying fences or light plough and stone walls. Another style +of country is that round Hannington and Crouch. In old days, before wire +was known, this used to be the best grass country in the V.W.H., but +nowadays you must "look before you leap." With a good fox, however, +hounds may take you into the best of the old Berkshire vale, and +perhaps right up to the Swindon Hills. Round Water-Eaton is a fine grass +country, good enough for anybody; but the increase of wire is becoming +more and more difficult to combat in this as in other grazing districts +of England. + +The very varied bill of fare we have briefly sketched for a man hunting +from Cirencester may include an occasional Wednesday with the Heythrop +at "Bradwell Grove." It is not possible to reach the choicest part of +this pleasant country by road from Cirencester, but some of the best of +the stone-wall country of the Cotswold tableland is included in the +Heythrop domain. Everybody who has been brought up to hunting has heard +of "Jem Hills and Bradwell Grove": rare gallops this celebrated huntsman +used to show over the wolds in days gone by; and on a good scenting day +it requires a quick horse to live with these hounds. A fast and +well-bred pack, established more than sixty years ago, they have been +admirably presided over by Mr. Albert Brassey for close on a quarter of +a century. Several pleasant vales intersect this country, notably the +Bourton and the Gawcombe Vale; and there is excellent grass round +Moreton-in-the-Marsh. As, however, the grass country of the Heythrop is +too far from Cirencester to be reached by road, it hardly comes within +our scope. + +If hunting is doomed to extinction in the Midlands, owing to the growth +of barbed wire, it is exceedingly unlikely ever to die out in the +neighbourhood of Cirencester; for there is so much poor, unprofitable +land on the Cotswold tableland and in the Braydon district that barbed +wire and other evils of civilisation are not likely to interfere to +deprive us of our national sport; Hunting men have but to be true to +themselves, and avoid doing unnecessary damage, to see the sport carried +on in the twentieth century as it has been in the past. If we conform to +the unwritten laws of the chase, and pay for the damage we do, there +will be no fear of fox-hunting dying out. England will be "Merrie +England" still, even in the twentieth century; the glorious pastime, +sole relic of the days of chivalry, will continue among us, cheering the +life in our quiet country villages through the gloomy winter months;--if +only we be true to ourselves, and do our uttermost to further the +interests of the grandest sport on earth. + +As I have given an account of a run over the walls, and as the Ciceter +people set most store on a gallop over the stiff fences and grass +enclosures of their vale, here follows a brief description in verse of +the glories of fifty minutes on the grass. I have called it "The +Thruster's Song," because on the whole I thoroughly agree with +Shakespeare that + + "Valour is the chietest virtue, and + Most dignifies the haver." + +Hard riding and all sports which involve an element of danger are the +best antidotes to that luxury and effeminacy which long periods of peace +are apt to foster. What would become of the young men of the present +day--those, I mean, who are in the habit of following the hounds--if +hard riding were to become unfashionable? I cannot conceive anything +more ridiculous than the sight of a couple of hundred well-mounted men +riding day after day in a slow procession through gates, "craning" at +the smallest obstacles, or dismounting and "leading over." No; hard +riding is the best antidote in the world for the luxurious tendency of +these days. A hundred years ago, when the sport of fox-hunting was in +its infancy and modern conditions of pace were unknown, there was less +need for this kind of recreation, "the image of war without its guilt, +and only twenty-five per cent of its danger." For there was real +fighting enough to be done in olden times; and amongst hunting folk, +though there was much drinking, there was little luxury. Therefore our +fox-hunting ancestors were content to enjoy slow hunting runs, and small +blame to them! But those who are fond of lamenting the modern spirit of +the age, which prefers the forty minutes' burst over a severe country to +a three hours' hunting run, are apt to lose sight of the fact that in +these piping times of peace, without the risks of sport mankind is +liable to degenerate towards effeminacy. For this reason in the +following poem I have purposely taken up the cudgels for that somewhat +unpopular class of sportsmen, the "thrusters" of the hunting field. They +are unpopular with masters of hounds because they ride too close to the +pack; but as a general rule they are the only people who ever see a +really fast run. In Shakespeare's time hounds that went too fast for the +rest of the pack were "trashed for over-topping," that is to say, they +were handicapped by a strap attached to their necks. In the same way in +every hunt nowadays there are half a dozen individuals who have reduced +riding to hounds to such an art that no pack can get away from them in a +moderately easy country. These "bruisers" of the hunting field ought to +be made to carry three stone dead weight; they should be "trashed for +overtopping." However, as Brooksby has tersely put it, "Some men hunt to +ride and some ride to hunt; others, thank Heaven! double their fun by +doing both." There are many, many fine riders in England who will not be +denied in crossing a stiff country, and who at the same time are +interested in the hounds and in the poetry of sport: men to whom the +mysteries of scent and of woodcraft, as well as the breeding and +management of hounds, are something more than a mere name: men who in +after days recall with pleasure "how in glancing over the pack they have +been gratified by the shining coat, the sparkling eye--sure symptoms of +fitness for the fight;--how when thrown in to covert every hound has +been hidden; how every sprig of gorse has bristled with motion; how when +viewed away by the sharp-eyed whipper-in, the fox stole under the hedge; +how the huntsman clapped round, and with a few toots of his horn brought +them out in a body; how, without tying on the line, they 'flew to head'; +how, when they got hold of it, they drove it, and with their heads up +felt the scent on both sides of the fence; how with hardly a whimper +they turned with him, till at the end of fifty minutes they threw up; +how the patient huntsman stood still; how they made their own cast: and +how when they came back on his line, their tongues doubled and they +marked him for their own." To such good men and true I dedicate the +following lines:-- + +A DAY IN THE VALE; OR, THE THRUSTER'S SONG. + +You who've known the sweet enjoyment of a gallop in the vale, +Comrades of the chase, I know you will not deem my subject stale. +Stand with me once more beside the blackthorn or the golden gorse,-- +Don't forget to thank your stars you're mounted on a favourite horse; +For the hounds dashed into covert with a zest that bodes a scent, +And the glass is high and rising, clouded is the firmament. +When the ground is soaked with moisture, when the wind is in the east +Scent lies best,--the south wind doesn't suit the "thruster" in the least. +Some there are who love to watch them with their noses on the ground; +We prefer to see them flitting o'er the grass without a sound. +We prefer the keen north-easter; ten to one the scent's "breast high"; +With a south wind hounds can sometimes hunt a fox, but seldom fly. +Hark! the whip has viewed him yonder; he's away, upon my word! +If you want to steal a start, then fly the bullfinch like a bird; +Gallop now your very hardest; turn him sharp, and jump the stile, +Trot him at it--never mind the bough,--it's only smashed your tile! +Now we're with them. See, they're tailing, from the fierceness of the pace, +Up the hedgerow, o'er the meadow, 'cross the stubble see them race: +Governor--by Belvoir Gambler,--he's the hound to "run to head," +Tracing back to Rallywood, that fifty years ago was bred; +Close behind comes Arrogant, by Acrobat; and Artful too; +Rosy, bred by Pytchley Rockwood; Crusty, likewise staunch and true. +Down a muddy lane, in mad excitement, but, alas! too late, +Thunders half the field towards the portals of a friendly gate; +Sees a dozen red-coats bobbing in the vale a mile ahead; +Hears the huntsman's horn, and longs to catch those distant bits of red;-- +But in vain, for blind the fences, here a fall and there a "peck." +Some one cries, "An awful place, sir; don't go there, you'll break + your neck." +Not the stiff, unbroken fences, but the treacherous gaps we fear; +"Though in front the post of honour, that of danger's in the rear." +Forrard on, then forrard onwards, o'er the pasture, o'er the lea, +Tossed about by ridge and furrow, rolling like a ship at sea; +Stake and binder, timber, oxers, all are taken in our stride,-- +Better fifty minutes' racing than a dawdling five hours' ride. +I am not ashamed to own, with him who loves a steeplechase, +That to me the charm in hunting is the ecstasy of _pace_,-- +This is what best schools the soldier, teaches us that we are men +Born to bear the rough and tumble, wield the sword and not the pen. +Some there are who dub hard riders worthless and a draghunt crew-- +Tailors who do all the damage, mounted on a spavined screw. +Well, I grant you, hunting men are sometimes narrow-minded fools; +Ignorant of all worth knowing, save what's learnt in riding-schools; +Careless of the rights of others, scampering over growing crops, +Smashing gates and making gaps and scattering wide the turnip tops;-- +But I hold that out of all the hunting fields throughout the land +I could choose for active service a large-hearted, gallant band; +I could choose six hundred red-coats, trained by riding in the van, +Fit to go to Balaclava under brave Lord Cardigan. +'Tis the finest school, the chase, to teach contempt of cannon balls, +If a man ride bravely onward, spite of endless rattling falls. +And to be a first-rate sportsman, not a man who merely "rides," +Is to be a perfect gentleman, and something more besides; +Fearing neither man nor devil, kind, unselfish he must be, +Born to lead when danger threatens--type of ancient chivalry. +When you hear a "houndman" jeering at the "customers" in front, +Saying they come out to ride a steeplechase and not to hunt, +You may bet the "grapes are sour," the fellow's smoked his nerve away; +Once he went as well as they do: "every dog will have his day." +Though to ride about the roads in state may do your liver good, +You see precious little "houndwork" either there or in the wood. +He who loves to mark the work of hounds must ride beside the pack, +Choosing his own line, or following others, if he's lost the knack. +Lookers-on, I grant you, often see the best part of the game,-- +Still, to ride the roads and live with hounds are things not quite + the same. +Now a word to all those gallant chaps who love a hunting day: +In bad times you know that farming is a trade that doesn't pay, +Barbed wire's the cheapest kind of fence; the farmer can't afford +Tempting post-and-rails and timber--for he's getting rather bored. +Therefore, if we want to ride with our old devilry and dash, +We must put our hands in pockets deep and shovel out the cash. +When you want to hire a shooting you will gladly pay a "pony," +Yet when asked to give it to the hounds you're apt to say you're "stony." +Pay the piper, and the sport you love so well will flourish yet, +Flourish in the dim hereafter; and its sun will never set. +Help the noble cause of freedom; rich and poor together blend +Hands and hearts for ever working for a great and glorious end. + +[Illustration: An old barn 329.png] + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SPRING IN THE COTSWOLDS. + +Whilst walking by the river one day in May I noticed a brood of wild +ducks about a week old. The old ones are wonderfully tame at this time +of year. The mother evidently disliked my intrusion, for she started off +up stream, followed by her offspring, making towards a withybed a +hundred yards or so higher up, where a secluded spring gives capital +shelter for duck and other shy birds. What was my surprise a couple of +hours later to see the same lot emerge from some rushes three-quarters +of a mile up stream! They had circumvented a small waterfall, and the +current is very strong in places. Part of the journey must have been +done on dry land. + +At the same moment that I startled this brood out of the rushes a +moorhen swam slowly out, accompanied by her mate. It was evident, from +her cries and her anxious behaviour, that she too had some young ones in +the rushes; and soon two tiny little black balls of fur crawled out from +the bank and made for the opposite shore. Either from blindness or +fright they did not join their parents in mid stream, but hurried across +to the opposite bank and scrambled on to the mud, followed by the old +couple remonstrating with them on their foolishness. The mother then +succeeded in persuading one of them to follow her to a place of safety +underneath some overhanging boughs, but the other was left clinging to +the bank, crying piteously. I went round by a bridge in the hope of +being able to place the helpless little thing on the water; but, alas! +by the time I got to the spot it was dead. The exertion of crossing the +stream had been too much for it, for it was probably not twelve +hours old. + +When there are young ones about, moorhens will not dive to get out of +your sight unless their children dive too. It is pretty to see them +swimming on the down-stream side of their progeny, buoying them up in +case the current should prove too strong and carry them down. If there +are eggs still unhatched, the father, when disturbed, takes the little +ones away to a safer spot, whilst the mother sticks to the nest. But +they are rather stupid, for even the day after the eggs are hatched, on +being disturbed by a casual passer-by, the old cock swims out into mid +stream. He then calls to his tiny progeny to follow him, though they are +utterly incapable of doing so, and generally come to hopeless grief in +the attempt. Then the old ones are not very clever at finding children +that have been frightened away from the nest. I marked one down on the +opposite bank, and could see it crawling beneath some sticks; but the +old bird kept swimming past the spot, and appeared to neither hear nor +see the little ball of fur. Perhaps he was playing cunning; he may have +imagined that the bird was invisible to me, and was trying to divert my +attention from the spot. + +Moorhens are always interesting to watch. With a pair of field-glasses +an amusing and instructive half hour may often be spent by the stream in +the breeding season. + +I was much amused, while feeding some swans and a couple of wild ducks +the other day, to notice that the mallard would attack the swans if they +took any food that he fancied. One would have thought that such powerful +birds as swans--one stroke of whose wings is supposed to be capable of +breaking a man's leg--would not have stood any nonsense from an +unusually diminutive mallard. But not a bit of it: the mallard ruled the +roost; all the other birds, even the great swans, ran away from him when +he attacked them from behind with his beak. This state of things +continued for some days. But after a time the male swan got tired of the +game; his patience was exhausted. Watching his opportunity he seized the +pugnacious little mallard by the neck and gave him a thundering good +shaking! It was most laughable to watch them. It is characteristic of +swans that they are unable to look you in the face; and beautiful beyond +all description as they appear to be in their proper element, meet them +on dry land and they become hideous and uninteresting, scowling at you +with an evil eye. + +Sometimes as you are walking under the trees on the banks of the Coln +you come across a little heap of chipped wood lying on the ground. Then +you hear "tap, tap," in the branches above. It is the little nuthatch +hard at work scooping out his home in the bark. He sways his body with +every stroke of his beak, and is so busy he takes no notice of you. The +nuthatch is very fond of filberts, as his name implies. You may see him +in the autumn with a nut firmly fixed in a crevice in the bark of a +hazel branch, and he taps away until he pierces the shell and gets at +the kernel. Nuthatches, which are very plentiful hereabouts, are +sometimes to be found in the forsaken homes of woodpeckers, which they +plaster round with mud. The entrance to the hole in the tree is thus +made small enough to suit them. Sometimes when I have disturbed a +nuthatch at work at a hole in a tree, the little fellow would pop into +the hole and peep out at me, never moving until I had departed. + +Woodpeckers are somewhat uncommon here: I have not heard one in our +garden by the river for a very long time, though a foolish farmer told +me the other day that he had recently shot one. A mile or so away, at +Barnsley Park, where the oaks thrive on a vein of clay soil, green +woodpeckers may often be seen and heard. What more beautiful bird is +there, even in the tropics, than the merry yaffel, with his emerald back +and the red tuft on his head? The other two varieties of woodpeckers, +the greater and lesser spotted, are occasionally met with on the +Cotswolds. I do not know why we have so few green woodpeckers by the +river, as there are plenty of old trees there; but these birds, which +feed chiefly on the ground among the anthills, have a marked preference +for such woods in the neighbourhood as contain an abundance of oak +trees. The local name for these birds is "hic-wall," which Tom Peregrine +pronounces "heckle." There is no more pleasing sound than the long, +chattering note of the green woodpecker; it breaks so suddenly on the +general silence of the woods, contrasting as it does in its loud, +bell-like tones with the soft cooing of the doves and the songs of the +other birds. + +In various places along its course the river has long poles set across +it; on these poles Tom Peregrine has placed traps for stoats, weasels, +and other vermin. Recently, when we were fishing, he pointed out a great +stoat caught in one of these traps with a water-rat in its mouth--a very +strange occurrence, for the trap was only a small one, of the usual +rabbit size, and the rat was almost as big as the stoat. There is so +little room for the bodies of a stoat and a rat in one of these small +iron traps that the betting must be at least a thousand to one against +such an event happening. Unless we had seen it with our eyes we could +not have believed it possible. The stoat, in chasing the rat along the +pole, must have seized his prey at the very instant that the jaws of the +trap snapped upon them both. They were quite dead when we found them. + +Every one acquainted with gamekeepers' duties is well aware that the +iron traps armed with teeth which are in general use throughout the +country are a disgrace to nineteenth-century civilisation. It is a +terrible experience to take a rabbit or any other animal out of one of +these relics of barbarism. Sir Herbert Maxwell recently called the +attention of game preservers and keepers to a patent trap which Colonel +Coulson, of Newburgh, has just invented. Instead of teeth, the jaws of +the new trap have pads of corrugated rubber, which grip as tightly and +effectively as the old contrivance without breaking the bones or +piercing the skin. I trust these traps will shortly supersede the old +ones, so that a portion of the inevitable suffering of the furred +denizens of our woods may be dispensed with. + +In a hunting country where foxes occasionally find their way into vermin +traps, Colonel Coulson's invention should be invaluable. Instead of +having to be destroyed, or being killed by the hounds in covert, owing +to a broken leg, it is ten to one that Master Reynard would be released +very little the worse for his temporary confinement. Moreover, as Sir +Herbert Maxwell points out, dog owners will be grateful to the inventor +when their favourites accidentally find their way into one of these +traps and are released without smashed bones and bleeding feet. Any kind +of trap is but a diabolical contrivance at best, but these "humane +patents" are a vast improvement, and do the work better than the old, as +I can testify, having used them from the time Sir Herbert Maxwell first +called attention to them, and being quite satisfied with them. + +Badgers are almost as mysterious in their ways and habits as the otter. +Nobody believes there are badgers about except those who look for their +characteristic tracks about the fox-earths. Every now and then, however, +a badger is dug out or discovered in some way in places where they were +unheard of before. We have one here now. + +A few years ago I saw a pack of foxhounds find a badger in Chearsley +Spinneys in Oxfordshire. They hunted him round and round for about ten +minutes. I saw him just in front of the hounds; a great, fine specimen +he was too. As far as I remember, the hounds killed him in covert, and +then went away on the line of a fox. + +A year or two ago three fine young badgers were captured near +Bourton-on-the-Water, on the Cotswolds. When I was shown them I was told +they would not feed in confinement. Finding a large lobworm, I picked it +up and gave it to one of them. He ate it with the utmost relish. His +brown and grey little body shook with emotion when I spoke to him +kindly--just as a dog trembles when you pet him. I am not certain, +however, whether the badger trembled out of gratitude for the lobworm or +out of rage and disgust at being confined in a cage. + +Badgers would make delightful pets if they had a little less _scent_: +nature, as everybody knows, has endowed them with this quality to a +remarkable degree; they have the power of emitting or retaining it at +their own discretion. + +Badger-baiting with terriers is not an amusement which commends itself +to humane sportsmen. It is hard luck on the terriers, even more than on +the badger. The dogs have a very bad time if they go anywhere near him. + +Talking of terriers, how endless are the instances of superhuman +sagacity in dogs of all kinds! I once drove twenty-five miles from a +place near Guildford in Surrey to Windsor. In the cart I took with me a +little liver-coloured spaniel. When I had completed about half the +journey I put the spaniel down for a run of a few miles: this was all +she saw of the country. In Windsor, through some cause or other, I lost +her; but when I arrived home a day or two afterwards, she had arrived +there before me. It should be mentioned that the journey was not along a +high-road, but by cross-country lanes. How on earth she got home first, +unless she came back on my scent, then, finding herself near home, took +a short cut across country, so as to be there before me, it is +impossible to imagine. + +How curious it is that all animals seem to know when Sunday comes round! + +Fish and fowl are certainly much tamer on the seventh day of the week +than on any other. We had a terrier that would never attempt to follow +you when you were going to church so long as you had your Sunday clothes +on; whilst even when he was following you on a week day, if you turned +round and said "Church" in a decisive tone, he would trot straight back +to the house. As far as we know he had no special training in this +respect. This terrier, who was a rare one to tackle a fox, has on +several occasions spent the best part of a week down a rabbit burrow. +When dug out he seemed very little the worse for his escapade, though +decidedly emaciated in appearance. Poor little fellow! he died a +painless death not long ago from sheer old age. I was with him at the +time, and did not even know he was ill until five minutes before he +expired. The most obedient and faithful, as well as the bravest, little +dog in the world, he could do anything but speak. How much we can learn +from these little emblems of simplicity, gladness, and love. Implicit +obedience and boundless faith in those set over us, to forgive and +forget unto seventy times seven, to give gold for silver, nay, to +sacrifice all and receive back nothing in return,--these are some of the +lessons we may learn from creatures we call dumb. Perhaps they will have +their reward. There is room in eternity for the souls of animals as well +as of men; there is room for the London cab-horse after his life of +hardship and cruel sacrifice; there is room for the innocent lamb that +goes to the slaughter; there is room in those realms of infinity for +every bird of the air and every beast of the field that either the +necessity (that tyrant's plea) or the ignorance of man has condemned to +torture, injustice, or neglect! + +The most delightful of all dogs are those rough-haired Scotch deerhounds +the author of "Waverley" loved so well. How timid and subdued are these +trusty hounds on ordinary occasions! yet how fierce and relentless to +pursue and slay their natural quarry, the antlered monarch of the glen! +Once, in Savernake Forest, where the yaffels laugh all day amid the +great oak trees, and the beech avenues, with their Gothic foliations and +lichened trunks, are the finest in the world, a young, untried deerhound +of ours slipped away unobserved and killed a hind "off his own bat." +Though he had probably never seen a deer before, hereditary instinct was +too strong, and he succumbed to temptation. Yet he would not harm a fox, +for on another occasion, when I was out walking, accompanied by this +hound and a fox-terrier, the latter bolted a large dog fox out of a +drain. When the fox appeared the deerhound made after him, and, in his +attempt to dodge, reynard was bowled over on to his back. But directly +he was called, the deerhound came back to our heels, apparently not +considering the vulpine race fair game. I will not vouch for the +accuracy of the story, but our coachman asserts that he saw this +deerhound at play with a fox in our kitchen garden,--not a tame fox, but +a wild one. I believe, myself, that this actually did happen, as the man +who witnessed the occurrence is thoroughly reliable. + +There is no dog more knowing and sagacious in his own particular way +than a well-trained retriever. What an immense addition to the pleasure +of a day's partridge-shooting in September is the working of one of +these delightful dogs! Only the other day, when I was sitting on the +lawn, a retriever puppy came running up with something in his mouth, +with which he seemed very pleased. He laid it at my feet with great care +and tenderness, and I saw that it was a young pheasant about a +fortnight old. It ran into the house, and was rescued unharmed a few +hours afterwards by the keeper, who restored it to the hencoop from +whence it came. One could not be angry with a dog that was unable to +resist the temptation to retrieve, but yet would not harm the bird in +the smallest degree. + +One does not often see teams of oxen ploughing in the fields nowadays. +Within a radius of a hundred miles of London town this is becoming a +rare spectacle. They are still used sometimes in the Cotswolds, however, +though the practice of using them must soon die out. Great, slow, +lumbering animals they are, but very handsome and delightful beasts to +look upon. A team of brown oxen adds a pleasing feature to the +landscape. + +As we come down the steep ascent which leads to our little hamlet, we +often wonder why some of the cottage front doors are painted bright red +and some a lovely deep blue. These different colours add a great deal of +picturesqueness to the cottages; but is it possible that the owners have +painted their doors red and blue for the sake of the charming distant +effect it gives? These people have wonderfully good taste as a rule. The +other day we noticed that some of the dreadful iron sheeting which is +creeping into use in country places had been painted by a farmer a +beautiful rich brown. It gave quite a pretty effect to the barn it +adjoined. Every bit of colour is an improvement in the rather +cold-looking upland scenery of the Cotswolds. + +Cray-fishing is a very popular amusement among the villagers. These +fresh-water lobsters abound in the gravelly reaches of the Coln. They +are caught at night in small round nets, which are baited and let down +to the bottom of the pools. The crayfish crawl into the nets to feed, +and are hauled up by the dozen. Two men can take a couple of bucketfuls +of them on any evening in September. Though much esteemed in Paris, +where they fetch a high price as _ecrevisse_, we must confess they are +rather disappointing when served up. The village people, however, are +very fond of them; and Tom Peregrine, the keeper, in his quaint way +describes them as "very good pickings for dessert." As they eat a large +number of very small trout, as well as ova, on the gravel spawning-beds, +crayfish should not be allowed to become too numerous in a trout stream. + +It is difficult to understand in what the great attraction of +rook-shooting consists. Up to yesterday I had never shot a rook in my +life. The accuracy with which some people can kill rooks with a rifle is +very remarkable. I have seen my brother knock down five or six dozen +without missing more than one or two birds the whole time. One would be +thankful to die such an instantaneous death as these young rooks. They +seem to drop to the shot without a flutter; down they come, as straight +as a big stone dropped from a high wall. Like a lump of lead they fall +into the nettles. They hardly ever move again. It is difficult work +finding them in the thick undergrowth. + +About eleven o'clock the evening after shooting the young rooks I was +returning home from a neighbouring farmhouse when I heard the most +lamentable sounds coming from the rookery. There seemed to be a funeral +service going on in the big ash trees. Muffled cawings and piteous cries +told me that the poor old rooks were mourning for their children. I +cannot remember ever hearing rooks cawing at that time of night before. +Saving the lark, "that scorner of the ground," which rises and sings in +the skies an hour before sunrise, the rooks are the first birds to +strike up at early dawn. One often notices this fact on sleepless +nights. About 2.30 o'clock on a May morning a rook begins the grand +concert with a solo in G flat; then a cock pheasant crows, or an owl +hoots; moorhens begin to stir, and gradually the woodland orchestra +works up to a tremendous burst of song, such as is never heard at any +hour but that of sunrise. + + "Now the rich stream of music winds along, + Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong, + Through verdant vales." + +How often one has heard this grand thanksgiving chorus of the birds at +early dawn! + +I wonder if the poor rooks caw all night long after the "slaughter of +the innocents?" They were still at it when I went to bed at 12.30, and +this was within two hours of their time of getting up. + + "Some say that e'en against that season cornea + In which our Saviour's birth is celebrated, + The bird of dawning singeth all night long." + +Thus wrote Shakespeare of bold chanticleer; and perhaps the rooks when +they are grieving for their lost ones, hold solemn requiem until the +morning light and the cheering rays of the sun make them forget +their woes. + +It is difficult to understand what pleasure the farmers find in shooting +young rooks with twelve-bore guns. Ours are always allowed a grand +_battue_ in the garden every year. They ask their friends out from +Cirencester to assist. For an hour or so the shots have been rattling +all round the house and on the sheds in the stable-yard. The horses are +frightened out of their wits. Grown-up men ought to know better than to +keep firing continually towards a house not two hundred yards away. A +stray pellet might easily blind a man or a horse. + +Farmers are sometimes very careless with their guns. Out +partridge-shooting one is in mortal terror of the man on one's right, +who invariably carries his gun at such a level that if it went off it +would "rake" the whole line. If you tell one of these gentry that he is +holding his gun in a dangerous way, he will only laugh, remarking +possibly that you are getting very nervous. The best plan is not to ask +these well-meaning, but highly dangerous fellows to shoot with you. +Unfortunately it is probably the eldest son of the principal tenant on +the manor who is the culprit. The best plan in such cases is to speak to +the old man firmly, but courteously, asking him to try to dissuade his +son from his dangerous practices. + +It is amusing to watch the jackdaws when they come from the ivy-mantled +fir trees to steal the food we throw every morning on to the lawn in +front of the house for the pheasants, the pigeons, and other birds. +They are the funniest rascals and the biggest thieves in Christendom. +Alighting suddenly behind a cock pheasant, they snatch the food from him +just as he imagines he has got it safely; and terribly astonished he +always looks. Then these greedy daws will chase the smaller birds as +they fly away with any dainty morsel, and compel them to give it up. A +curiously mixed group assembles on the lawn each morning at eight +o'clock in the winter. First of all there are the pheasants crowing +loudly for their breakfast, then come the stately swans, several +pinioned wild ducks, tame pigeons and wild and timid stock doves, four +or five moorhens, any number of daws, as well as thrushes, blackbirds, +starlings, house-sparrows, and finches. One day, having forgotten to +feed them, I was astonished at hearing loud quacks proceeding from the +dining-room, and was horrified to find that the ducks had come into the +house to look for me and demand their grub. + +Foxes give one a good deal of anxiety in May and June, when the cubs are +about half grown. On arriving home to-day the first news I hear is that +two dead cubs have been picked up: "one looks as if his head had been +battered in, and the other appears to have been worried by a dog." This +is the only information I can get from the keeper. It is really a +serious blow; for if two have been found dead, how many others may not +have died in their earth or in the woods? + +Two seasons ago six dead cubs were picked up here; they had died from +eating rooks which had been poisoned by some farmers. It took us a long +time to get to the bottom of this affair, for no information is to be +got out of Gloucestershire folk; you must ferret such matters +out yourself. + +There are still live cubs in the breeding-earth, for I heard them there +this afternoon; so there is yet hope. But twenty acres of covert will +not stand this sort of thing, considering that the hounds are "through" +them once in three weeks, on an average, throughout the winter. Only one +vixen survived at the end of last season, though another one has turned +up since. We have two litters, fortunately. Where you have coverts handy +to a stream of any kind, there will foxes congregate. They love +water-rats and moorhens more than any other food. + +A strange prejudice exists among hunting men against cleaning out +artificial earths. There was never a greater fallacy. Fox-earths want +looking to from time to time, say every ten years, for rabbits will +render them practically useless by burrowing out in different places. A +block is often formed in the drain by this burrowing, and the earth will +have to be opened and the channel freed. + +The best possible preventive measure against mange is to clear out your +artificial earths every ten years. As for driving the foxes away by this +practice, we cannot believe it. You cannot keep foxes from using a good +artificial drain so long as it lies dry and secluded and the entrance is +not too large. They prefer a small entrance, as they imagine dogs cannot +follow them into a small hole. + +A farmer made an earth in a hedgerow last year right away from any +coverts, and, one would have thought, out of the beaten track of +reynard's nightly prowls; yet the foxes took to this earth at the +beginning of the hunting season, and they were soon quite +established there. + +There is no mystery about building a fox-drain. Reynard will take to any +dry underground place that lies in a secluded spot. If it faces +south--that is to say, if your earth runs in a half circle, with both +entrances facing towards the south or south-west--so much the better. +The entrance should not be more than about six inches square. Such a +hole looks uncommonly small, no doubt, but a fox prefers it to a larger +one. About half way through the passage a little chamber should be made, +to tempt a vixen to lay up her cubs there. When there are lots of foxes +and not too many earths, they will very soon begin to work a new drain, +so long as it lies in a secluded spot and within easy distance of Master +Reynard's skirmishing grounds. + +We have lately made such an earth in a small covert, because the +original earth is the wrong side of the River Coln. All the good country +is on the opposite side of the river to that on which the old earth is +situated. Foxes will seldom cross the stream when they are first found. +It is hoped, therefore, that when they take to the new earth they will +lie in the wood on the right side of the stream. We shall then close the +old earth, and thus endeavour to get the foxes to run the good country. +Much may be done to show sport by using a little strategy of this kind. +Many a good stretch of grass country is lost to the hunt because the +earths are badly distributed. It must be remembered that a fox when +first found will usually go straight to his earth; finding that closed, +he will make for the next earths he is in the habit of using. + +The other day, while ferreting in the coverts previous to +rabbit-shooting, the keeper bolted a huge fox out of one burrow and a +cat out of the other. He also tells me that he once found a hare and a +fox lying in their forms, within three yards of one another, in a small +disused quarry. There is no doubt that, like jack among fish, the fox is +friendly enough on some days, when his belly is full. He then "makes up +to" rabbits and other animals, with the intent of "turning on them" when +they least expect it. Without this treacherous sort of cunning, reynard +would often have to go supperless to bed. + +In those drains and earths where foxes are known to lie you will often +see traces of rabbits. These little conies are wonderfully confiding in +the way they use a fox-earth. It is difficult to believe that they live +in the drain with the foxes, but they are exceedingly fond of making +burrows with an entrance to an earth. They are a great nuisance in +spoiling earths by this practice. Rabbits invariably establish +themselves in fox-drains which have been temporarily deserted. + +Foxes become very "cute" towards the end of the hunting season. They can +hear hounds running at a distance of four or five miles on windy days. +Knowing that the earths are stopped, they leave the bigger woods and +hide themselves in out-of-the-way fields and hedgerows. Last season a +fox was seen to leave our coverts, trot along the high-road, and +ensconce himself among some laurels near the manor house. He was so +easily seen where he lay in the shrubbery that a crowd of villagers +stood watching him from the road. He knew the hounds would not draw this +place, as it is quite small and bare, so here he stayed until dusk; +then, having assured himself that the hounds had gone home, he jumped up +and trotted back to the woods again. + +A flock of sheep are not always frightened at a fox. The other day an +old dog fox, the hero of many a good run in recent years from these +coverts (an "old customer," in fact), was observed by the keeper and two +other men trying to cross the river by means of a footbridge. A flock of +sheep, doubtless taking him for a dog, were frustrating his endeavours +to get across; directly he set foot on dry land they would bowl him over +on to his back in the most unceremonious way. This game of romps went on +for about ten minutes. Finally the fox, getting tired of trying to pass +the sheep, trotted back over the footbridge. Fifty yards up stream a +narrow fir pole is set across the water. The cunning old rascal made for +this, and attempted to get to the other side; but the fates were against +him. There was a strong wind blowing at the time, so that when he was +half way across the pool, he was actually blown off sideways into the +water. And a rare ducking he got! He gave the job up after this, and +trotted back into the wood. This is a very curious occurrence, because +the fox was perfectly healthy and strong. He is well known throughout +the country, not only for his tremendous cheek, but also for the +wonderful runs he has given from time to time. He will climb over a +six-foot wire fence to gain entrance to a fowl-run belonging to an +excellent sportsman, who, though not a hunting man, would never allow a +fox to be killed. He is reported to have had fifty, fowls out of this +place during the last few months. When caught in the act in broad +daylight, the fox had to be hunted round and round the enclosure before +he would leave, finally climbing up the wire fencing like a cat, instead +of departing by the open door. + +It is very rare that a mischievous fox, given to the destruction of +poultry, is also a straight-necked one. Too often these gentry know no +extent of country; they take refuge in the nearest farmyard when pressed +by the hounds. At the end of a run we have seen them on the roof of +houses and outbuildings time after time. On one occasion last season a +hunted fox was discovered among the rafters in the roof of a very high +barn. The "whipper-in" was sent up by means of a long ladder, eventually +pulling him out of his hiding-place by his brush. Poor brute! perhaps he +might have been spared after showing such marvellous strategy. + +It speaks wonders for the good-nature and unselfishness of the farmer +who owns the fowl-run above alluded to that he never would send in the +vestige of a claim to the hunt secretary for the poultry he has lost +from time to time. But he is one of the old-fashioned yeomen of +Gloucestershire--a gentleman, if ever there was one--a type of the best +sort of Englishman. Alas! that hard times have thinned the ranks of the +old yeoman farmers of the Cotswolds! They are the very backbone of the +country; we can ill afford to lose them, with their cheery, bluff +manners and good-hearted natures. + +Some of the people round about are not so scrupulous in the way of +poultry claims. We have had to investigate a large number in, recent +years. It is a difficult matter to distinguish _bona-fide_ from "bogus" +claims; they vary in amount from one to twenty pounds. Once only have we +been foolish enough to rear a litter of cubs by hand, having obtained +them from the big woods at Cirencester. Before the hunting season had +commenced we had received claims of nineteen and fourteen pounds from +neighbouring farmers for poultry and turkeys destroyed. One bailiff +declared that the foxes were so bold they had fetched a young heifer +that had died from the "bowssen" into the fox-covert. Whether the +bailiff put it there or the foxes "fetched" it I know not, but the +white, bleached skull may be seen hard by the earth to this day. + +One of the claimants above named farms three hundred acres on strictly +economical principles. He has allowed the land to go back to grass, and +the only labour he employs on it is a one-legged boy, whom he pays "in +kind." This boy arrived the other day with another poultry claim, when +the following dialogue occurred:-- + +"I see you have got down sixteen young ducklings on the list?" + +"Yaas, the jackdars fetched they." + +"How do you know the jackdaws took them?" "'Cos maister said so." + +"Do you shut up your fowls at night?" + +"Yaas, we shuts the daar, but the farxes gets in. It be all weared out. +There be great holes in the bowssen where they gets through and +fetches them." + +How can one pay poultry claims of this kind? It being absolutely +impossible to verify these accounts properly, the only way is to take +the general character of the claimant, paying according as you think him +straightforward or the reverse. It is an insult to an honest man to +offer him anything less than the amount he asks for; therefore claims +which have every appearance of being _bona fide_ should be settled in +full. But the hunt can't afford it, one is told. In that case people +ought to subscribe more. If men paid ten pounds for every hunter they +owned, the income of most establishments would be more than doubled. + +The farmers are wonderfully long-suffering on the whole, but they cannot +be expected to welcome a whole multitude of strangers; nor can they +allow large fields to ride over their land in these bad times without +compensation of some sort. Slowly, but surely, a change is coming over +our ideas of hunting rights and hunting courtesy; and the sooner we +realise that we ought to pay for our hunting on the same scale as we do +for shooting and fishing, the better will it be for all concerned. + +Talking of hunting and foxes reminds me that a short time ago I went to +investigate an earth to see if a vixen was laid down there. Finding no +signs of any cubs, I was just going away when I saw a feather sticking +out of the ground a few yards from the fox-earth. I pulled four young +thrushes, a tiny rabbit, and two young water-rats out of this hole, and +re-buried them. The cubs, it afterwards appeared, were laid up in a +rabbit burrow some distance away. But the old vixen kept her larder near +her old quarters, instead of burying her supplies for a rainy day close +to the hole where she had her cubs. Perhaps she was meditating moving +the litter to this earth on some future occasion. + +I shall never forget discovering this litter. When looking down a +rabbit-hole I heard a scuffle. A young cub came up to the mouth of the +hole, saw me, and dashed back again into the earth. This was the +smallest place I ever saw cubs laid up in. The vixen happened to be a +very little one. + +It is amusing to watch the cubs playing in the corn on a summer's +evening. If you go up wind you can approach within ten yards of them. +Round and round they gambol, tumbling each other over for all the world +like young puppies. They take little notice of you at first; but after a +time they suddenly stop playing, stare hard at you for half a minute, +then bolt off helter-skelter into the forest of waving green wheat. + +One word more about the scent of foxes. Not long ago a man wrote to the +_Field_ saying that he had proved by experiment that on the saturation +or relative humidity of the air the hunter's hopes depend: in fact, he +announced that he had solved the riddle of scent. It so happened that +for some years the present writer had also been amusing himself with +experiments of the same nature, and at one time entertained the hope +that by means of the hygrometer he would arrive at a solution of the +mystery. But alas! it was not to be. On several occasions when the air +was well-nigh saturated, scent proved abominable. That the relative +humidity of the air is not the all-important factor was often proved by +the bad scent experienced just before rain and storms, when the +hygrometer showed a saturation of considerably over ninety per cent. But +there are undoubtedly other complications besides the evaporations from +the soil and the relative humidity of the air to be considered in making +an enquiry into the causes of good and bad scent. The amount of moisture +in the ground, the state of the soil in reference to the all-important +question of whether it carries or not, the temperature of the air, and +last, but not by any means least, the condition of the quarry, be it +fox, stag, or hare, are all questions of vital importance, complicating +matters and preventing a solution of the mysteries of scent. + +As the atmosphere is variable, so also must scent be variable. The two +things are inseparably bound up with one another. For this reason, if +after a period of rainy weather we have an anti-cyclone in the winter +without severe frost, and an absence of bright sunny days, we can +usually depend on a scent. Instead of the air rising, there is during an +anti-cyclone, as we all know, a tendency towards a gentle down-flow of +air or at all events a steady pressure, and this causes smoke, whether +from a railway engine or a tobacco pipe, to hang in the air and scent to +lie breast high. + +Unfortunately the normal state of the atmospheric fluid is a rushing in +of cold air and a rushing out or upwards of warmer air, causing +unsettled variable equilibrium and unsettled variable scent. The +barometer would be an absolutely reliable guide for the hunting man were +it not for the complications already named above, complications which +prevent either barometer or hygrometer from offering infallible +indications of good or bad scenting days. However, scent often improves +at night when the dew begins to form; and it may also suddenly improve +at any time of day should the dew point be reached, owing to the +temperature cooling to the point of saturation. This is always liable to +occur at some time, on days on which the hygrometer shows us that there +is over ninety per cent of moisture in the air. But here again radiation +comes in to complicate matters; for clouds may check the formation of +dew. It may safely be said, however, that other conditions being +favourable, a fast run is likely to occur at any time of day should the +dew point be reached. Thus the hygrometer is worthy to be studied on a +hunting morning. + +In May there is a good deal of weed-cutting to be done on a trout +stream. Our plan is to have a couple of big field days about May 12th. +The weeds on over two miles of water are all cut during that time. As +they are not allowed to be sent down the stream, we get them out in +several different places; they are then piled in heaps, and left to rot. +The operation is repeated at the end of the fishing season. About a +dozen scythes tied together are used. Two men hold the ends and walk up +the stream, one on each side of the river, mowing as they go. + +There is a certain amount of management required in weed-cutting. If +much weed is left uncut, the millers grumble; if you cut them bare, +there are no homes left for the fish. The last is the worse evil of the +two. The millers are usually kind-hearted men, whilst poachers can +commit fearful depredations in a small stream that has been cut +too bare. + +The way these limestone streams are netted is as follows: About two in +the morning, when there is enough light to commence operations, a net is +laid across the stream and pegged down at each end; the water is then +beaten with long sticks both above and below the net. Nor is it +difficult to drive the trout into the trap; they rush down +helter-skelter, and, failing to see any net, they soon become hopelessly +entangled in its meshes. The bobbing corks intimate to the poachers that +there are some good trout in the net; one end is then unpegged, and the +haul is made. + +About ten trout would be a good catch. The operation is repeated four or +five times, until some fifty fish have been bagged. The poachers then +depart, taking care to remove all signs of their night's work, such as +scales of fish, stray weeds, and bits of stick. + +In weed-cutting by hand, instead of with the long knives, it is +wonderful how many trout get cut by the scythes. There used to be +several good fish killed this way at each annual cutting, when the men +used to walk up the stream mowing as they went. One would have thought +trout would have been able to avoid the scythes, being such quick, +slippery animals. + +Until the present season otters have seldom visited our parts of the +Coln. Unfortunately, however, they have turned up, and are committing +sad havoc among the fish. It is such a terribly easy stream for them to +work. The water is very shallow, and the current is a slow one. + +We are not well up in otter-hunting in these parts, there being no +hounds within fifty miles. I have never seen an otter on the Coln. But +one day, at a spot near which we have noticed the billet of an otter and +some fishes' heads, I heard a noise in the water, and a huge wave seemed +to indicate that something bigger than a Coln trout was proceeding up +stream close to the bank all the way. On running up, of course I saw +nothing. But half an hour afterwards I saw another big wave of the same +kind. It was so close to me that if it had been a fish or a rat I must +have seen him. I had a terrier with me, but of course he was unable to +find an otter. A dog unbroken to the scent is worse than useless. + +On another occasion I saw a water-vole running away from some larger +animal under the opposite bank of the river. Some bushes prevented my +seeing very well, but I am almost certain it was an otter. "A Son of the +Marshes" mentions in one of his charming books that otters do kill +water-rats. I was not aware of this fact until I read it in the book +called "From Spring to Fall." + +The broad shallow reach of the Coln in front of the manor house seems +to be a favourite hunting-ground of the otter during his nocturnal +rambles; for sometimes one is awakened at night by a tremendous tumult +among the wild duck and moorhens that haunt the pool. They rush up and +down, screaming and flapping their wings as if they were "daft." + +A few weeks after writing the above we caught a beautiful female otter +in a trap, weighing some seventeen pounds. I have regretted its capture +ever since. Great as the number of trout they eat undoubtedly is, I do +not intend to allow another otter to be trapped, unless they become too +numerous. Such lovely, mysterious creatures are becoming far too scarce +nowadays, and ought to be rigidly preserved. Last October we were +shooting a withybed of two acres on the river bank, when the beaters +suddenly began shouting, "An otter! An otter!" And sure enough a large +dog otter ran straight down the line. This small withybed also contained +three fine foxes and a good sprinkling of pheasants. + +The number of water-voles in the banks of this stream seems to increase +year by year. The damage they do is not great; but the millers and the +farmers do not like them, because with their numerous holes they +undermine the banks of the millpound, and the water finds its way +through them on to the meadows. Country folk are very fond of an +occasional rat hunt: they do lay themselves out to be hunted so +tremendously. A rat will bolt out of his hole, dive half way across the +stream, then, taking advantage of the tiniest bit of weed, he will come +up to the surface, poke his nose out of the water and watch you +intently. An inexperienced eye would never detect him. But if a stone is +thrown at him, finding his subterfuge detected, he is apt to lose his +head--either coming back towards you, and being obliged to come up for +air before he reaches his hole, or else swimming boldly across to the +opposite bank. In the latter case he is safe. + +Tom Peregrine is a great hand at catching water-voles in a landing-net. +He holds the net over the hole which leads to the water, and pokes his +stick into the bank above. The rat bolts out into the net and is +immediately landed. House-rats--great black brutes--live in the banks of +the stream as well as water-voles. They are very much larger and less +fascinating than the voles. To see one of the latter species crossing +the stream with a long piece of grass in his mouth is a very pretty +sight They are rodents, and somewhat resemble squirrels. + +[Illustration: In Bibury Village 358.png] + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PROMISE OF MAY. + + "Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus + Tam cari capitis?" + + HORACE. + +About the middle of May the lovely, sweet-scenting lilac comes into +bloom. It brightens up the old, time-worn barns, and relieves the +monotony of grey stone walls and mossy roofs in the Cotswold village. + +The prevailing colour of the Cotswold landscape may be said to be that +of gold. The richest gold is that of the flaming marsh-marigolds in the +water meadows during May; goldilocks and buttercups of all kinds are +golden too, but of a slightly different and paler hue. Yellow charlock, +beautiful to look upon, but hated by the farmers, takes possession of +the wheat "grounds" in May, and holds the fields against all comers +throughout the summer. In some parts it clothes the whole landscape like +a sheet of saffron. Primroses and cowslips are of course paler still. +The ubiquitous dandelion is likewise golden; then we have birdsfoot +trefoil, ragwort, agrimony, silver-weed, celandine, tormentil, yellow +iris, St. John's wort, and a host of other flowers of the same hue. In +autumn comes the golden corn; and later on in mid winter we have pale +jessamine and lichen thriving on the cottage walls. So throughout the +year the Cotswolds are never without this colour of saffron or gold. +Only the pockets of the natives lack it, I regret to say. + +Every cottager takes a pride in his garden, for the flower shows which +are held every year result in keen competition. A prize is always given +for the prettiest garden among all the cottagers. This is an excellent +plan; it brightens and beautifies the village street for eight months in +the year. In May the rich brown and gold of the gillyflower is seen on +every side, and their fragrance is wafted far and wide by every breeze +that blows. + +Then there is a very pretty plant that covers some of the cottage walls +at this time of year. It is the wistaria; in the distance you might take +it for lilac, for the colours are almost identical. + +Then come the roses--the beautiful June roses--the _nimium breves +flores_ of Horace. But the roses of the Cotswolds are not so short lived +for all that Horace has sung: you may see them in the cottage gardens +from the end of May until Christmas. + +How cool an old house is in summer! The thick walls and the stone floors +give them an almost icy feeling in the early morning. Even as I write my +thermometer stands at 58 deg. within, whilst the one out of doors registers +65 deg. in the shade. This is the ideal temperature, neither too hot nor too +cold. But it is not summer yet, only the fickle month of May. + +Tom Peregrine is getting very anxious. He meets me every evening with +the same story of trout rising all the way up the stream and nobody +trying to catch them. I can see by his manner that he disapproves of my +"muddling" over books and papers instead of trying to catch trout. He +cannot understand it all. Meanwhile one sometimes asks oneself the +question which Peregrine would also like to propound, only he dare not, +Why and wherefore do we tread the perilous paths of literature instead +of those pleasant paths by the river and through the wood? The only +answer is this: The _daemon_ prompts us to do these things, even as it +prompted the men of old time. + + "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough hew them how we will." + +If there is such a thing as a "call" to any profession, there is a call +to that of letters. So with an enthusiasm born of inexperience and +delusive hope we embark as in a leaky and untrustworthy sailing ship, +built, for ought we know, "in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark," +and at the mercy of every chance breeze are wafted by the winds of +heaven through chaos and darkness into the boundless ocean of words and +of books. When the waves run high they resemble nothing so much as lions +with arched crests and flowing manes going to and fro seeking whom they +may devour, or savage dogs rushing hither and thither foaming at the +mouth; and when old Father Neptune lets loose his hungry sea-dogs of +criticism, then look out for squalls! + +But again the _daemon_, that still small voice echoing from the far-off +shores of the ocean of time, whispers in our ear, "In the morning sow +thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest +not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both +shall be alike good." + +So we sow in weakness and in fear and trembling, "line upon line, line +upon line; here a little and there a little," sometimes in mirth and +laughter, sometimes in tears. Let us not ask to be raised in power. Let +us resign all glory and honour and power to the Ancient of Days, prime +source of the strength of wavering, weak mankind. Rather let us be +thankful that by turning aside from "the clamour of the passing day" to +tread the narrow paths of literature, however humble, however obscure +our lot may have been, we gained an insight into the nobler destinies of +the human soul, and learnt a lesson which might otherwise have been +postponed until we were hovering on the threshold of Eternity. + +In spite of complaints of east winds and night frosts, May is the nicest +month in the year take it all in all. In London this is the case even +more than in the country. The trees in the parks have then the real +vivid green foliage of the country. There is a freshness about +everything in London which only lasts through May. By June the smoke and +dirt are beginning to spoil the tender, fresh greenery of the young +leaves. In the early morning of May 12th, 1897, more than an inch of +snow fell in the Cotswolds, but it was all gone by eight o'clock. In +spite of the weather, May is "the brightest, merriest month of all the +glad New Year." Everything is at its best. Man cannot be morose and +ill-tempered in May. The "happy hills and pleasing shade" must needs "a +momentary bliss bestow" on the saddest of us all. Look at yonder +thoroughbred colt grazing peacefully in the paddock: if you had turned +him out a month ago he would have galloped and fretted himself to death; +but now that the grass is sweet and health-giving, he is content to +nibble the young shoots all day long. What a lovely, satin-like coat he +has, now that his winter garments are put off! There is a picture of +health and symmetry! He has just reached the interesting age of four +years, is dark chestnut in colour, and sixteen hands two and a half +inches in height; grazing out there, he does not look anything like that +size. Well-bred horses always look so much smaller than they really are, +especially if they are of good shape and well proportioned. Alas! how +few of them, even thoroughbreds, have the real make and shape necessary +to carry weight across country, or to win races! You do not see many +horses in a lifetime in whose shape the critical eye cannot detect a +fault. We know the good points as well as the bad of this colt, for we +have had him two years. Deep, sloping shoulders are his speciality; and +they cover a multitude of sins. Legs of iron, with large, broad knees; +plenty of flat bone below the knee, and pasterns neither too long nor +too upright. Well ribbed up, he is at the same time rather +"ragged-hipped," indicative of strength and weight-carrying power. How +broad are his gaskins! how "well let down" he is! What great hocks he +has! But, alas I as you view him from behind, you cannot help noticing +that his hindlegs incline a little outwards, even as a cow's do--they +are not absolutely straight, as they should be. Then as to his golden, +un-docked tail: he carries it well--a fact which adds twenty pounds to +his value; but, strange to say, it is not "well set on," as a +thoroughbred's ought to be. He does not show the quality he ought in his +hindquarters. Still his head, neck and crest are good, though his eye is +not a large one. How much is he worth--twenty, fifty, a hundred, or two +hundred pounds? Who can tell? Will he be a charger, a fourteen-stone +hunter, or a London carriage horse? All depends how he takes to jumping. +His height is against him,--sixteen hands two and a half inches is at +least two inches too big for a hunter. Nevertheless, there are always +the brilliant exceptions. Let us hope he will be the trump card in +the pack. + +Talking of horses, how admirable was that answer of Dr. Johnson's, when +a lady asked him how on earth he allowed himself to describe the word +_pastern_ in his dictionary as the _knee_ of a horse. "Ignorance, +madam, pure ignorance," was his laconic reply. So great a man could well +afford to confess utter ignorance of matters outside his own sphere. But +how few of mankind are ever willing to own themselves mistaken about any +subject under the sun, unless it be bimetallism or some equally +unfashionable and abstruse (though not unimportant) problem of the day! + +What beautiful shades of colour are noticeable in the trees in the early +part of May! The ash, being so much later than the other trees, remains +a pale light green, and shows up against the dark green chestnuts and +the still darker firs. But what shall I say of the great spreading +walnut whose branches hang right across the stream in our garden in the +Cotswold Valley? + +About the middle of May the walnut leaves resemble nothing so much as a +mass of Virginia creeper when it is at its best in September. Beautiful, +transparent leaves of gold, intermingled with red, glisten in the warm +May sunshine,--the russet beauties of autumn combined with the fresh, +bright loveliness of early spring! + +Not till the very end of May will this walnut tree be in full leaf. He +is the latest of all the trees. The young, tender leaves scent almost as +sweetly as the verbena in the greenhouse. It is curious that ash trees, +when they are close to a river, hang their branches down towards the +water like the "weeping willows." Is this connected, I wonder, with the +strange attraction water has for certain kinds of wood, by which the +water-finder, armed with a hazel wand, is able to divine the presence +of _aqua pura_ hundreds of feet below the surface of the earth? What +this strange art of rhabdomancy is I know not, but the "weeping" ash in +our garden by the Coln is one of the most beautiful and shapely trees I +ever saw. It will be an evil day when some cruel hurricane hurls it to +the ground. We have lost many a fine tree in recent years, some through +gales, but others, alas I by the hand of man. + +A few years ago I discovered a spot about a quarter of a mile from my +home which reminded me of the beautiful Eton playing-fields, + + "Where once my careless childhood stray'd, + A stranger yet to pain." + +It consisted of a few grass fields shut off by high hedges, and +completely encircled by a number of fine elm trees of great age and +lovely foliage. At one end a broad and shallow reach of the Coln +completed the scene. + +Having obtained a long lease of the place, I grubbed up the hedges, +turned three small fields into one, and made a cricket ground in the +midst. My object was to imitate as far as possible the "Upper Club" of +the Eton playing-fields. + +I had barely accomplished the work, the cricket ground had just been +levelled, when the landlord's agent--or more probably his +"mortgagee"--arrived on the scene, accompanied by a hard-headed, +blustering timber merchant from Cheltenham. To my horror and dismay I +was informed that, money being very scarce, they contemplated making a +clean sweep of these grand old elms. On my expostulating, they merely +suggested that cutting down the trees would be a great improvement, as +the place would be opened up thereby and made healthier. + +In the hope of warding off the evil day we offered to pay the price of +some of the finest trees, although they could only legally be bought for +the present proprietor's lifetime. + +The contractor, however, rather than leave his work of destruction +incomplete, put a ridiculous price on them. He refused to accept a +larger sum than he could ever have cleared by cutting them down. This is +what Cowper would have stigmatised as + + "disclaiming all regard + For mercy and the common rights of man," + +and "conducting trade at the sword's point." + +We then resolved to buy the farm. But the stars in their courses fought +against us; we were unsuccessful in our attempt to purchase +the freehold. + +And so the contractor's men came with axes and saws and horses and +carts. For days and weeks I was haunted by that hideous nightmare, the +crash of groaning trees as they fell all around, soon to be stripped of +all their glorious beauty. The cruel, blasphemous shouts of the men, as +they made their long-suffering horses drag the huge, dismembered trunks +across the beautifully levelled greensward of the cricket ground, were +positively heart-rending. Ninety great elms did they strike down. A few +were left, but of these the two finest came down in the great gale of +March 1896. + + "Sic transit gloria mundi." + +Trees are like old familiar friends, we cannot bear to lose them; every +one that falls reminds us of "the days that are no more." Struck down in +all the pride and beauty of their days, they remind us that + + "Those who once gave promise + Of fruit for manhood's prime + Have passed from us for ever, + Gone home before their time." + +They remind me that four of my greatest friends at school, ten short +years ago, are long since dead. Like the trees felled by the woodman's +axe, they were struck down by the sickle of the silent Reaper, even as +the golden sheaves that are gathered into the beautiful barns. Other +trees will spring up and shade the naked earth in the woods with their +mantle of green: so, also, + + "Others will fill our places + Dressed in the old light blue." + +And just as in the woods fresh young saplings are daily springing up, so +also the merry voices of happy, generous boys are ringing, as I write, +in the old, old courts and cloisters by the silvery Thames; their merry +laughter is echoed by the bare grey walls, whereon the names of those +who have long been dust are chiselled in rude handwriting on the +mouldering stone. + +Hundreds we knew have gone down. The fatal bullet, the ravaging fever, +the roaring torrent, and the sad sea waves; the slow, sure grip of +consumption, the fall at polo, and the iron hoofs of the favourite +hunter;--all claimed their victims. + +Perhaps this is why we love to linger in the woods watching the rays of +golden light reflected upon the warm, red earth, listening to the +heavenly voices of the birds and the hopeful babbling of the brook. +Those purple hills and distant bars of gold in the western sky at the +soft twilight hour are rendered ever so much more beautiful when we +dimly view them through a mist of tears. + +And now your thoughts are taken back five short years; you are once more +staying with your old Eton friend and Oxford comrade in his beautiful +home in far-off Wales. All is joy and happiness in that lovely, romantic +home, for in six weeks' time the young squire, the best and most popular +fellow in the world, is to be married to the fair daughter of a +neighbouring house. Is it possible that aught can happen in that short +time to mar the heavenly happiness of those two twin souls? Alas for the +gallant, chivalrous nature I Well might he have cried with his knightly +ancestor of the "Round Table," "Me forethinketh this shall betide, but +God may well foredoe destiny." He had gone down to the lake in the most +beautiful and romantic part of his lovely home, taking with him, as was +his wont, his fishing-rod and his gun. One shot was heard, and one only, +on that ill-fated afternoon, and then all, save for the songs of the +birds and the rippling of the deep waters of the lake, was wrapped in +silence. Then followed the report--whispered through the party assembled +to do honour to the future bride and bridegroom--that "Bill" was +missing. Then came the agonising suspense and the eight hours' search +throughout the long summer evening. + +Late that night the father found the fair young form of his boy in a +thick and tangled copse,--there it lay under the silent stars, the face +upturned in its last appeal to heaven; and close by lay the deadly +twelve-bore which had been the cause of all the misery and grief +that followed. + + "Solemn before us + Veiled the dark portal-- + Goal of all mortal. + Stars silent rest o'er us; + Graves under us silent." + +He had evidently pursued game or vermin of some sort into the dense +undergrowth of the wood, and in his haste had slipped and fallen over +his gun, for the shot had just grazed his heart + +Who that knew him will ever forget Bill Llewelyn, prince of good +fellows, "truest of men in everything"? In all relations of life, as in +the hunting field, he went as straight as a die. + +The accidental discharge of a gun shortly after he came of age, and +within a few weeks of his wedding day, has made the England of to-day +the poorer by one of her most promising sons. Infinite charity! Infinite +courage! Infinite truth! Infinite humility! Who could do justice in +prose to those rare and godlike qualities? No: miserable, weak, and +ineffectual though my gift of poesy may be, yet I will not let those +qualities pass away from the minds of all, save the few that knew him +well, without following in the footsteps (though at an immeasurable +distance) of the divine author of "Lycidas," by endeavouring to render +to his cherished memory "the meed of some melodious tear." For as time +goes on, and the future unfolds to our view things we would have given +worlds to have known long before, when the events that influenced our +past actions and shaped our future destinies are seen through the dim +vista of the shadowy, half-forgotten past, we must all learn the hard +lesson which experience alone can teach, exclaiming with the "Preacher" +the old, old words, "I returned, and saw under the sun that the race is +not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.... but time and chance +happeneth to them all" + + LINES IN MEMORY OF + + WILLIAM DILLWYN LLEWELYN. + + It may be chance,--I hold it truth,-- + That of the friends I loved on earth + The ones who died in early youth + Were those of best and truest worth. + + The swift, alas! the race must lose; + The battle goes against the strong,-- + God wills it 'Tis for us to choose, + Whilst life is given, 'twixt right and wrong + + 'Tis not for us to count the cost + Of losing those we most do love; + He grudgeth not life's battle lost + Who wins a golden crown above. + + And oft beneath the shades of night, + When tempests howl around these walls, + A vision steals upon my sight, + A footstep on the threshold falls. + + I see once more that graceful form, + Once more that honest hand grasps mine. + Once more I hear above the storm + The voice I know so well is thine. + + I see again an Eton boy, + A gentle boy, divinely taught, + And call to mind bow full of joy + In friendly rivalry we sought + + The "playing-fields." Then, as I yield + To fancy's dreams, I see once more + The hero of the cricket field, + The oft-tried, trusty friend of yore. + + What tender yearnings, fond regret, + These thoughts of early friendship bring! + None but the heartless can forget + 'Mid summer days the friends of spring. + + Now thoughts of Oxford fill my mind: + My Eton friend is with me still, + But changed--from boy to man; yet kind + And large of heart, and strong of will, + + And blythe and gay. I recognise + The athletic form, the comely face, + The mild expression of the eyes, + The high-bred courtesy and grace. + + Once more with patient skill we lure + The mighty salmon from the deep; + Once more we tread the boundless moor, + And wander up the mountain steep. + + With gun in hand we scour the plain, + Together climb the rocky ways; + Regardless he of wind and rain + Who loved to "live laborious days." + + * * * * * + + I see again fair Penllergare, + Those woods and lakes you loved so well; + It seems but yesterday that there + I parted from you! Who can tell + + The reason thou art gone before? + It is not given to us to know, + But doubtless thou wert needed more + Than we who mourn thee here below. + + Life's noblest lesson day by day + Thy fair example nobly taught-- + Self-sacrifice--to point the way + By which the hearts of men are brought + + Nearer to God. This was thy task, + Humbly, unknowingly fulfilled; + And it were vain for us to ask + Why now thy voice is hushed and stilled. + + O gallant spirit, generous heart! + If thou had'st lived in days gone by, + Thou would'st have loved to bear thy part + In glorious deeds of chivalry. + +I make no apology for this digression, nor for unearthing from the +bottom of my drawer lines that, written years ago, were never penned +with any idea of publication. For was not the subject of those verses +himself half a Cotswold man? + +But now to return once more to the trees, the loss of which caused me +to digress some pages back; there are compensations in all things. Not +every one who becomes a sojourner among the Cotswold Hills is fated to +undergo such a trial as the loss of these ninety elms. And, +notwithstanding this severe lesson, I am still glad that I alighted on +the spot from which I am now writing. + +I have learnt to find pleasure in other directions now that my "Eton +playing-fields" have passed away for ever. I have become infected by the +spirit of the downs. I love the pure, bracing air and the boundless +sense of space in the open hills as much as I ever loved the more +concentrated charms of the valley. And even in the valley I have +possessions of which no living man is able to deprive me. From my window +I can see the silvery trout stream, which, after thousands of years of +restless activity, is still slowly gliding down towards the sea; I can +listen on summer nights to the murmuring waterfall at the bottom of the +garden, the hooting of the owls, and the other sounds which break the +awful silence of the night. + +Nor can the hand of man disturb the glorious timber round the house; for +it is "ornamental," and therefore safe from the hands of the despoiler. +Storms are gradually levelling the ancient beech and ash trees in the +woods, but it will be many a long day before the hand of nature has +marred the beauty of what has always seemed to me to be one of the +fairest spots on earth. + +[Illustration: Bilbury Mill 374.png] + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SUMMER DAYS ON THE COTSWOLDS + + "What more felicitie can fall to creature + Than to enjoy delight with libertie, + And to be lord of all the workes of Nature?" + + E. SPENSER. + +The finest days, when the trees are greenest, the sky bluest, and the +clouds most snowy white are the days that come in the midst of bad +weather. And just as there is no rest without toil, no peace without +war, no true joy in life without grief, no enjoyment for the _blase_, so +there can be no lovely summer days without previous storms and rain, no +sunshine till the tearful mists have passed away. + +There had been a week's incessant rain; every wild flower and every +blade of green grass was soaked with moisture, until it could no longer +bear its load, and drooped to earth in sheer dismay. But last night +there came a change: the sun went down beyond the purple hills like a +ball of fire; eastwards the woods were painted with a reddish glow, and +life and colour returned to everything that grows on the face of this +beautiful earth. + + "It seems a day + (I speak of one from many singled out), + One of those heavenly days which cannot die." + WORDSWORTH. + +So it is pleasant to-day to wander over the fields; across the crisp +stubbles, where the thistledown is crowding in the "stooks" of black +oats; past stretches of uncut corn looking red and ripe under a burning +sun. White oxeye daisies in masses and groups, lilac-tinted thistles, +and bright scarlet poppies grow in profusion among the tall wheat +stalks. A covey of partridges, about three parts grown, rise almost at +our feet; for it is early August, and the deadly twelve-bore has not yet +wrought havoc among the birds. On the right is a field of green turnips, +well grown after the recent rains, and promising plenty of "cover" for +sportsmen in September. In the hedgerow the lovely harebells have +recovered from the soaking they endured, and their bell-shaped flowers +of perfect blue peep out everywhere. The sweetest flower that grows up +the hedgeside is the blue geranium, or meadow crane's-bill. The humble +yarrow, purple knapweed, field scabious, thistles with bright purple +heads, and St. John's wort with its clean-cut stars of burnished gold +and its pellucid veins, form a natural border along the hedge, where +wild clematis or traveller's joy entwines its rough leaf stalks round +the young hazel branches and among the pink roses of the bramble. + +By the roadside, where the dust blew before the rain and covered every +green leaf with a coating of rich lime, there grow small shrubs of +mallow with large flowers of pale purple or mauve; here, too, yellow +bedstraw and bird's-foot lotus add their tinge of gold to the lush green +grass, and the smaller bindweed, the lovely convolvulus, springs up on +the barrenest spots, even creeping over the stone heaps that were left +over from last winter's road mending. + +Many another species of wild flower which, "born to blush unseen and +waste its sweetness on the desert air," grows in the quiet Cotswold +lanes might here be named; but even though at times one may feel, with +Wordsworth, + + "To me the meanest flower that blows can give + Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." + +I will leave the humble wayside plants and descend into the vale. For it +is along the back brook that the tallest and stateliest wild flowers may +best be seen. The scythes mowed them all down in May, and again in July, +in the broad "millpound," so that they do not grow so tall by the main +stream; but the back brook, the natural course of the river before the +mills were made, was left unmolested by the mowers, and is a mass of +life and colour. + +Here grows the graceful meadow-sweet, fair and tall, and white and +fragrant; here the willow-herb, glorious with pink blossoms, rears its +head high above your shoulders among the sword-flags and the green +rushes and "segs"; the whole bank is a medley of white meadow-sweet, +scorpion-grasses, forget-me-nots, pink willow-herbs, and lilac heads of +mint all jumbled up together. Never was such a delightful confusion of +colour! Great dock leaves two feet wide clothe the path by the +water-side with all the splendour of malachite. + +The breeze blows up stream, and the trout are rising incessantly, taking +something small. They will not look at any artificial fly, even in the +rippling breeze; there is nothing small enough in any fly-book to catch +them this afternoon. But when the sun gets low, and the great brown +moths come out and flutter over the water, the red palmer will catch a +dish of fish. Willow trees--"withies" they call them hereabouts--grow +along the brook-side. So white are the backs of their oval leaves that +when the breeze turns them back, the woods by the river look bright and +silvery. To-morrow, when the breeze has almost died away, only the tops +of the willows will be silvered; the next day, if all be calm and still, +all will be green as emerald. Such infinite variety is there in the +woods! Not only do the tints change month by month, but day by day the +colour varies; so that there is always something new, some fresh effect +of light and shade to delight the eye of man in the quiet English +country. Dotted about in the midst of the stream are little islands of +forget-me-nots. The lovely light blue is reflected everywhere in the +water. Very beautiful are the scorpion-grasses both on the banks among +the rushes and scattered about in mid stream. + +The meadows are full of life. There are sounds sweet to the ear and +sights pleasing to the eye. In the new-mown water-meadow +grasshoppers--such hosts of them that they could never be numbered for +multitude--are chirping and dancing merrily. "They make the field ring +with their importunate chink, whilst the great cattle chew the cud and +are silent. How like the great and little of mankind!" as Edmund Burke +said years ago. By catching one of these "meagre, hopping insects of the +hour," you will see that their backs are green as emerald and their +bellies gold: some have a touch of purple over the eyes; their thighs, +which are enormously developed for jumping purposes, have likewise a +delicate tinge of purple. + +Contrary to the saying of Izaak Walton, the trout do not seem to care +much for grasshoppers nowadays, although perhaps they may relish them in +streams where food is less plentiful. Our trout even prefer the tiny +yellow frogs that are to be found in scores by the brook-side in early +August. We have often offered them both in the deep "pill" below the +garden; and though they would come with a dart and take the little frog, +they merely looked at the grasshopper in astonishment, and seldom +took one. + +As we stand on the rustic bridge above the "pill" gazing down into the +smooth flowing water, dark trout glide out of sight into their homes in +the stonework under the hatch. These are the fish that rise not to the +fly, but prey on their grandchildren, growing darker and lankier and +bigger-headed every year. Wherever you find a deep hole and an ancient +hatchway there you will also find these great black trout, always lying +in a spot more or less inaccessible to the angler, and living for years +until they die a natural death. + +Was ever a place so full of fish as this "pill"? Looking down into the +deeper water, where the great iron hooks are set to catch the poachers' +nets, I could see dozens of trout of all sizes, but mostly small. At the +tail of the pool are lots of small ones, rising with a gentle dimple. As +the days became hotter and the stream ran down lower and lower, the +trout left the long shallow reaches, and assembled here, where there is +plenty of water and plenty of food. + +Standing on the bridge by the ancient spiked gate bristling with sharp +barbs of iron, like rusty spear and arrow-heads (our ancestors loved to +protect their privacy with these terrible barriers), I listened to the +waterfall three hundred yards higher up, with its ceaseless music; the +afternoon sun was sparkling on the dimpling water, which runs swiftly +here over a shallow reach of gravel--the favourite spawning-ground of +the trout. There is no peep of river scenery I like so much as this. +Thirty yards up stream a shapely ash tree hangs its branches, clothed +with narrow sprays, right across the brook, the fantastic foliage +almost touching the water. A little higher up some willows and an elm +overhang from the other side. + +There is something unspeakably striking about a country lane or a +shallow, rippling brook overarched with a tracery of fretted foliage +like the roof of an old Gothic building. + +Who that has ever visited the village of Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire +will forget the lane by which he approached the home and last +resting-place of the poet Gray? Perhaps you came from Eton, and after +passing along a lane that is completely overhung with an avenue of +splendid trees, where the thrushes sing among the branches as they sing +nowhere else in that neighbourhood, you turned in at a little rustic +gate. Straight in front of your eyes were very legibly written on grey +stone three of the finest verses of the "Elegy." The monument itself is +plain, not to say hideous, but the simple words inscribed thereon are +unspeakably grand when read amongst the surroundings of "wood" and +"rugged elm" and "yew-tree's shade," unchanged as they are after the +lapse of a century and a half. The place, and more especially the lane, +is a fitting abode for the spirit of the poet. One could almost hear the +song of him who, "being dead, yet speaketh": + + "And the birds in the sunshine above + Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits departed." + + LONGFELLOW. + +Gray is a poet for whom, in common with most Englishmen, the present +writer has a sincere respect. It has been said, however, of the "Elegy" +by one critic that the subject of the poem gives it an unmerited +popularity, and by another--and that quite recently--that it is the +"high-water mark of mediocrity." Although Gray's own modest dictum was +the foundation of the first of these harsh criticisms, we are unable to +allow the truth of the one and must strongly protest against the other. +It has been reported that Wolfe, the celebrated general, after reciting +the "Elegy" on the eve of the assault on Quebec, declared that he would +sooner have written such a poem than win a victory over the French. This +was nearly a century and a half ago. Yet after so long a lapse of time +the verses still retain their hold on the minds of all classes. In spite +of the fact that Matthew Arnold and other admirers have declared that +the "Elegy" was not Gray's masterpiece, yet it was this poem that +brought a man who accomplished but a small amount of work into such +lasting fame. From beginning to end, as Professor Raleigh says of +Milton's work, the "Elegy" "is crowded with examples of felicitous and +exquisite meaning given to the infallible word." Was ever a poem more +frequently quoted or so universally plagiarised? In writing or speaking +about the country and its inhabitants, if we would express ourselves as +concisely as we possibly can, we are bound to quote the "Elegy"; it is +invariably the shortest road to a terse expression of our meaning. Who +can improve on "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," or "The +short and simple annals of the poor"? If Gray's "Elegy" is but "a mosaic +of the felicities" of those who went before, let it be remembered that +had he not laboriously pieced together that mosaic, these "felicities" +would have been a sealed book to the majority of Englishmen. Not one man +in a hundred now reads some of the authors from which they were culled. +And as Landor said of Shakespeare, "He is more original than his +originals." Even that strange individual, Samuel Johnson, who was +accustomed whenever Gray's poetry was mentioned either to "crab" it +directly or "damn it with faint praise," towards the end of his career +admitted in his "Lives of the Poets" that "the churchyard abounds with +images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which +every bosom returns an echo." But the chief value of the work seems +really to lie in this: it has dignified the rural scenes and the honest +rustics of England. It has invested every hoary-headed swain, every busy +housewife, and every little churchyard in the country with a special +dignity and a lasting charm. The traveller cannot look upon these scenes +and faces without unconsciously connecting them with the lines he knows +so well. Gray's "Elegy" will never be forgotten; for it has struck its +roots deep in the national language and far down into the +national heart. + +Very similar to the quiet and leafy lane at Stoke Poges is the brook +below the waterfall at A---- in the Cotswolds. On your left as you look +up stream from the bridge of the "pill," a moss-grown gravel path runs +alongside the water under a hanging wood of leafy elms and +smooth-trunked beech trees, where the ringdoves coo all day. A tangled +hedge filled with tall timber trees runs up the right-hand bank. Here +the great convolvulus, queen of wild flowers, twists her bines among the +hedge; the bell-shaped flowers are conspicuous everywhere, large and +lily-white as the arum, so luxuriant is the growth of wild flowers by +the brook-side. + +A silver stream is the Coln hereabouts, the abode of fairies and fawns, +and nymphs and dryads. But when the afternoon sun shines upon it, it +becomes a stream of diamonds set in banks of emeralds, with an arched +and groined roof of jasper, carved with foliations of graceful ash and +willow, and over all a sky of sapphire sprinkled with clouds of pearl +and opal. Later on towards evening there will be floods of golden light +on the grass and on the beech trees up the eastern slope of the valley +and on the bare red earth under the trees, red with fifty years' beech +nuts. And later still, when the distant hills are dyed as if with +archil, the sapphire sky will be striped with bars of gold and dotted +with coals of fire; rubies and garnets, sardonyx and chrysolite will all +be there, and the bluish green of beryl, the western sky as varied as +felspar and changing colour as quickly as the chameleon. And as the day +declines the last beams of the setting sun will find their way through +the tracery of foliage that overhangs the brook, and the waters will be +tinged with a rosy glow, even as in some ancestral hall or Gothic +cathedral the sun at eventide pours through the blazoned windows and +floods the interior with rays of soft, mysterious, coloured light. + +I have been trying to describe one of the loveliest bits of miniature +scenery on earth; yet how commonplace it all reads! Not a thousandth +part of the beauty of this spot at sunset is here set down, yet little +more can be said. How bitter to think that the true beauty of the trees, +the path by the brook, and the sunlight on the water cannot be passed on +for others to enjoy, cannot be stamped on paper, but must be seen to be +realised! Truly, as Richard Jefferies says somewhere, there is a layer +of thought in the human brain for which there are no words in any +language. We cannot express a thousandth part of the beauty of the woods +and the stream; we can but dimly feel it when we see it with our eyes. + +Below the "pill"--for we have been gazing up stream--some sheep are +lying under a gnarled willow on the left bank; some are nibbling at the +lichen and moss on the trunk, others are standing about in pretty groups +of three and four. One of them has just had a ducking. Trying to get a +drink of water, he overbalanced himself and fell in. He walks about +shaking himself, and doubtless feels very uncomfortable. Sheep do not +care much for bathing in cold water. You have only to see the +sheep-washing in the spring to realise how they dislike it. There is a +place higher up the stream called the Washpool, where every day in May +you can watch the men bundling the poor old sheep into the water, one +after the other, and dipping them well, to free the wool from insects of +all kinds. And how the trout enjoy the ticks that come from their +thickly matted coats! One poor sheep is hopping about on the cricket +field dead lame. Perhaps that leg he drags behind is broken! Why does +not the farmer kill the poor brute? There is much misery of this kind +caused in country places by the thoughtlessness of farmers. How much has +yet to be learnt by the very men who love to describe the labourers as +"them 'ere ignorant lower classes"! Alas! that these things can happen +among the green fields and spreading elms and the heavenly sunshine of +summer days! We should have more moral courage, and do as Carlyle bids +us in his old solemn way: "But above all, where thou findest Ignorance, +Stupidity, Brute-mindedness, attack it, I say; smite it, wisely, +unwearily, and rest not while thou livest and it lives; but smite, smite +in the name of God. The Highest God, as I understand it, does audibly so +command thee, still audibly if thou hast ears to hear." + +On the cricket pitch, a bare hundred yards away from the river bank, is +a plentiful crop of dandelions, crow's-foot, clover, and, worst of all, +enormous plantains. A gravel soil is very favourable to plantains, for +stones work up and the grass dies. The dreadful plantain seems to thrive +anywhere and everywhere, and on bare spots where grass cannot live he +immediately appears. Rabbits have been making holes all over the pitch, +and red spikes of sorrel, wonderfully rich and varied in colour, rise +everywhere at the lower end of the field towards the river. The cricket +ground has been somewhat neglected of late. + +There is a great elm tree down close to the ground--the only tree that +the winter gales had left to shade us on hot summer days. It came down +suddenly, without the slightest warning; and underneath it that most +careless of all keepers, Tom Peregrine, had left the large +mowing-machine and the roller. So careless are some of these +Gloucestershire folk that sooner than do as I had ordered and put the +mowing-machine in the barn hard by, they must leave it in the open air +and under this ill-fated tree. Down came my last beloved elm, smashing +the mowing-machine and putting an end to all thoughts of cricket here +this summer. It will be ages before the village carpenter will come with +his timber cart and draw the tree away. A Gloucestershire man cannot do +a job like this in under two years; they are always so busy, you see, in +Gloucestershire--never a moment to spare to get anything done! + +There was a time when the chief delight of summer lay in playing +cricket. What ecstasy it was to be well set and scoring fast on the +hard-baked ground (the harder the better), cutting to the boundary when +the ball pitched short on the off, and driving her hard along the ground +when they pitched one up! What could surpass the joy of scoring a +century in those long summer days? Now we would as soon spend the +holidays in the woods and by the busy trout stream, reading and taking +note of the trees and the birds and the rippling of the waters as they +flow onwards, ever onwards, towards the sea. There comes a time to all +men, sooner or later, when we say to ourselves, _Cui bono?_ In a few +short years I shall no longer be able to hit the ball so hard, and in +the "field" I am already becoming a trifle slow. Then do we take to +ourselves pursuits that we can follow until the limbs are stiffened with +age and the hair is white as snow. + +Having spent the best years of life in the pursuit of pleasures that, +however engrossing, nevertheless bore no real and lasting fruit, we +finally fall back on interests that will last a lifetime, perhaps an +eternity--for who knows how much of knowledge we shall take with us to +another world? Aristotle was not far wrong when he described earthly +happiness as a life of contemplation, with a moderate equipment of +external good fortune and prosperity. There is no book so well worthy to +be studied as the book of nature, no melodies like those of the field +and fallow, wood and wold, and the still small voice of the busy streams +labouring patiently onwards day by day. + +In the fields beyond the river haymakers are busy with the second crop. +Down to the ford comes a great yellow hay-cart, drawn by two strong +horses, tandem fashion. One small boy alone is leading the big horses. +Arriving at the ford, he jumps on to the leader's back and rides him +through. The horses strain and "scaut," and the cart bumps over the deep +ruts, nearly upsetting. Luckily there is no accident. So much is +entrusted to these little farm lads of scarce fifteen years of age it is +a wonder they do the work so well. From the tops of the firs comes the +sound of pigeons winging their way from the "grove" to the "conygers" +(the latter word means the "place of rabbits"; there are lots of woods +so called in Gloucestershire). It is a curious piping sound that +wood-pigeons make, and, not seeing the birds, you might think it came +from the throat instead of the wings. One day two of us were looking at +a wood-pigeon flying over, when we observed something drop from the +skies and fall into the stream. On going up we saw that it was an egg +she had dropped. There it lay at the bottom of the brook, apparently +unbroken by the fall. Floating on the soft south wind, a heron flies +over so quietly that unless he had given one of his characteristic +croaks it was a hundred to one you did not see him pass. Many a heron +and wild duck must pass over us unobserved on windy days. It is so +difficult to observe when you are thinking. A man absorbed in reverie +cannot see half the things that many country folk with less active +brains never fail to observe. When we find people who live in the +country unversed in the ways of birds, the knowledge of flowers and +trees, and the habits of the simple country folk, we need not +necessarily conclude that they are dull and empty-headed; the reverse is +often the case. A man absorbed in business or serious affairs may love +the country and yet know little of its real life. A good deal of time +must be spent in acquiring this kind of knowledge, and it is not +everybody who has the time or the opportunity to do it. If we come +across a man with plenty of leisure, yet knowing nothing of what is +going on around him, we may then perhaps have cause to complain of +his dulness. + +Mr. Aubrey De Vere relates an amusing story about Sir William Rowan +Hamilton which exactly illustrates my meaning: "When he had soared into +a high region of speculative thought he took no note of objects close +by. A few days after our first meeting we walked together on a road, a +part of which was overflowed by a river at its side. Our theme was the +transcendental philosophy, of which he was a great admirer. I felt sure +that he would not observe the flood, and made no remark on it. We walked +straight on till the water was half way up to our knees. At last he +exclaimed, 'What's this? We seem to be walking through a river. Had we +not better return to the dry land?'" + +There is a spot in the woods by the River Coln that is almost untrodden +by man. It is the favourite resort of foxes. Nobody but myself and the +earth-stopper has been there for years and years, save that when the +hounds come the huntsman rides through and cheers the pack. It is in the +conyger wood. No path leads through its quiet recesses, where ash and +elm and larch and spruce, mostly self-sown, are mingled together, with a +thick growth of elder spread beneath them. It was here, in an ancient, +disused quarry, that the keeper pointed out not long since the secret +dwelling-house of the kingfishers. A small crevice in the limestone +rock, from which a disagreeable smell of dried fish bones issued forth, +formed the outer entrance to the nest. One could not see the delicate +structure itself, for it appeared to be several feet within the rock. A +mass of powdered fish bones and the pungent odour from within were all +the outward signs of the inner nest. By standing on a jutting ledge of +the soft cretaceous rock, and holding on by another ledge, which +appeared not unlikely to come down and crush you, one could peep into +the hole and comfort oneself with the thought that one was nearer a +kingfisher's nest than is usually vouchsafed to mortal man. It would be +easy to get ladder and pickaxe and break open the rock until the nest +was reached, but why disturb these lovely birds? They have built here +year by year for centuries; even now some of this year's brood may be +seen among the willows by the back brook. + +From this quarry was dug in the year 1590 the stone to build the old +manor house yonder. A few miles away toward Burford is the quarry from +which men say Christopher Wren brought some of the stone to raise St. +Paul's Cathedral. Yet the local people do not care a bit for this +beautiful freestone of the Cotswold Hills. They want to bring granite +from afar for their village crosses, and ugly blue slates for the roofs +of the houses. At a parish council meeting the other day it was +seriously proposed to erect a "Jubilee Hall" of _red_ brick in our +village. Anything for a change, you see; these people would not be +mortal if they did not love a change. The pure grey limestone is +commonplace hereabouts; I have actually heard it said that it will not +last. Yet in every village stand the old Norman churches, built entirely +of local stone, walls and roof; and many an old manor house as well lies +in our midst, as good as it was three hundred years ago. To me, this +limestone of the hills is one of the most beautiful features of the +Cotswold country. I love to stand in a limestone quarry and mark the +layers and ponderous blocks of clean white virgin rock--a tiny cleft in +"the great stone floor which stretches over the face of the earth and +under the limitless expanse of the sea." That solid cretaceous mass is +but the remnants of the countless inhabitants of the old seas,--life +changed into solid, hard rock; and even now, as the green grass and the +sweet sainfoin spring up on the surface, feeding the flocks and herds +that will soon in their turn feed mankind, earth is turning back again +into life. Thus onwards in an endless cycle, even as the earth goes +round, and the waters return to the place from whence they came, does +nature's work go on; and when we consider these things, eternity and +infinity lose part of their strangeness. Does it seem strange when we +look upon this glorious country?--in May a sea of golden buttercups, in +summer a sea of waving grass, and in the autumn a sea of golden corn; +once it was a sea of salt water. And these great rounded banks, these +hills and valleys, these billowy wolds,--could they but speak to us +might tell strange things of the passing of the waters and of the +inhabitants of the old ocean ages and ages ago; the mystery of the sea +would be sung in every vale and echoed back by every rolling down. + +A very wonderful matter it certainly is that the stone in which the +whole history of the country-side is writ, not only in rolling downs and +limestone streams, but even in church, tithe-barn, farm, and cottage, as +well as in the walls and the roads and the very dust that blows upon +them, should be nothing more nor less than a mass of dead animals that +lived generation after generation, thousands of years ago, at the bottom +of the sea. + +There is silence in the woods--the drowsy silence of summer. Most of +the birds have gone to the cornfields. An ash copse is never so full of +birds as the denser woodlands, where the oaks grow stronger on a stiff +clay soil. Here are no laughing yaffels, no cruel, murderous shrikes, +and very few song-birds. Still, there are always the pigeons and the +cushats, the wicked magpies and the screaming "jaypies," as the local +people call the jays. Then, too, there are the birds down among the +watercress and the brooklime in the clear pool below the spring, +moorhens occasionally awakening the echoes by running down a weird +chromatic scale or calling with their loud and mellow note to their +friends and relations over at the brook; here, too, the softer croak of +the mallard and the wild duck is also heard. A hawk, chasing some +smaller bird, is darting and hovering over the tops of the firs, but, +catching a glimpse of me, disappears from sight. Presently a little +bird, with an eye keener even than the cruel hawk's, comes out from the +hazels and perches on a post some ten yards away. It is a fly-catcher. +As he sits he turns his eyes in every direction, on the look-out for +dainty insects. He seems to have eyes at the back of his head, for +instantly he sees a fly in the air right behind him, makes a dash, +catches it, and flies on to the next post. He repeats the performance +there, then once more changes his ground. When he has made another +successful raid, he returns to his first post, always hunting in a +chosen circuit, and always catching flies. He was here yesterday, and +will be here again to-morrow. When you try to approach him, however, he +flies away and hides himself in the firs. + +If there are not many birds in the woods just now, still, there is +always the beauty of the trees. How marvellous is the symmetry of form +and colouring in the trunk and branches of a big ash tree! If you put +mercury into a solution of nitrate of silver, and leave them for a few +days to combine, the result will be a precipitation of silver in a +lovely arborescent form, the _arbor Dianae_, beautiful beyond +description. Such are my favourite ash trees when the summer sunshine +sparkles on them. It is their bare, silvered trunks that give the +special charm to these hanging woods. They stand out from dark recesses +filled with alder and beech and ivy-mantled firs, rising in bold but +graceful outline; columns of silver, touched here and there with the sad +gold and green shades of lichen and moss. The moss that mingles with +golden lichens is of a soft, velvety hue, like a mantle of half drapery +on a beautiful white statue. And, oddly enough, though ferns do not grow +on the limestone soil of the Cotswolds, yet on the first story so to +speak of every big ash tree by the river, as well as on the pollard +willows, there is a beautiful little fernery springing up out of the +moss and lichen, which seems to thrive most when the lichen thrives--in +the winter rather than in the summer. Then, too, the foliage of all +kinds of trees and shrubs is not only different in form, but the +minutest serrations vary; so that the leaves of two kinds of trees are +no more alike than any two human faces are alike. The elm leaves are +rough to the touch, like sandpaper, and their edges are clearly +serrated; those of the beeches are smooth as parchment, and though the +edges appear at first sight to be almost clean cut, they have very +slight serrations, as if nature had rounded them with a blunt knife. The +lobed ivy leaves are likewise highly polished, and they have sharp, +pointed tips. The leaves of the common stinging-nettle ("'ettles" the +labourers call them) have deep indents all round them. A great dock +leaf, in which the chives have a strange resemblance to the arteries in +the human frame, has small shallow indents all round it. Hazels are +rough and almost round in form, save for a pointed tip at the end; they +have ragged edges and ill-defined serrations. Everybody knows the +sycamore from its five lobed leaves; and the chestnuts and oaks are, +again, as different as possible. These are only a few instances; one +might go on for a long time showing the endless variations of form +in foliage. + +Then there is the remarkable difference in colour and shade; not only +are there a dozen different greens in one wood, but in one and the same +beech you may see a marked contrast in the tone of its leaves. For about +midsummer some trees put forth a second growth of foliage, so that there +is the vivid yellow tint of the fresh shoots and the dark olive of the +older leaves on one and the same branch. Of the rich autumnal shades I +am not speaking; they would require a chapter to themselves. + +There are other things to be noted in the woods besides the trees and +the birds: lots of rabbits and squirrels, not to mention an occasional +hedgehog. Squirrels are the most delightful of all the furred denizens +of the woods. Running up the trees, with their long brushes straight out +behind, they are not unlike miniature foxes. The slenderness of the +twigs on which they manage to find support is one of the greatest +wonders of the woods. The harmless hedgehog, as everybody is aware, +rolls himself up into a lifeless ball of bristles on being disturbed. By +staying quietly by him and addressing him in an encouraging tone, I +lately induced a very large hedgehog to unroll himself and creep slowly +along close to my feet. + +It is very extraordinary how all wild animals, especially when young, +can be won by kindness. I once came across a young hedgehog about +three-parts grown; he was running about on the grass in front of the +house in broad daylight, and kept poking his little nose into the earth +searching for emmets and grubs. I made friends with him, dug him up some +worms, and in less than half an hour he became as tame as possible. Tom +Peregrine, the keeper, stood by and roared with laughter at his antics, +saying he had never seen such a "comical job" in all his life. And it +really was a curious sight. The hedgehog, with the merriest twinkle in +his eyes, would take the worms out of my hand; and when I dangled them +five or six inches off the ground, he would rear up on his hindlegs and +snatch and grab until he secured them. Then he would sit up and scratch +himself like a dog. He would allow me to take him up in my hands and +stroke him, and yet not retire into his bristly shell. He ate a dozen +worms and a bumble-bee straight off the reel, and then with all the +gluttony of the pig tribe he went searching about for more food. I +noticed that he ate the grass, in the same way as dogs do, for medicinal +purposes. We put him into a large box with some hay in it, and as he +still seemed hungry that evening, we gave him a couple of cockchafers +from the kitchen, which he appeared to relish mightily. The little +fellow was as happy as a king, crying and squeaking whenever we went to +look at him, and hunting round the box for food. But, alas! we had +overfed him. To our intense regret he died the next day from acute +indigestion. + +There are but few snakes or vipers in the district of which I am +writing. But quite recently a man found a large trout about eighteen +inches in length lying dead in the Coln, and protruding from the mouth +of the fish was a large snake, also dead. The snake must have been +swimming in the water (as they are known to do occasionally), and the +trout being in a backwater, where food was scarce, must have seized the +snake and choked himself in his efforts to bolt it This was a remarkable +occurrence, because a Coln trout is most particular as to his bill of +fare, and snakes are certainly not usually included in the list. There +is such a plentiful supply of larvae, caddis, "stone-loach," fresh-water +shrimps, crayfish, and other crustaceans, to say nothing of flies, +minnows, and small fry, that a trout would very seldom attack a snake. A +large lobworm, however, as every one knows, is a very attractive bait +for any kind of fresh-water fish except pike. + +Stoats with reddish-brown backs and yellow bellies may often be seen +hunting the rabbits, and the little weasels may sometimes be drawn out +of their holes in the walls if one makes a squeaking noise with the +lips. Stoats usually hunt singly, weasels in packs and pairs. + +But we must leave the woods, for the evening shadows are lengthening and +the "golden evening brightens in the west." It is time to go up to the +cornfields on the hill and see the sun set. I have said that there is no +path through this wood; it is sacred to foxes. They are not here now, +however; they will not be back till all the corn is cut. The wheatfields +are their summer quarters. + +It is no easy matter to get out of a tangled wood in August. The +stinging-nettles are seven feet high in places; we must hold our hands +high above our heads and plough our way through them. When we finally +emerge we are covered from head to foot with large prickly burrs from +the seeding burdocks, as well as with the small round burrs of the +goose-grass. Then + + "On and up where nature's heart + Beats strong amid the hills." + +As we pass onwards over the cornfields towards a piece of high ground +from which it is our wont to watch the sun set, a silvery half-moon +peeps out between the clouds. In the north-west the range of limestone +hills is already tinged with purple. In the highest heaven are bars of +distant cloud, so motionless that they appear to be sailing slowly +against the wind. Lower down, dusky, smoke-like clouds, tinged here and +there with a rosy hue, are flying rapidly onwards, ever onwards, in the +sky. Later on the higher clouds will turn deep red, whilst brighter and +brighter will glow the moon. + +Yonder, twenty-five miles away, the old White Horse is just visible upon +the distant chalk downs. Overhead the sky has the deep blue of mazarine, +but westwards and south-west the colour is light olive green, gradually +changing to an intensely bright yellow. Heavy banks of clouds are slowly +rising in the south-west; the bleating of sheep at the ancient homestead +half a mile away is the only sound to be heard. As the sun goes down +to-night it resembles a great ship on fire amidst the breakers on a +rockbound coast; for the western sky is dashed with fleecy clouds, like +the spray that beats against the chalk cliffs on the shore of the mighty +Atlantic; and amid the last plunges of the doomed vessel the spray is +tinged redder and redder, ere with her human cargo she disappears amid +the surf. But no sooner has she sunk into the abyss than the foam and +the fierce breakers die away, and a wondrous calm broods over all +things. In twenty minutes' time nothing is left in the western sky but a +tiny bar of golden cloud that cannot yet quite die away, reminding me, +as I still thought about the burning ship and her ill-fated crew, of + + "the golden key + Which opes the palace of Eternity." + +But eastwards, above the old legendary White Horse, the "Empress of the +Night," serene and proudly pale, is driving her car across the +darkening skies. + +[Illustration: Ablington Manor 399.png] + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +AUTUMN. + +I. + +It is in the autumn that life in an old manor house on the Cotswolds has +its greatest charm; for one of the chief characteristics of a house in +the depths of the country surrounded by a broad manor is the game. The +whole atmosphere of such a place savours of rabbits and hares and +partridges. There may be no pheasant-rearing and comparatively little +game of any kind, yet the place is, nevertheless, associated with sport +with the gun. Ten to one there are guns, old and new, hanging up in the +hall or the smoking-room, and perhaps fishing-rods too. There is a bond +between the house and the fields around, and the connecting link is the +game. Time was when the squire in these English villages lived on the +produce of the estate: game, fish, and fowl, and the stock at the farm +supplied his simple wants throughout the year. Huge game larders are yet +to be seen in the lower regions of the manor house; you must pass +through them to reach the still more ample wine cellars. Nearer London +there is not much connection nowadays between the house and the +land--you must walk on the roads; but away in the country it is over the +broad fields that you roam. Even on a small manor of two thousand acres +you may walk a dozen miles in an afternoon and not pass the +boundary fence. + +It is very surprising that there is not more demand for country houses +in England when one considers that an extensive demesne may be rented at +a price which is paid for a small flat in unfashionable Kensington. The +local term in Gloucestershire for renting a manor is "holding the +liberty"--the old Saxon word. The term is singularly expressive of the +freedom possessed by the man who exchanges the life of the town or the +villa for a manor in one of the remote counties. He who enjoys the +sporting rights, with license (as the leases run) to hunt, fish, course, +hawk, or sport without the labour and loss of farming the land, +possesses all the pleasures of the squire's existence with few of its +drawbacks and responsibilities. Yet many a fine old house in the country +remains unlet because the life is considered a dull one by those who +have not been brought up to it. With nature's book spread so amply +before our eyes, the country is never dull. At no time of life is it too +late to commence the study of this book of nature. The faculty of +observation is one that is easily acquired. It is not a case of +_nascitur non fit_. With tolerably good eyesight and a determination to +learn, a man soon + + "Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, + Sermons in stones, and good in everything." + +And the habit of observing once acquired, we can never lose it till we +die. + +Of course those who rent a place in preference to purchasing it miss one +of the greatest and most useful privileges the country can confer--that +of following in the footsteps of him who + + "Strove for sixty widow'd years to help his homelier brother + man, + Served the poor and built the cottage, rais'd the school + and drained the fen." + +These are the true delights of a country existence; and it is, I think, +incumbent on the really rich men of England, if they have the welfare of +the nation at heart, to hold a stake, however small, in the land, even +at a sacrifice of income. I refer to men with incomes ranging from ten +to a hundred thousand pounds per annum, who would not feel the loss of +interest that would possibly accrue on an exchange of investment from +"the elegant simplicity of the three per cents." to an agricultural +estate in the country. They may be giving gold for silver in the +transaction, but will be amply repaid in a thousand different ways. How +infinitely preferable the existence of the poor countryman, even though +times be hard, to that of the misguided being of whom it may be said: + + "Through life's dark road his sordid way he wends-- + An incarnation of fat dividends "! + + C. SPRAGUE. + +It is probable that the bicycle will cause a larger demand for remote +country houses. To the writer, who, previous to this summer, had never +experienced the poetry of motion which a bicycle coasting downhill, with +a smooth road and a favourable wind, undoubtedly constitutes, the +invention seems of the greatest utility. It brings places sixty miles +apart within our immediate neighbourhood. Let the south wind blow, and +we can be at quaint old Tewkesbury, thirty miles away, in less than +three hours. A northerly gale will land us at the "Blowing-stone" and +the old White House of Berkshire with less labour than it takes to walk +a mile. Yet in the old days these twenty miles were a great gulf fixed +between the Gloucestershire natives and the "chaw-bacons" over the +boundary. Their very language is as different as possible. To this day +the villagers who went to the last "scouring of the horse" and saw the +old-fashioned backsword play, talk of the expedition with as much pride +as if they had made a pilgrimage to the Antipodes. + +As September draws nigh and the days rapidly shorten, the merry hum of +the thrashing machine is heard all day long. The sound comes from the +homestead across the road, and buzzes in my ears as I sit and write by +the open window. How wonderful the evolution of the thrashing machine! +How rough-and-ready the primitive methods of our forefathers! First of +all there was the Eastern method of spreading the sheaves on a floor of +clay, and allowing horses and oxen to trample on the wheat and tread out +the corn. Not less ancient was the use of the old-fashioned flail--an +instrument only discarded within the memory of living man. Yet what a +wonderful difference there is between the work accomplished in a day +with the flails and the daily output of the modern thrashing machine! + +In the porch of the manor house, amid an accumulation of old traps and +other curious odds and ends there hangs an ancient and much-worn flail. +Two stout sticks, the handstaff and the swingle, attached to each other +by a strong band of gut, constitute its simple mechanism. The wheat +having been strewn on the barn floor, the labourer held the handstaff in +both hands, swung it over his head, and brought the swingle down +horizontally on to the heads of ripe corn. Contrast this fearfully +laborious process with the bustling, hurrying machine of to-day. And yet +with all this improvement the corn can scarcely be thrashed out at a +profit. So out of joint are the times and seasons that the foreigner is +allowed to cut out the home producer. Half the life of the country-side +has gone, and no man dare whisper "Protection." + +Even in these bad times the man with a head on his shoulders above the +average of his neighbours comes forth to show what can be done with +energy and pluck. Twenty years ago a labouring man, who "by crook or by +hook" had saved a hundred pounds, bought a thrashing machine (probably +second-hand) He took it round to the various farms, and did the +thrashing at so much per day. By and by he had saved enough money to +take a farm. A few years later he had two thrashing machines travelling +the country, and in this poor district is now esteemed a wealthy man. I +always found him an excellent game-preserver and a most straightforward +fellow. Another farming neighbour of mine, however, was always talking +about his ignorance and lack of caste. All classes, from the peer to the +peasant, seem to resent a man's pushing his way from what they are +pleased to consider a lower station into their own. + +In the autumn gipsies are to be seen travelling the roads, or sitting +round the camp fire, on their way to the various "feasts" or harvest +festivals. "Have you got the old gipsy blood in your veins?" I asked the +other day of a gang I met on their way to Quenington feast "Always +gipsies, ever since we can remember," was the reply. Fathers, +grandfathers were just the same,--always living in the open air, winter +and summer, and always moving about with the vans. In the winter hawking +is their occupation. "Oh no! they never felt the cold in winter; they +could light the fire in the van if they wanted it." + +Although many of the farmers here have given up treating their men to a +spread after the harvest is gathered in, there is still a certain amount +of rejoicing. The villagers have a little money over from extra pay +during the harvest, so that the gipsies do not do badly by going the +round of the villages at this time. The village churches are decorated +in a very delightful manner for these feasts: such huge apples, carrots, +and turnips in the windows and strewn about in odd places; lots of +golden barley all round the pulpit and the font; and perhaps there will +be bunches of grapes, such as grow wild on the cottage walls, hung round +the pulpit. Then what could look prettier against the white carved stone +than the russet and gold leaves of the Virginia creeper? and these they +freely use in the decorations. If one wants to see good taste displayed +in these days, one must go to simple country places to find it. At +Christmas the old Gothic fane is hung with festoons of ivy and of yew in +the old fashion of our forefathers. + +I paid a visit to my old friend John Brown the other day, as I thought +he would be able to tell me something about the harvest feasts of bygone +days. He is a dear old man of some seventy-eight summers, though +somewhat of the _laudator temporis acti_ school; but what good-nature +and sense of humour there is in the good, honest face! + +"Fifty year ago 'twere all mirth and jollity," he replied to our enquiry +as to the old times. "There was four feasts in the year for us folk. +First of all there was the sower's feast,--that would be about the end +of April; then came the sheep-shearer's feast,--there'd be about fifteen +of us as would sit down after sheep-shearing, and we'd be singing best +part of the night, and plenty to eat and drink; next came the feast for +the reapers, when the corn was cut about August; and, last of all, the +harvest home in September. Ah! those were good times fifty years ago. My +father and I have rented this cottage eighty-six years come Michaelmas; +and my father's grandfather lived in that 'ere housen, up that 'tuer' +there, nigh on a hundred years afore that. I planted them ash trees in +the grove, and I mind when those firs was put in, near seventy years +ago. Ah! there _was_ some foxes about in those days; trout, too, in the +'bruk'--it were full of them. You'll have very few 'lets' for hunting +this season; 'twill be a mild time again. Last night were Hollandtide +eve, and where the wind is at Hollandtide there it will stick best part +of the winter. I've minded it every year, and never was wrong yet The +wind is south-west to-day, and you'll have no 'lets' for hunting +this time." + +"Lets" appear to be hindrances to hunting in the shape of frosts. It is +an Anglo-Saxon word, seldom used nowadays, though it is found in the +dictionary; and our English Prayer Book has the words "we are sore let +and hindered in running the race," etc. Shakespeare too employs it to +signify a "check" with the hounds. + +As I left, and thanked John Brown for his information, he handed me a +little bit of paper, whereon was written: "to John Brown 1 day minding +the edge at the picked cloos 2s three days doto," etc. I found that this +was his little account for mending the hedge at the "picket close." + +A fine stamp of humanity is the Cotswold labourer; and may his shadow +never grow less. + + "Princes and lords may flourish or may fade, + A breath can make them, as a breath has made; + But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, + When once destroyed can never be supplied." + +Fresh and health-giving is the breeze on the wolds in autumn, like the +driest and oldest iced champagne. In the rough grass fields tough, wiry +bents, thistles with purple flowers, and the remnants of oxeye daisies +on brittle stalks rise almost to the height of your knees. Lovely blue +bell-flowers grow in patches; golden ragwort, two sorts of field +scabious, yellow toad-flax, and occasionally some white campion remain +almost into winter. Where the grass is shorter masses of shrivelled wild +thyme may be seen. The charlock brightens the landscape with its mass of +colour among the turnips until the end of November, if the season be +fairly mild. But the hedges and trees are the glory of "the happy autumn +fields." The traveller's joy gleams in the September sunlight as the +feathery awns lengthen on its seed vessels. What could be more +beautiful! Later on it becomes the "old man's beard," and the hedges +will be white with the snowy down right up to Christmas, until the +winter frosts have once more scattered the seeds along the hedgerow. Of +a rich russet tint are the maple leaves in every copse and fence. On the +blackthorn hang the purple sloeberries, like small damsons, luscious and +covered with bloom. Tart are they to the taste, like the crab-apples +which abound in the hedges. These fruits are picked by the poor people +and made into wine. Crab-apples may be seen on the trees as late as +January. Blackberries are found in extraordinary numbers on this +limestone soil, and the hedges are full of elder-berries, as well as the +little black fruit of the privet. Add to these the red berries of the +hawthorn or the may, the hips and haws, the brown nuts and the succulent +berries of the yew, and we have an extraordinary variety of fruits and +bird food. Woodbine or wild honeysuckle may often be picked during +October as well as in the spring. By the river the trout grow darker and +more lanky day by day as the nights lengthen. The water is very, very +clear. "You might as well throw your 'at in as try to catch them," says +Tom Peregrine. The willows are gold as well as silver now, for some of +the leaves have turned; while others still show white downy backs when +the breeze ruffles them. In the garden by the brook-side the tall +willow-herbs are seeding; the pods are bursting, and the gossamer-like, +grey down--the "silver mist" of Tennyson--is conspicuous all along the +brook. The water-mint and scorpion-grasses remain far into November, and +the former scents more sweetly as the season wanes. But + + "Heavily hangs the broad sunflower, + Over its grave in the earth so chilly; + Heavily hangs the hollyhock; + Heavily hangs the tiger lily." + +An old wild duck that left the garden last spring to rear her progeny in +a more secluded spot half a mile up stream has returned to us. Every +morning her ten young ones pitch down into the water in front of the +house, and remain until they are disturbed; then, with loud quacks and +tumultuous flappings, they rise in a long string and fly right away for +several miles, often returning at nightfall. Such wild birds are far +more interesting as occasional visitors to your garden than the fancy +fowl of strange shape and colouring often to be seen on ornamental +water. A teal came during the autumn of 1897 to the sanctuary in front +of the house, attracted by the decoys; she stayed six weeks with us, +taking daily exercise in the skies at an immense height, and circling +round and round. Unfortunately, when the weeds were cut, she left us, +never to return. + +By the end of October almost all our summer birds have left us. First of +all, in August, went the cuckoo, seeking a winter resort in the north of +Africa. The swifts were the next to go. After a brief stay of scarce +three months they disappeared as suddenly in August as they came in May. +The long-tailed swallows and the white-throated martins were with us for +six months, but about the middle of October they were no more seen. All +have gone southwards towards the Afric shore, seeking warmth and days of +endless sunshine. Gone, too, the blackcap, the redstart, and the little +fly-catcher; vanishing in the dark night, they gathered in legions and +sped across the seas. One night towards the end of September, whilst +walking in the road, I heard such a loud, rushing sound in front, beyond +a turning of the lane, that I imagined a thrashing machine was coming +round the corner among the big elm trees. But on approaching the spot, I +found the noise was nothing more nor less than the chattering and +clattering of an immense concourse of starlings. The roar of their wings +when they were disturbed in the trees could be heard half a mile away. +Although a few starlings remain round the eaves of the houses throughout +the winter, vast flocks of them assemble at this time in the fields, and +some doubtless travel southwards and westwards in search of warmer +quarters. The other evening a large flock of lapwings, or common plover, +gave a very fine display--a sort of serpentine dance to the tune of the +setting sun, all for my edification. They could not quite make up their +minds to settle on a brown ploughed field. No sooner had they touched +the ground than they would rise again with shrill cries, flash here and +flash there, faster and faster, but all in perfect time and all in +perfect order--now flying in long drawn out lines, now in battalions; +bowing here, bowing there; now they would "right about turn" and curtsey +to the sun. A thousand trained ballet dancer; could not have been in +better time. It was as if all joined hands, dressed in green and white; +for at every turn a thousand white breasts gleamed in the purple sunset. +The restless call of the birds added a peculiar charm to the scene in +the darkening twilight. + +Of our winter visitants that come to take the place of the summer +migrants the fieldfare is the commonest and most familiar. Ere the leaf +is off the ash and the beeches are tinged with russet and gold, flocks +of these handsome birds leave their homes in the ice-bound north, and +fly southwards to England and the sunny shores of France. Such a +_rara avis_ as the grey phalarope--a wading bird like the +sandpiper--occasionally finds its way to the Cotswolds. Wild geese, +curlews, and wimbrels with sharp, snipe-like beaks, are shot +occasionally by the farmers. A few woodcocks, snipe, and wildfowl also +visit us. In the winter the short-eared owls come; they are rarer than +their long-eared relatives, who stay with us all the year. The common +barn owl, of a white, creamy colour, is the screech owl that we hear on +summer nights. Brown owls are the ones that hoot; they do not screech. + +Curiously enough I missed the corncrake's well-known call in the meadows +by the river in the springtime of 1897; and not one was bagged in +September by the partridge-shooters. This is the first year they have +been absent. I always looked for their pleasing croak in May by the +trout stream, and invariably shot several while partridge-shooting in +former years. + +The earthquake of 1895 was very severely felt in the Cotswolds. Next to +an earthquake a bad thunderstorm is the most awe inspiring of all things +to mortals. During last autumn the Cotswold district was visited by a +thunderstorm of short duration, but great severity. A gale was blowing +from the south; thunder and lightning came up from the same direction, +and, travelling at an immense speed, passed rapidly over our house about +ten p.m. The shocks became louder and louder; and whilst five or six of +us were watching the lightning from a large window in the hall, there +was a deafening report as of a dozen canons exploding simultaneously at +close quarters. At the same time a flame of blue fire of intense +brilliancy seemed to fall like a meteor a few yards in front of our +eyes. At first we were sure the house had been struck, so that the first +impulse was to rush out of doors; but the succeeding report being much +less severe, confidence was restored. The general conclusion was that a +thunderbolt had fallen, and, missing the house by a few yards, had +disappeared in the earth. A search next morning on the lawn did not +throw any light on the matter. Probably, if there was a thunderbolt, it +fell into the river; for it is well known that water is a great +conductor of the electric fluid, and thunderstorms often seem to follow +the course of a stream. The summer lightning, which kept the sky in a +blaze of light for two hours after the storm had passed away, was the +finest I remember. + +It is a pity mankind is so little addicted to being out of doors after +sunset. Some of the most beautiful drives and walks I have ever enjoyed +have been those taken at night. Driving out one evening from +Cirencester, the road on either side was illuminated with the fairy +lights of countless glow-worms. It is the female insect that is usually +responsible for this wonderful green signal taper; the males seldom use +it. Whereas the former is merely an apterous creeping grub, the latter +is an insect provided with wings. Flying about at night, he is guided to +his mate by the light she puts forth; and it is a peculiar +characteristic of the male glow-worm, that his eyes are so placed that +he is unable to view any object that is not immediately beneath him. + +It is early in summer that these wonderful lights are to be seen; June +is the best month for observing them. During July and August glow-worms +seem to migrate to warmer quarters in sheltered banks and holes, nor is +their light visible to the eye after June is out, save on very warm +evenings, and then only in a lesser degree. + +The glow-worms on this particular night were so numerous as to remind +one of the fireflies in the tropics. At no place are these lovely +insects more numerous and resplendent than at Kandy in Ceylon. Myriads +of them flit about in the cool evening atmosphere, giving the appearance +of countless meteors darting in different directions across the sky. + +In the clear Cotswold atmosphere very brilliant meteors are observable +at certain seasons of the year. Never shall I forget the strange variety +of phenomena witnessed whilst driving homewards one evening in autumn +from the railway station seven miles away. There had been a time of +stormy, unsettled weather for some weeks previously, and the +meteorological conditions were in a very disturbed state. But as I +started homewards the stars were shining brightly, whilst far away in +the western sky, beyond the rolling downs and bleak plains of the +Cotswold Hills, shone forth the strange, mysterious, zodiacal light, +towering upwards into a point among the stars, and shaped in the form of +a cone. It was the first occasion this curious, unexplained phenomenon +had ever come under my notice, and it was awe inspiring enough in +itself. But before I had gone more than two miles of my solitary +journey, great black clouds came up behind me from the south, and I knew +I was racing with the storm. Then, as "the great organ of eternity +began to play" and the ominous murmurs of distant thunder broke the +silence of the night, a stiff breeze from the south seemed to come from +behind and pass me, as if travelling quicker than my fast-trotting nag. +Like a whisper from the grave it rustled in the brown, lifeless leaves +that still lingered on the trees, making me wish I was nearer the old +house that I knew was ready to welcome me five miles on in the little +valley, nestling under the sheltering hill. And soon more clouds seemed +to spring up suddenly, north, south, east, and west, where ten minutes +before the sky had been clear and starry. And the sheet lightning began +to play over them with a continuous flow of silvery radiance, north +answering south, and east giving back to west the reflected glory of the +mighty electric fluid. But the centre of the heavens was still clear and +free from cloud, so that there yet remained a large open space in +front of me, wherein the stars shone brighter than ever. And as I +gazed forward and upward, and urged the willing horse into a +twelve-mile-an-hour trot, the open space in the heavens revealed the +glories of the finest display of fireworks I have ever seen. First of +all two or three smaller stars shot across the hemisphere and +disappeared into eternal space. But suddenly a brilliant light, like an +enormous rocket, appeared in the western sky, far above the clouds. +First it moved in a steady flight, hovering like a kestrel above us; +then, with a flash which startled me out of my wits and brought my horse +to a standstill, it rushed apparently towards us, and finally +disappeared behind the clouds. It was some time before either horse or +driver regained the nerve which had for a time forsaken them; and even +then I was inclined to attribute this wonderful meteoric shower to a +display of fireworks in a neighbouring village, so close to us had this +last rocket-like shooting star appeared to be. A meteor which is +sufficiently brilliant to frighten a horse and make him stop dead is of +rare occurrence. I was thankful when I reached home in safety that I had +not only won my race against the storm, but that I had seen no more +atmospheric phenomena of so startling a nature. + +In addition to the wonders of the heaven there are many other +interesting features connected with a drive or walk by the light of the +stars or the moon. A Cotswold village seen by moonlight is even more +picturesque than it is by day. The old, gabled manor houses are a +delightful picture on a cold, frosty night in winter; if most of the +rooms are lit up, they give one the idea of endless hospitality and +cheerfulness when viewed from without. To walk by a stream such as the +Coln on such a night is for the time like being in fairyland. Every eddy +and ripple is transformed into a crystal stream, sparkling with a +thousand diamonds. The sound of the waters as they gurgle and bubble +over the stones on the shallows seems for all the world like children's +voices plaintively repeating over and over again the old strain: + + "I chatter, chatter as I flow + To join the brimming river, + For men may come and men may go, + But I go on for ever." + +Now is the time to discover the haunts of wild duck and other shy birds +like the teal and the heron. In frosty weather many of these visitors +come and go without our being any the wiser, unless we are out at night. +Before sunrise they will be far, far away, and will probably never +return any more. Time after time we have been startled by a flight of +duck rising abruptly from the stream, in places where by day one would +never dream of looking for them. Foxes, too, may be seen within a +stone's throw of the house on a moonlight evening. They love to prowl +around on the chance of a dainty morsel, such as a fat duck or a +semi-domestic moorhen. Nor will they take any notice of you at such +a time. + +I made a midnight expedition once last hunting season to see that the +"earths" were properly stopped in some small coverts situated on a bleak +and lonely spot on the Cotswold Hills. On the way I had to pass close to +a large barrow. Weird indeed looked the old time-worn stone that has +stood for thousands of years at the end of this old burial mound. A +small wood close by rejoices in the name of "Deadman's Acre." The moon +was casting a ghastly light over the great moss-grown stone and the +deserted wolds. The words of Ossian rose to my lips as I wondered what +manner of men lay buried here. "We shall pass away like a dream. Our +tombs will be lost on the heath. The hunter shall not know the place of +our rest. Give us the song of other years. Let the night pass away on +the sound, and morning return with joy." Then, as the rustling wind +spoke in the lifeless leaves of the beeches, the plain seemed to be +peopled with strange phantasies--the ghosts of the heroes of old. And a +voice came back to me on the whispering breeze: + + "Thou, too, must share our fate; for human life is short. + Soon will thy tomb be hid, and the grass grow rank on thy grave." + + MACPHERSON'S _Ossian_. + +And sometimes when I have been up on the hills by night, and, looking +away over the broad vale stretched out below, have seen in the distance +the gliding lights of some Great Western express--a trusty +weight-carrier bearing through the darkness its precious burden of +humanity--I thought of the time when the old seas ran here. And then +there seemed to come from the direction of the old White Horse and +Wayland Smith's cave the faint murmuring sound of the "Blowing-stone" +("King Alfred's bugle-horn")--that summoner of men to arms a thousand +years ago, like the beacons of later days that "shone on Beachy Head"; +and I felt like a man standing at the prow of a mighty liner, "homeward +bound," on some fine though dark and starless evening, when no sound +breaks upon his ear but the monotonous beating of the screw and the +ceaseless flow of unfathomed waters, save that ever and anon in the far +distance the moaning foghorn sounds its note of warning; whilst as he +stands "forward" and inhales the pure health-giving salt distilled from +balmy vapours that rise everlastingly from the surface of the deep, +nothing is visible to the eye--straining westward for a glimpse of +white chalk cliffs, or eastward, perhaps, for the first peep of +dawn--save the intermittent flash from the lighthouse tower, and the +signals glowing weird and fiery that reveal in the misty darkness those +softly gliding phantasies, the ships that pass in the night. + + + +II. + +In nine years out of ten autumn lingers on until the death of the old +year; then, with the advent of the new, our English winter begins +in earnest. + +It is Christmas Day, and so lovely is the weather that I am sitting on +the terrace watching the warm, grateful sun gradually disappearing +through the grey ash trunks in the hanging wood beyond the river. The +birds are singing with all the promise of an early spring. There is +scarcely a breath of wind stirring, and one might almost imagine it to +be April. Tom Peregrine, clad in his best Sunday homespun, passes along +his well-worn track through the rough grass beyond the water, intent on +visiting his vermin traps, or bent on some form of destruction,--for he +is never happy unless he is killing. My old friend, the one-legged cock +pheasant, who for the third year in succession has contrived to escape +our annual battue, comes up to my feet to take the bread I offer. When +he was flushed by the beaten there was no need to call "Spare him," for +with all the cunning of a veteran he towered straight into the skies +and passed over the guns out of shot. Two fantail pigeons of purest +white, sitting in a dark yew tree that overhangs the stream a hundred +yards away, make the prettiest picture in the world against the +dusky foliage. + +Splash!--a great brown trout rolls in the shallow water like a porpoise +in the sea. A two-pounder in this little stream makes as much fuss as a +twenty-pound salmon in the mighty Tweed. + +Hark! was that a lamb bleating down in old Mr. Peregrine's meadow? It +was: the first lamb, herald of the spring that is to be. May its little +life be as peaceful as this its first birthday: less stormy than the +life of that Lamb whose birth all people celebrate to-day. + +The rooks are cawing, and a faint cry of plover comes from the hill. + +Soft and grey is the winter sky, but behold! round the sun in the west +there arises a perfect solar halo, very similar to an ordinary rainbow, +but smaller in its arc and fainter in its hues of yellow and rose--a +very beautiful phenomenon, and one seldom to be seen in England. Halos +of this nature are supposed to arise from the double refraction of the +rays from the sun as the light passes through thin clouds, or from the +transmission of light through particles of ice. It lingers a full +quarter of an hour, and then dies away. Does this bode rough weather? +Surely the cruel Boreas and the frost will not come suddenly on us after +this lovely, mild Christmas! Listen to the Christmas bells ringing two +miles away at Barnsley village I we can never tire of the sound here, +for it is only on very still days that it reaches us across the wolds. + + "Hark! In the air, around, above, + The Angelic Music soars and swells, + And, in the Garden that I love + I hear the sound of Christmas Bells. + + "From hamlet, hollow, village, height, + The silvery Message seems to start, + And far away its notes to-night + Are surging through the city's heart. + + "Assurance clear to those who fret + O'er vanished Faith and feelings fled, + That not in English homes is yet + Tradition dumb, or Reverence dead. + + "Now onward floats the sacred tale, + Past leafless woodlands, freezing rills; + It wakes from sleep the silent vale, + It skims the mere, it scales the hills; + + "And rippling on up rings of space, + Sounds faint and fainter as more high, + Till mortal ear no more may trace + The music homeward to the sky. + + "To courtly roof and rustic cot + Old comrades wend from far and wide; + Now is the ancient feud forgot, + The growing grudge is laid aside. + + "Peace and goodwill 'twixt rich and poor! + Goodwill and peace 'twixt class and class! + Let old with new, let Prince with boor + Send round the bowl, and drain the glass!" + + ALFRED AUSTIN. + +I have culled these lines from the poet laureate's charming "Christmas +Carol," as they are both singularly beautiful and singularly appropriate +to our Cotswold village. + +I take the liberty of saying that in our little hamlet there _is_ peace +and goodwill 'twixt rich and poor at Christmas-time. + + "Now is the ancient feud forgot, + The growing grudge is laid aside." + +Our humble rejoicings during this last Christmas were very similar to +those of a hundred years ago. They included a grand smoking concert at +the club, during which the mummers gave an admirable performance of +their old play, of which more anon; then a big feed for every man, +woman, and child of the hamlet (about a hundred souls) was held in the +manor house; added to which we received visits from carol singers and +musicians of all kinds to the number of seventy-two, reckoning up the +total aggregate of the different bands, all of whom were welcomed, for +Christmas comes but once a year, after all, and "the more the merrier" +should be our motto at this time. So from villages three and four miles +away came bands of children to sing the old, old songs. The brass band, +including old grey-haired men who fifty years ago with strings and +wood-wind led the psalmody at Chedworth Church, come too, and play +inside the hall. We do not brew at home nowadays. Even such +old-fashioned Conservatives as old Mr. Peregrine, senior, have at length +given up the custom, so we cannot, like Sir Roger, allow a greater +quantity of malt to our small beer at Christmas; but we take good care +to order in some four or five eighteen-gallon casks at this time. Let it +be added that we never saw any man the worse for drink in consequence +of this apparent indiscretion. But then, we have a butler of the +old school. + +When we held our Yuletide revels in the manor house, and the old walls +rang with the laughter and merriment of the whole hamlet (for farmers as +well as labourers honoured us), it occurred to me that the bigotphones, +which had been lying by in a cupboard for about a twelvemonth, might +amuse the company. Bigotphones, I must explain to those readers who are +uninitiated, are delightfully simple contrivances fitted with reed +mouthpieces--exact representations in mockery of the various instruments +that make up a brass band--but composed of strong cardboard, and +dependent solely on the judicious application of the human lips and the +skilful modulation of the human voice for their effect. These being +produced, an impromptu band was formed: young Peregrine seized the +bassoon, the carter took the clarionet, the shepherd the French horn, +the cowman the trombone, and, seated at the piano, I myself conducted +the orchestra. Never before have I been so astonished as I was by the +unexpected musical ability displayed. No matter what tune I struck up, +that heterogeneous orchestra played it as if they had been doing nothing +else all their lives. "The British Grenadiers," "The Eton Boating Song," +"Two Lovely Black Eyes" (solo, young Peregrine on the bassoon), "A Fine +Hunting Day,"--all and sundry were performed in perfect time and without +a false note. Singularly enough, it is very difficult for the voice to +"go flat" on the bigotphone. Then, not content with these popular songs +we inaugurated a dance. Now could be seen the beautiful and +accomplished Miss Peregrine doing the light fantastic round the stone +floor of the hall to the tune of "See me dance the polka"; then, too, +the stately Mrs. Peregrine insisted on our playing "Sir Roger de +Coverley," and it was danced with that pomp and ceremony which such +occasions alone are wont to show. None of your "kitchen lancers" for us +hamlet folk; we leave that kind of thing to the swells and nobs. Tom +Peregrine alone was baffled. Whilst his family in general were bowing +there, curtseying here, clapping hands and "passing under to the right" +in the usual "Sir Roger" style, he stood in grey homespun of the best +material (I never yet saw a Cotswold man in a vulgar chessboard suit), +and as he stood he marvelled greatly, exclaiming now and then, "Well, I +never; this is something new to be sure!" "I never saw such things in +all my life, never!" He would not dance; but, seizing one of the +bigotphones, he blew into it until I was in some anxiety lest he should +have an apoplectic fit I need scarcely say he failed to produce a +single note. + +Thus our Yuletide festivities passed away, all enjoying themselves +immensely, and thus was sealed the bond of fellowship and of goodwill +'twixt class and class for the coming year. + +Whilst the younger folks danced, the fathers of the hamlet walked on +tiptoe with fearful tread around the house, looking at the faded family +portraits. I was pleased to find that what they liked best was the +ancient armour; for said they, "Doubtless squire wore that in the old +battles hereabouts, when Oliver Cromwell was round these parts." On my +pointing out the picture of the man who built the house three hundred +years ago, they surrounded it, and gazed at the features for a great +length of time; indeed, I feared that they would never come away, so +fascinated were they by this relic of antiquity, illustrating the +ancient though simple annals of their village. + +I persuaded the head of our mummer troop to write out their play as it +was handed down to him by his predecessors. This he did in a fine bold +hand on four sides of foolscap. Unfortunately the literary quality of +the lines is so poor that they are hardly worth reproducing, except as a +specimen of the poetry of very early times handed down by oral +tradition. Suffice it to say that the _dramatis personae_ are five in +number--viz., Father Christmas, Saint George, a Turkish Knight, the +Doctor, and an Old Woman. All are dressed in paper flimsies of various +shapes and colours. First of all enters Father Christmas. + + "In comes I old Father Christmas, + Welcome in or welcome not, + Sometimes cold and sometimes hot. + I hope Father Christmas will never be forgot," etc. + +Then Saint George comes in, and after a great deal of bragging he fights +the "most dreadful battle that ever was known," his adversary being the +knight "just come from Turkey-land," with the inevitable result that the +Turkish knight falls. This brings in the Doctor, who suggests the +following remedies:-- + + "Give him a bucket of dry hot ashes to eat, + Groom him down with a bezom stick, + And give him a yard and a half of pump water to drink." + +For these offices he mentions that his fee is fifty guineas, but he +will take ten pounds, adding: + + "I can cure the itchy pitchy, + Palsy, and the gout; + Pains within or pains without; + A broken leg or a broken arm, + Or a broken limb of any sort. + I cured old Mother Roundabout," etc. + +He declares that he is not one of those "quack doctors who go about from +house to house telling you more lies in one half-hour than what you can +find true in seven years." + +So the knight just come from Turkey-land is resuscitated and sent back +to his own country. + +Last of all the old woman speaks: + + "In comes I old Betsy Bub; + On my shoulder I carry my tub, + And in my hand a dripping-pan. + Don't you think I'm a jolly old man? + + Now last Christmas my father killed a fat hog, + And my mother made black-puddings enough to choke a dog, + And they hung them up with a pudden string + Till the fat dropped out and the maggots crawled in," etc. + +The mummers' play, of which the above is a very brief _resume_, lasts +about half an hour, and includes many songs of a topical nature. + +Yes, Christmas is Christmas still in the heart of old England. We are +apt to talk of the good old days that are no more, lamenting the customs +and country sports that have passed away; but let us not forget that two +hundred years hence, when we who are living now will have long passed +"that bourne from which no traveller returns," our descendants, as they +sit round their hearths at Yuletide, may in the same way regret the +grand old times when good Victoria--the greatest monarch of all +ages--was Queen of England; those times when during the London season +fair ladies and gallant men might be seen on Drawing-room days driving +down St James's Street in grand carriages, drawn by magnificent horses, +with servants in cocked hats and wigs and gold lace; when the rural +villages of merrie England were cheered throughout the dreary winter +months by the sound of horse and hound, and by the sight of beautiful +ladies and red-coated sportsmen, mounted on blood horses, careering over +the country, clearing hedges and ditches of fabulous height and width; +when every man, woman, and child in the village turned out to see the +"meet," and the peer and the peasant were for the day on an equal +footing, bound together by an extraordinary devotion to the chase of +"that little red rover" which men called the fox--now, alas! extinct, as +the mammoth or the bear, owing to barbed wire and the abolition of the +horse; when to such an extent were games and sports a part of our +national life that half London flocked to see two elevens of cricketers +(including a champion "nine" feet high called Grace) fighting their +mimic battle arrayed in white flannels and curiously coloured caps, at a +place called Lords, the exact site of which is now, alas I lost in the +sea of houses; when as an absolute fact the first news men turned to on +opening their daily papers in the morning was the column devoted to +cricket, football, or horse-racing; when in the good old days, before +electricity and the motor-car caused the finest specimen of the brute +creation to become virtually extinct (although a few may still be seen +at the Zoological Gardens), horse-racing for a cup and a small fortune +in gold was only second to cricket and football in the estimation of all +merrie Englanders--the only races now indulged in being those of flying +machines to Mars and back twice a day. Two hundred years hence, I say, +the Victorian era--time of blessed peace and unexampled prosperity--will +be pronounced by all unprejudiced judges as the true days of merrie +England. Let us, then, though not unmindful of the past, pin our faith +firmly on the present and the future. _Carpe diem_ should be our motto +in these fleeting times, and, above all, progress, not retrogression. +Let us, as the old, old sound of the village bells comes to us over the +rolling downs this New Year's eve, recall to mind + + ".... the primal sympathy + Which having been must ever be." + +Let our hearts warm to the battle cry of advancing civilisation and the +attainment of the ideal humanity, soaring upwards step by step, +re-echoing the prayer contained in those lilting stanzas with which +Tennyson greets the New Year: + + "Ring out the old, ring in the new; + Ring happy bells across the snow: + The year is going, let him go; + Ring out the false, ring in the true. + + "Ring out the grief that saps the mind, + For those that here we see no more + Ring out the feud of rich and poor, + Ring in redress to all mankind. + + "Ring out false pride in place and blood, + The civic slander and the spite; + Ring in the love of truth and right; + Ring in the common love of good. + + "Ring out old shapes of foul disease; + Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; + Ring out the thousand wars of old, + Ring in the thousand years of peace. + + "Ring in the valiant man and free, + The larger heart, the kindlier hand; + Ring out the darkness of the land. + Ring in the Christ that is to be." + +[Illustration: Coln S' Aldwyns 429.png] + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN. + + "I saw Eternity the other night + Like a great ring of pure and endless light, + All calm, as it was bright:-- + And round beneath it, time in hours, days, years, + Driven by the spheres, + Like a vast shadow moved, in which the world + And all her train were hurl'd." + + HENRY VAUGHAN. + +It is the end of May; a bright, rainless, and at times bitterly cold +month it has been. But now the chill east wind has almost died away. +Summer has come at last. Once more I am making for the Downs. Very +seldom am I there at this period of the year; but before going away for +several months, I bethought me that I would go and inspect the +improvements at the fox-covert, stopping on my way at the "Jubilee" +gorse covert we lately planted, to see if there is a litter of cubs +there this year. Across the fields we go, ankle deep in buttercups and +clover at one moment, then up the hedge to avoid treading the half-grown +barley. We are so accustomed to take a bee-line across these shooting +grounds of ours that we quite forget that the farmer would not thank us +for trampling down his crops at the end of May. But soon we are on the +Downs, well out of harm's way and far removed from highroads and +footpaths. What a glorious panorama lies all around! Why do we not come +here oftener in summer?--the country is ten times more lovely then than +it is in the shooting season. A field of sainfoin in June, with its +glorious blossoms of pink, is one of the prettiest sights in all +creation. Seen in the distance, amid a setting of green wheatfields and +verdant pastures, it ripples in the garish light of the summer sun like +a lake of rubies. + + "Land and sea + Give themselves up to jollity; + And with the heart of May + Doth every beast keep holiday." + +Ah! there will be lots of foxes when the hounds come to the fox-covert +next October. The unpleasant smell at the mouth of the earth tells us +that there are cubs there; and as we stand over it we can hear them +playing down below in the bowels of mother earth. Very distinct, too, +are the tracks--_traffic_, the keeper calls them--leading by sundry +well-trodden paths to the dell below--a nice sunny dell, facing +south-west, where in spring the violets and primroses grow among the +spreading elder. These cubs were not born here. Their mother brought +them from an old hollow stump of a tree by the river, half a mile away. +When she found her lair discovered by an angler who happened to pass +that way, she brought them across the river by the narrow footbridge +right up here on to the hill. The cubs from the tree have disappeared, +so no doubt these are the ones. Well, there are lots of rabbits for +them; the little fellows are popping about all over the place. + +How tame all wild animals become in the summer!--all except the ones we +want to circumvent--magpies, jays, stoats, and such small deer. Lapwings +fly round us, crying restlessly, "Go away, go away!" Their shrill treble +accents remind one of a baby's squall. Pigeons and ringdoves, partridges +and hares seem to be plentiful "as blackberries in September." A +gorgeous cock pheasant crows and jumps up close to us, followed by his +mate. This is a pleasing sight up here, for they are wild birds. There +has been no rearing done in these copses on the hills within the +memory of man. + +Tom Peregrine suddenly appears out of a hedge, where he has been +watching the antics of the cubs at the mouth of the fox-earth. He has +grown very serious of late, and tells you repeatedly that there is going +to be another big European war shortly. Let us hope his gloomy +forebodings are doomed to disappointment. Surely, surely at the end of +this marvellous nineteenth century, when there are so many men in the +world who have learnt the difficult lessons of life in a way that they +have never been learnt before, nations are no longer obliged to behave +like children, or worse still, with their petty jealousies and +bickerings and growlings, "like dogs that delight to bark and bite." + +Tom Peregrine, having done but little work for many months, is now +making himself really useful, for a change, by copying out parts of this +great work; and, to do him justice, he writes a capital, clear hand. He +is very anxious to become secretary to "some great gentleman," he says. +If any of my readers require a sporting secretary, I can confidently +recommend him as a man of "plain sense rather than of much learning, of +a sociable temper, and one that understands a little of backgammon." +There is no fear of his "insulting you with Latin and Greek at your own +table." He would have suited Sir Roger capitally for a chaplain, I often +tell him; and though he hasn't a notion who Sir Roger may be, he +thoroughly enjoys the joke. + +The fox-covert presents a strange appearance. It is full of young spruce +trees, and the lower branches have been lopped down, but not cut through +or killed. Under each tree there is now a grand hiding-place for foxes +and rabbits--a sort of big umbrella turned topsy-turvy. The rabbits +appreciate the pains we have been at; but I fear the foxes, for whom it +was intended, at present look on the shelter with suspicion. They +dislike the gum which oozes continually from the gashes in the bark; it +sticks to their coats, and gives an unpleasant sensation when they +roll. They cannot keep their beautiful coats sleek and glossy, as is +their invariable rule, as long as their is any gum sticking to them. + +How clearly we can see the Swindon Hills in the bright evening +atmosphere! They must be more than twenty miles away. The grand old +White Horse, making the spot where long, long ago the Danes were +vanquished in fight, is not visible; but he is scarcely to be seen at +all now, as the lazy Berkshire people have neglected their duty. He +really must be scoured again this summer; he is a national institution. +Londoners take a much greater interest in him than do the honest folk +who live bang under his nose. + +We must continue our excavations at Ladbarrow copse yonder. Men say it +is the largest barrow in the county, full of "golden coffins" and all +sorts of priceless antiquities! At present all we have discovered are +some bones, with which we stuffed our pockets. When we arrived home, +however, they were found to have belonged to a poor old sheep-dog that +was buried there. But see! the setting sun is tinging the tops of the +slender, shapely ash trees in yonder emerald copse. The whole plain is +changing from a vast arena of golden splendour to a mysterious shadowy +land of dreams. A fierce light still reveals every object on the hill +towards the east; but westwards beneath yon purple ridge all is wrapped +in dim, ambiguous shade. + +It is sad to think that I alone of mortal men should be here to see this +glorious panorama. It seems such a waste of nature's bounteous store +that night after night this wondrous spectacle should be solemnly +displayed, with no better gallery than a stray shepherd, who, as he +"homeward plods his weary way," cares little for the grand drama that is +being performed entirely for his benefit. Nature is indeed prodigal of +her charms in out-of-the-way country places. + +Sometimes whilst walking over these remote fields on summer evenings, I +have stopped to ask myself this question: Is it possible that these +exquisite wild flowers, these groves and dells of verdant tracery, these +birds with their priceless music, and these wondrous, ineffable effects +of light and shade which form part of the everyday pageant of English +rural scenery are doomed "to waste their sweetness on the desert air"? +Is it possible (to go further afield) that those lovely scenes in +Wales--the fairy glens near Bettws-y-Coed, or the luxuriant valleys of +Carmarthen, further south, where silvery Towey flows below the stately +ruins of Dynevor Castle; those romantic reaches on the Wye, from +Chepstow to the frowning hills of Brecon; those solitary, but +unspeakably grand, mountains and passes of the Highlands, such as +Glencoe, Ben Nevis, or those of the scarcely explored Hebrides; those +smiling waters of the lovely Trossachs; those countless spots in the +"Emerald Isle" that the tourist has never seen, whether in fertile +Wicklow or among the whispering woods and weird waters of the west; +those gorgeous forests of Ceylon; those interminable jungles of the +beautiful East, with their unknown depths of tropical splendour;--is it +possible that these scenes of wondrous beauty are inhabited and enjoyed +by nothing more than is visible to our limited mortal gaze? + +I believed, as a boy, and with a romance still unsubdued by time I would +yet fain believe, that when the soul of man escapes from the poor +tenement of clay in which it has been pent up for some threescore years +and ten, it has not far to go. I would fain believe that heaven is not +only above us, but, in some form or other entirely beyond our mortal +ken, all around us, in every beautiful thing we see; that these hills +and vales, these woods of delicately wrought fan-tracery groining, these +mazes of golden light when the sun goes down, are peopled not alone by +human flesh and blood. "There are also terrestrial bodies, and bodies +celestial. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the +terrestrial is another." + +Who can imagine the shape or form of the immortal soul? As I walked over +those golden fields to-night it seemed as if there were spirits all +around me--glorious, bright spirits of the dead--invisible, intangible, +like rays of pure light, in the clear atmosphere of those Elysian +fields. I cannot but believe that there arise from the secret parts of +this beautiful earth, at dawn of day and at eventide, other voices +besides the ineffable songs of birds, the rustling murmurs that whisper +in the woods, and the plaintive babbling of the brooks--hymns of unknown +depths of harmony, impossible to describe, because impossible to +imagine--crying night and day: "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and +power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for +ever and ever." + +Yes, dear reader, + + "Though inland far we be, + Our souls have sight of that immortal sea + Which brought us hither." + +When the sun goes down, if you will turn for a little while from the +noise and clamour of the busy world, you shall list to those voices +ringing, ringing in your ears. Words of comfort shall you hear at +eventide, "and sorrow and sadness shall be no more,"--even though, as +the years roll on, perforce you cry, with Wordsworth: + + "What though the radiance which was once so bright + Be now for ever taken from my sight, + Though nothing can bring back the hour + Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower, + We will grieve not, rather find + Strength in what remains behind; + In the primal sympathy + Which having been must ever be; + In the soothing thoughts that spring + Out of human suffering; + In the faith that looks through death, + In years that bring the philosophic mind." + +THE END. + + + +APPENDIX. + +GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN. + +(_Note from the papers of the Gloucestershire Society_) + +It is now generally understood that the words of this song have a hidden +meaning which was only known to the members of the Gloucestershire +Society, whose foundation dates from the year 1657. This was three years +before the restoration of Charles II. and when the people were growing +weary of the rule of Oliver Cromwell. The Society consisted of +Loyalists, whose object in combining was to be prepared to aid in the +restoration of the ancient constitution of the kingdom whenever a +favourable opportunity should present itself. The Cavalier or Royalist +party were supported by the Roman Catholics of the old and influential +families of the kingdom; and some of the Dissenters, who were disgusted +with the treatment they received from Cromwell, occasionally lent them a +kind of passive aid. Taking these considerations as the keynote to the +song, attempts have been made to discover the meaning which was +originally attached to its leading words. It is difficult at the present +time to give a clear explanation of all its points. The following, +however, is consistent throughout, and is, we believe, correct:-- + + "The stwuns that built Gaarge Ridler's oven, + And thauy qeum from the Bleakeney's Quaar; + And Gaarge he wur a jolly ould mon, + And his yead it graw'd above his yare." + +By "George Ridler" was meant King Charles I. The "oven" was the Cavalier +party. The "stwuns" which built the oven, and which "came out of the +Blakeney Quaar," were the immediate followers of the Marquis of +Worcester, who held out to the last steadfastly for the royal cause at +Raglan Castle, which was not surrendered till 1646, and was, in fact, +the last stronghold retained for the king. "His head did grow above his +hair" was an allusion to the crown, the head of the State, and which the +king wore "above his hair." + + "One thing of Gaarge Ridler's I must commend, + And that wur vor a notable theng; + He mead his braags avoore he died, + Wi' any dree brothers his zons zshou'd zeng." + +This meant that the king, "before he died," boasted that notwithstanding +his present adversity, the ancient constitution of the kingdom was so +good and its vitality so great that it would surpass and outlive any +other form of government, whether republican, despotic, or protective. + + "There's Dick the treble and John the mean + (Let every mon zing in his auwn pleace); + And Gaarge he wur the elder brother, + And therevoore he would zing the beass." + +"Dick the treble, Jack the mean, and George the bass" meant the three +parts of the British constitution--King, Lords, and Commons. The +injunction to "let every man sing in his own place" was intended as a +warning to each of the three estates of the realm to preserve its proper +position and not to attempt to encroach on each other's prerogative. + + "Mine hostess's moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell), + A pretty wench, and I lov'd her well; + I lov'd her well--good reauzon why, + Because zshe lov'd my dog and I." + +"Mine hostess's moid" was an allusion to the queen, who was a Roman +Catholic; and her maid, the Church. The singer, we must suppose, was one +of the leaders of the party, and his "dog" a companion or faithful +official of the Society; and the song was sung on occasions when the +members met together socially: and thus, as the Roman Catholics were +Royalists, the allusion to the mutual attachment between the "maid" and +"my dog and I" is plain and consistent. + + "My dog has gotten zitch a trick + To visit moids when thauy be zick; + When thauy be zick and like to die, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I." + +The "dog"--that is, the official or devoted member of the Society--had +"a trick of visiting maids when they were sick." The meaning here was +that when any of the members were in distress, or desponding, or likely +to give up the royal cause in despair, the officials or active members +visited, consoled, and assisted them. + + "My dog is good to catch a hen,-- + A duck and goose is vood vor men; + And where good company I spy, + Oh, thether gwoes my dog and I." + +The "dog," the official or agent of the Society, was "good to catch a +hen," a "duck," or a "goose"--that is, any who were well affected to the +royal cause of whatever party; wherever "good company I spy, Oh, thither +go my dog and I"--to enlist members into the Society. + + "My mwother told I when I wur young, + If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot, + That drenk would pruv my auverdrow, + And meauk me wear a thzreadbare cwoat." + +"The good ale-tap" was an allusion, under cover of a similarity in the +sound of the words "ale" and "aisle," to the Church, of which it was +dangerous at that time to be an avowed follower, and so the members were +cautioned that indiscretion would lead to their discovery and +"overthrow." + + "When I hev dree zixpences under my thumb, + Oh, then I be welcome wherever I qeum + But when I have none, oh, then I pass by,-- + 'Tis poverty pearts good company." + +The allusion here is to those unfaithful supporters of the royal cause +who "welcomed" the members of the Society when it appeared to be +prospering, but "parted" from them in adversity, probably referring +ironically to those lukewarm and changeable Dissenters who veered about, +for and against, as Cromwell favoured or contemned them. Such could +always be had wherever there were "three sixpence-under the thumb"; but +"poverty" easily parted such "good company." + + "When I gwoes dead, as it may hap, + My greauve shall be under the good yeal tap; + In vouled earmes there wool us lie, + Cheek by jowl, my dog and I." + +"If I should die," etc.--an expression of the singer's wish that if he +should die he may be buried with his faithful companion (as representing +the principles of the Society) under the good aisles of the church, thus +evincing his loyalty and attachment to the good old constitution and to +Church and king even in death. + + + + +INDEX + +Abbey, Edwin +Ablington Manor +Acman Street +Aethelhum, the Saxon +Agriculture +Alder tree +Aldsworth and Oliver Cromwell +Alfred, King +Amphitheatre, Roman +Ampney Park +Angelus, the +Antiquity, charm of +_Arbor Diana_ +Architecture, Elizabethan +Aristotle +Arlington Row +Artificial fox-earths +Austin, Alfred + +Badgers +Bampton-in-the-Bush +Barnby, Joseph +Barns, tithe +Barometer +Barrows, ancient +Bathurst family +Bathurst, Lord +Battues +Bazley, Sir Thomas +Bettws-y-Coed +Bibury Races +Bibury village +Bigotphones +Blowing-stone, the +Bourton-on-the-Water +Bowly, Mrs. Christopher +Brassey, Albert, M.F.H. +Braydon Forest +Bromley-Davenport, W. +Buckland, Frank +Bull-ring, Roman +Burford +Burton on the Cotswolds + +Cadge for hawks +Caesar, Julius +Camps, ancient British +Carlyle, Thomas +Cassey-Compton Manor House +Caves, prehistoric +Characters, village +Charles I. +Charles II. +Charlock +Chaucer +Chavenage +Chedworth +Chepstow, the Wye at +Chiltern Hills +Chivalry, ancient +Choirs, village +"Christmas Carol," Austin's +Christmas festivities +Church ales +Churchwardens +Cirencester +Civil Wars +Clarendon on Falkland +Climate of the Cotswolds +Coats-of-arms +Coffins, old stone +Coln, River +Coln-St.-Aldwyns +Coln-St.-Dennis +Conyger wood +Corinium Museum +Corncrakes, disappearance of +Coulson, Colonel, his trap +County cricket +Coursing on the Cotswolds +Cray-fish +Creswell family +Cricket pitch, how to improve +Cricket, prehistoric +Cricket, the game of +Cripps, Wilfred, C.B. +Crosses, wayside +Cub-hunting +Cubs, fox +Cudgel-playing, old-fashioned +Curlews +Cushats + +Deadman's Acre +Deerhounds, Scotch +De Quincey +Derby Day on the Coln +De Vere, Aubrey +Dew +Dew-point +Dialect, Cotswold +Dickens, Charles, on cricket +Dogs +Downs, the mystery of the +Dream, Shakespeare's +Dress, simplicity in +Drayton, Michael +Dry-fly fishing +Ducks, wild +Duleep Singh at Hatherop +Dun, olive +Duerer, Albert + +Earthquake of 1895 +Earths for foxes +_Ecrevisse_ +Eel, curious capture of +Elder tree +Eldon, Lord +"Elegy," Gray's +Elizabeth, Queen, at Burford +Elms +"England, Merrie" +Escutcheons +Evening fishing +Excursion, Roger Plowman's + +Fairwood +Falconry, the art of +Falkland, Lord, at Burford +Farmers, Cotswold +Feasts, ancient +Ferns growing on ash tree +Fieldfare, return of the +Field names +Firr, Tom +Flails, old-fashioned +Flanders mares +Flies, artificial +Flocks of lapwings +Flowers, wild +Fly-catcher, the +"Flying Dutchman" +Forest, Braydon +Forest, Savernake +Fossbridge +Fosseway +Fox-earths +Foxes +Fozbrooke +Free Foresters' Cricket Club + +Galway nags +Gamekeeper, the +Gannet +Garden, an old +Garne of Aldsworth +Geese, wild +"George Ridler's Oven" +Gilbert White +Gilpin, John +Gipsies +Gloucestershire dialect +Glow-worms +Goethe (quoted) +Golf greens, treatment of +Gothic architecture +Grace, W.G. +Grasshoppers, Burke on +Gray's "Elegy" +Green-drake +Greyhound fox +Grounds, treatment of cricket +Gwynne, Nell, at Bibury Races + +Hall, King Alfred's +Hallam, Arthur +Halo, solar +Hamilton, Sir William Rowan +Hangman's Stone, origin of +Hard riders +Hares +Harvest home +Hawking described +Hawks +Hedgehogs +Henry VIII. +Heraldry +Herbs +Herons +Hicks-Beach, Right Hon. Sir Michael +Hic-wall or heckle +Hill, White Horse +Hills, Jem +Hobbs of Maiseyhampton +Horse, description of +Horse for the Cotswolds +Hounds, Badminton +Hounds, Bombay +Hounds, Heythrop +Hounds, Lord Bathurst's +Hounds, Mr. T.B. Miller's +Hounds, Shakespeare on +Hunting, fox- +Hunting poem +Hunting, stag-, in olden times +Huntsman, a good +Hygrometer +Hymns +Hypocaust, Roman + +Icknield Street +Implements, old stone +Inscribed stones (Roman) +Inscription on porch of manor house +Irmin Way +Irving, Washington (quoted) +Isaac Walton + +Jansen, Cornelius, painter +Jefferies, Richard +Johnson, Dr. +Joyce on Fairford windows + +Keble, John, at Fairford +Kelmscott +Kemble +Kestrel +Kingfishers +Kingmaker, the +Kipling, Rudyard +Kite, artificial +Knights Templar + +Labourers, Cotswold +Lapwings +Larder, vixen's +Leland +Lenthall, Speaker +Leslie, G. +Limestone quarries, +Llewelyn, W. Dillwyn +Loam, use of clay or + +Macomber Falls +Macpherson and Ossian +Madden, Right Hon. D.H. +Magpies +Mallard, a pugnacious +Manor parchments +Manuscript, an ancient +Marsh-harrier +Marsh-marigold +Master, Chester, family of +Maxwell, Sir Herbert +May flies +May-fly season +"Merrie England" +Meteor, a large +Miller, T.B., M.F.H. +Miller, the village +Monk, W.J., on Burford +Moorhens, habits of +Mop, Cirencester +Moreton-in-the-Marsh +Morris, William +Mounds, ancient burial +Mummers' play +Museums, Roman +Musicians, old village + +Natal, scenery of +Nest, kingfisher's +Netting trout +Newton, Isaac +Nightjar or goatsucker +Night on the hills +Nimrod on Bibury Races +_Noblesse oblige_ +Northleach + +Oak, old +Oliver Cromwell +Oman's discovery +Ossian +"Oven, George Ridler's" +Owls +Oxen, ploughing with + +Partridges +"Parvise," the +Pavements, Roman +Penance at Burford +Peregrine falcons +Peregrine, Thomas, keeper +Pheasants +Pigeon-shooting +Playing-fields, Eton +Pliny +"Plestor," the +Ploughing with oxen +Plover, common +Plover, golden +Plowman, Roger, goes to London +Poachers, scarcity of +Poges, Stoke +Political meetings +Politicians, village +Pope at Cirencester +Pottery, Roman +Prehistoric cricket +Prehistoric relics +Prescription, an excellent +Proverbs, Gloucestershire +Puffin + +Quack, the village +Quails +Quarries, limestone +Quenington +Querns, the + +Races, Bibury +Ramparts, ancient +Ready Token +Retrievers +Riders, good +Riding, hard +Roads, limestone +Roger de Coverley, Sir +Roman remains +Rookery, the +Rupert, Prince +Ruskin, John + +Sainfoin +Sargent, J. +Savernake +Scent of foxes +Scotch deerhound +Scott, Lady Margaret +Scouring the White Horse +Shakespeare on the Cotswolds +Sheep, Cotswold +Sheep-washing +Sherborne House +Sherborne, Lord +Shooting, covert- +Sly, Isaac +Snake eaten by trout +Snipe +Solan goose +Solar halo +Songs, Gloucestershire +South Africa, wolds of +Sparrow-club +Spawn-beds of trout +_Spectator_, the +Sportsman, definition of a good +Spring flowers +Springs, Cotswold +Squirrels +Stag-hunting, wild +Stage-coach +Stoats +Stone age, relics of +Stowell +Stow-on-the-Wold +Sunsets described +Swans + +Tame, John +Tanfield family +Teal +Tennyson +Terrier, fox- +Tesselated pavements +Thames +Thrashing +Thrush, song of +Tiercel-gentle +Tithe +Tithe barns +"Tolsey," the +Traps, vermin +Travess, Charles +Trees, beauty of ash +Trossachs, the +Trout eating snake +Trout, habits of +"Tuer," a +Turnip hower, the + +Umpires, village +Uncertainty, charm of +Urns, sepulchral + +Vale, Berkshire +Vale of White Horse Hounds +Valley, Coln +Valley, Thames +Victorian Era +Voles, water + +Waller's pictures +Walnut tree in spring +Warwick, the kingmaker +Wasps, a plague of +Watercress +Wayside crosses +Weasels +Westbury White Horse +Wharfe, River +White Horse Hill +Whitsun ale +Whitsuntide sports +Whyte-Melville +Wildfowl +Williamstrip +Wimbrels, +Windrush, River +Wines, home-made +Winson village +Woodpeckers +Wood-pigeons +Wordsworth +Wren, Christopher + +Yaffel +Yuletide + +Zingari Cricket Club +Zodiacal light + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Cotswold Village, by J. 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