diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:13:55 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:13:55 -0700 |
| commit | 8ce3966ae4ea29bc91c9b0276f6757b47111dbeb (patch) | |
| tree | a6d2c9a3d9824055568f5782d33efce3e928dd02 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 974812 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/24651-h.htm | 2219 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p0b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 128397 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p0s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 29403 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p16b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 189882 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p16s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31272 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p1b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 56311 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p1s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 16812 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p32b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 247344 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p32s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 32817 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p42.jpg | bin | 0 -> 14881 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p43b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 54312 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p43s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 15482 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p46.jpg | bin | 0 -> 21249 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p6b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 67841 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651-h/images/p6s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 25320 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651.txt | 2057 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24651.zip | bin | 0 -> 43996 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
21 files changed, 4292 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24651-h.zip b/24651-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f946c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h.zip diff --git a/24651-h/24651-h.htm b/24651-h/24651-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0096cf4 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/24651-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2219 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Old Times at Otterbourne</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.headingsummary { margin-left: 5%;} + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Old Times at Otterbourne, by Charlotte M. Yonge</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Old Times at Otterbourne, by Charlotte M. +Yonge + + +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: Old Times at Otterbourne + + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + + + +Release Date: February 19, 2008 [eBook #24651] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIMES AT OTTERBOURNE*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1891 Warren and Son edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Keble Cross—Otterbourne Churchyard" +src="images/p0s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p1b.jpg"> +<img alt="Picture from title page" src="images/p1s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>Old Times<br /> +at Otterbourne.</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">[<span class="smcap">second +edition</span>.]</p> +<p style="text-align: center">Winchester:<br /> +<span class="smcap">warren and son</span>, <span +class="smcap">printers and publishers</span>, <span +class="smcap">high street</span>.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">London:<br /> +<span class="smcap">simpkin and co.</span>, <span +class="smcap">limited</span>, <span +class="smcap">stationers’ hall court</span>.<br /> +1891</p> +<h2>Old Times at Otterbourne.</h2> +<p>Not many of us remember Otterbourne before the Railroad, the +Church, or the Penny Post. It may be pleasant to some of us +to try to catch a few recollections before all those who can tell +us anything about those times are quite gone.</p> +<p>To begin with the first that is known about it, or rather that +is guessed. A part of a Roman road has been traced in +Otterbourne Park, and near it was found a piece of a quern, one +of the old stones of a hand mill, such as was used in ancient +times for grinding corn; so that the place must have been +inhabited at least seventeen hundred years ago. In the last +century a medallion bearing the head of a Roman Emperor was found +here, sixteen feet beneath the surface. It seems to be one +of the medallions that were placed below the Eagle on the Roman +Standards, and it is still in the possession of the family of +Fitt, of Westley.</p> +<p>After the Roman and British times were over, this part of the +country belonged to Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons, of +which Winchester was the capital. Lying so near the chief +town, which was the Bishop’s throne, this place was likely +soon to be made into a parish, when Archbishop Theodore divided +England in dioceses and parishes, just twelve hundred years ago, +for he died 690. The name no doubt means the village of the +Otters, and even now these creatures are sometimes seen in the +Itchen, so that no doubt there <!-- page 2--><a +name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 2</span>were once many +more of them. The shapes and sizes of most of our parishes +were fixed by those of the estates of the Lords who first built +the Church for themselves and their households, with the churls +and serfs on their manor. The first Lord of Otterbourne +must have had a very long narrow property, to judge by the form +of the parish, which is at least three miles long, and nowhere a +mile in breadth. Most likely he wanted to secure as much of +the river and meadow land as he could, with some high open heathy +ground on the hill as common land where the cattle could graze, +and some wood to supply timber and fuel. Probably all the +slopes of the hills on each side of the valley of the Otter were +covered with wood. The top of the gravelly hill to the +southward was all heather and furze, as indeed it is still, and +this reached all the way to Southampton and the Forest. The +whole district was called Itene or Itchen, like the river. +The name meant in the old English language, the Giant’s +Forest and the Giant’s Wood.</p> +<p>The hill to the north was, as it still remains, chalk +down. The village lay near the river and the stream that +runs into it, upon the bed of clay between the chalk and the +gravel. Most likely the Moathouse was then in existence, +though a very different building from what it is at present, and +its moat very deep and full of water, serving as a real +defence. There is nothing left but broad hedge rows of the +woods to the north-east, but one of these is called Dane Lane, +and is said to be the road by which the Danes made their way to +Winchester, being then a woodland path. It is said that +whenever the yellow cow wheat grows freely the land has never +been cultivated.</p> +<p>There was a hamlet at Boyatt, for both it and Otterbourne are +mentioned in Domesday Book. This is the great census that +William the Conqueror caused to be taken 1083 of all his +kingdom. From it we learn that Otterbourne had a Church +which belonged to Roger de Montgomery, a great Norman baron, +whose father had been a friend of William I.</p> +<p>Well for the parish that it lay at a distance from the +Giant’s Wood, where the King turned out all the inhabitants +for the sake of his <!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 3</span>“high deer,” making it the +New Forest. He and his sons could ride through down and +heath all the way to their hunting. We all know how William +Rufus was brought back from his last hunt, lying dead in the +charcoal burner Purkis’s cart, in which he was carried to +his grave in Winchester Cathedral. Part of the road between +Hursley and Otterbourne, near Silkstede, is called King’s +Lane, because it is said to have been the way by which this +strange hearse travelled.</p> +<p>Silkstede is a farm now—it was most likely a grange, or +outlying house belonging to some monastery—and there is a +remnant of the gardens and some fine trees, and a hollow called +China Dell, where snowdrops and double daffodils grow. But +this is in Hursley parish, as is also Merdon Castle.</p> +<p>The green mounds and deep trenches, and the fragments of +ruinous wall, have a story reaching far back into the ages.</p> +<p>There is little doubt, from their outline, that once there was +an entrenched camp of the Romans on this ground, but nothing is +known thereof. Merantune, as our Saxon ancestors called it, +first is heard of when in 755 Cynewolf, King of Wessex, was +murdered there by his kinsman Cyneheard, who was in his turn +killed by the Thanes of the victim. With this savage story +it first appears, but no more is known of its fate except that it +became the property of the Bishops of Winchester, some say by the +grant of Cynegyls, the first Christian King of Wessex, others by +a later gift. It was then a manor, to which Hurstleigh, the +woodland, was only an appendage; and the curious old manorial +rights and customs plainly go back to these ancient +præ-Norman times. To go through all the thirty +customs would be impossible, but it is worth noting that the +tenure of the lands descended by right to the youngest son in a +family instead of the eldest. Such “cradle +fiefs” exist in other parts of England, and in Switzerland, +on the principle that the elder ones go out into the world while +their father is vigorous, but the youngest is the stay of his old +age. The rents were at first paid in kind or in labour, +with a heriot, namely, the most valuable animal in stock on a +death, but these became latterly <!-- page 4--><a +name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>commuted for +quit rent and fines. The trees were carefully +guarded. Only one good timber tree on each holding in the +life-time of a tenant might be cut by the Lord of the Manor, and +the tenants themselves might only cut old rotten trees! But +this is as much as you will wish to hear of these old customs, +which prove that the Norman feudal system was kept out of this +Episcopal manor. It was not even mentioned in Domesday +Book, near as it was to Winchester. There it lay, +peacefully on its island of chalk down, shut in by the +well-preserved trees, till Stephen’s brother, Bishop Henry +de Blois, of Winchester, bethought him of turning the old Roman +Camp into a fortified castle. The three Norman kings had +wisely hindered the building of castles, but these sprung up like +mushrooms under the feeble rule of Stephen.</p> +<p>The tenants must have toiled hard, judging by the massiveness +of the small remnant, all built of the only material at hand, +chalk to make mortar, in which flints are imbedded.</p> +<p>This fragment still standing used to be considered as part of +the keep, but of late years better knowledge of the architecture +of castles has led to the belief that it was part of the northern +gateway tower. I borrow the description of the building +from one written immediately after the comments of a gentleman +who had studied the subject.</p> +<p>Henry de Blois, King Stephen’s brother, Bishop of +Winchester, probably wished for a stronghold near at hand, during +his brother’s wars with the Empress Maud. He would +have begun by having the nearly circular embankment thrown up +with a parapet along the top, and in the ditch thus formed a +stockade of sharp pointed stakes. Within the court, the +well, 300 feet deep, was dug, and round it would have been the +buildings needed by the Bishop, his household and guards, much +crowded together. The entrance would have been a +drawbridge, across the great ditch, which on this side was not +less than 60 feet wide and perhaps 25 deep, and through a great +gateway between two high square towers which must have stood +where now there is a slope leading down from the inner court, +into the southern <!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 5</span>one. This slope is probably +formed by the ruins of the gateway and tower being pitched into +the ditch.</p> +<p>The Castle was then very small, and did not command the +country except towards the south. The next work therefore +would be to throw out an embankment to the south, with a ditch +outside. The great gap whence Hursley House is seen, did +not then exist, but there was an unbroken semicircle of rampart +and ditch, which would protect a large number of men. In +case of an enemy forcing this place, the defenders could retreat +into the Castle by the drawbridge.</p> +<p>The entrance was on the eastern side, and in order to protect +this and the back (or northern side) of the Castle, an embankment +was thrown up outside the first moat, and with an outer moat of +its own. Then, as, in case of this being carried by the +enemy the defenders would be cut off from the main southern +gateway, a square tower was built on this outer embankment +exactly opposite to the ruin which yet remains, and only divided +from it by the great ditch. On either side of the tower, +cutting the embankment across therefore at right angles, was a +little ditch spanned by a drawbridge, which, if the defenders +found it necessary to retire to the tower, could at any time be +raised. The foundations of the tower and the position of +the ditch can still be distinctly traced.</p> +<p>Supposing farther that it became impossible to hold the tower, +the besieged could retreat into the main body of the Castle by +another drawbridge across the great ditch. This would lead +them through the arch which can still be seen in the ruin, though +it is partially blocked up. The room on the east side of +this passage was probably a guard room.</p> +<p>These are all the remains. The embankments to the south +and west command a great extent of country, and on the north and +northwest, we trace the precautions by the great depth of the +ditch, and steepness of the earthworks, though now overgrown with +trees. All this must have been done between the years 1138 +and 1154, and great part of the defences were thrown down in the +lifetime of the founder. <!-- page 6--><a +name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>Merdon was not +destined to shine in sieges, in spite of its strength. +Henry II came in, and forbad the multiplication of castles and +Merdon seems to have been dismantled as quickly as it had been +built.</p> +<p>The Bishops of Winchester however still seem to have resided +there from time to time, though it gradually fell into decay, and +was ruinous by the end of the Plantagenet period.</p> +<p>After the younger Oliver’s death, his sisters +endeavoured to obtain the Hursley property to which their father +had succeeded as his son’s heir. He was past eighty +and the judge allowed him to wear his hat at the trial in court, +an act of consideration commended by Queen Anne.</p> +<p>After his death, in 1708, the estate was sold to the Heathcote +family. The old house, whose foundations can be traced on +the lawn, and which was approached by the two avenues of walnut +trees still standing, was then pulled down, and the present one +erected.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p6b.jpg"> +<img alt="Doorway of Old Church" src="images/p6s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Most likely the oldest thing in Otterbourne is the arch that +forms the doorway of the Boys’ School, and which came from +the door of the Old Church. By the carving on that arch, +and the form of the little clustered columns that support it, we +can tell that it must have been put up about the time of King +Richard I or King John, somewhere about the year 1200. +There was certainly a church before this date, but most likely +this was the first time that much pains had been taken about its +beauty, and carved stone had been brought from a distance. +It was a good spot that was chosen, lying a <!-- page 7--><a +name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>little above +the meadows, and not far from the moated Manor House. The +east wall of the nave is still standing, but it now forms the +west wall of the small remnant that is still covered in. It +still has three arches in it, to lead to the old chancel, and +above those arches there were some paintings. They came to +light when the Old Church was pulled down. First, a great +deal of plaster and whitewash came off. Then appeared part +of the Commandments in Old English black letter, and below that, +again, were some paintings, traced out in red upon the +wall. They have been defaced so much that all that could be +found out was that there was a quatrefoil shape within a +square. The corners were filled up apparently with the +emblems of the Four Cherubim, though only the Winged Ox showed +plainly. There was a sitting figure in the centre, with the +hand raised, and it was thought to be a very rude representation +of our Blessed Lord in Judgment. In another compartment was +an outline of a man, and another in a hairy garment, so that this +last may have been intended for the Baptism of our Blessed +Lord. Unfortunately, being on the outside wall, there was +no means of protecting these curious paintings, and, sad to say, +one evening, I myself saw a party of rough boys standing in a row +throwing stones at them. There being a pathway through the +churchyard, it was not possible to keep them out, and thus these +curious remains have been destroyed.</p> +<p>We may think of the people who resorted to the little Old +Church as wearing long gowns both men and women, on Sunday, spun, +woven, and dyed blue at home, most likely with woad, a plant like +mignonette which still grows in the lanes. The gentry were +in gayer colours, but most likely none lived nearer than +Winchester, and it was only when they plodded into market that +the people would see the long-hanging sleeves, the pointed hoods, +and the queer long-toed shoes of the young gentlemen, or the +towers that the ladies put on their heads.</p> +<p>The name of Otterbourne does not come forward in history, but, +as it lies so near Winchester, it must have had some share in +what happened in the Cathedral city. The next thing we know +about it is <!-- page 8--><a name="page8"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 8</span>that Bishop Edyngton joined it to +Hursley. William de Edyngton was Bishop of Winchester in +the middle part of the reign of Edward III, from 1357 to +1366. Bishop de Pontissara founded a College at Winchester +called St. Elizabeth’s, and to assist in providing for the +expenses, he decreed that the greater tithes of Hursley, those of +the corn fields, should be paid to the Dean and Chapter, and that +the rest of the tithe should go to the Vicar. Then, lest +the Vicar should be too poor, Otterbourne was to be joined with +Hursley, and held by the same parish priest, and this arrangement +lasted for five hundred years. It was made in times when +there was little heed taken to the real good of country +places. The arrangement was confirmed by his successor, +Bishop Edyngton, who lies buried in the nave of Winchester +Cathedral, not far from where lies the much greater man who +succeeded him. William of Wykeham went on with the work +Edyngton had begun, and built the pillars of the Cathedral nave +as we now see them. He also founded the two Colleges of St. +Mary, one at Winchester for 70 boys, one at Oxford to receive the +scholars as they grew older, meaning that they should be trained +up to become priests. It seems that the old name of the +field where the college stands was Otterbourne meadow, and that +it was bought of a Master Dummer. Bishop Wykeham’s +College at Oxford is still called New College, though there are +now many much newer. One small estate at Otterbourne was +given by him to help to endow Winchester College, to which it +still belongs.</p> +<p>Good men had come to think that founding colleges was the very +best thing they could do for the benefit of the Church, and +William of Waynflete, who was made Bishop of Winchester in 1447, +founded another college at Oxford in honour of St. Mary +Magdalen. To this College he gave large estates for its +maintenance, and in especial a very large portion of our long, +narrow parish of Otterbourne. Ever since his time, two of +the Fellows of Magdalen, if not the President himself, have come +with the Steward, on a progress through the estates every year to +hold their Court and give audit to all who hold lands of <!-- +page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +9</span>them Till quite recently the Court was always held at the +Manor House, the old Moat House, which must once have been the +principal house in the parish, though now it is so much gone to +decay. Old Dr. Plank, the President of Magdalen, used to +come thither in Farmer Colson’s time. What used to be +the principal room has a short staircase leading to it, and in +the wainscot over the fire-place is a curious old picture, +painted, I fancy, between 1600 and 1700, showing a fight between +turbaned men and European soldiers, most likely Turks and +Austrians. It is a pity that it cannot tell its +history. The moat goes all round the house, garden, and +farmyard, and no doubt used to have a drawbridge. Forty or +fifty years ago, it was clear and had fish in it, but the bridge +fell in and choked the stream, and since that it has become full +of reeds and a mere swamp. It must have been a really +useful protection in the evil times of the Wars of the Roses.</p> +<p>Most likely the Commandments were painted over the old fresco +on the east wall of the nave of the old Church either in the time +of Edward VI, or Elizabeth, for if they had been later, the +letters would not have been Old English. The foreigners who +meddled so much with our Church in the latter years of Edward VI +obtained that the Holy Communion should not be celebrated in the +chancels, but that the Holy Table should be spread in the body of +the Church, and many Chancels were thus disused and became +ruinous, as ours most certainly did at some time or other. +St. Elizabeth’s College was broken up and the place where +it stood given to the college of St. Mary. It is still +called Elizabeth Meadow. The presentation to the Cure of +our two parishes went with the estate of Hursley.</p> +<p>There was a very odd scene somewhere between Winchester and +Southampton in the year 1554. Queen Mary Tudor was waiting +at Winchester for her bridegroom, Philip of Spain. He +landed at Southampton on the morning of the 20th of July, and set +out in a black velvet dress, red cloak, and black velvet hat, +with a splendid train of gentlemen to ride to Winchester. +It was a very wet day, and the Queen sent a gentleman with a ring +from her, to beg him to come no <!-- page 10--><a +name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>farther in +the rain. But the gentleman knew no Spanish, and the King +no English. So Philip thought some warning of treachery was +meant, and halted in great doubt and difficulty till the +messenger recollected his French, and said in that tongue, that +the Queen was only afraid of his Grace’s getting wet. +So on went Philip, and the High Sheriff of Hampshire rode before +him with a long white wand in his hand, and his hat off, the rain +running in streams off his bare head. They went so slowly +as not to reach Winchester till six or seven o’clock in the +evening, so that the people of Otterbourne, Compton, and Twyford +must have had a good view of the Spanish Prince who was so +unwelcome to them all.</p> +<p>Thomas Sternhold, who together with Hopkins put the Psalms +into metre for singing, lived in the outskirts of Hursley.</p> +<p>When the plunder of the Monasteries was exhausted, the Tudor +Sovereigns, or perhaps their favourites, took themselves to +exacting gifts and grants from the Bishops, and thus Poynet who +was intended in the stead of Gardiner gave Merdon to Edward VI, +who presented it to Sir Philip Hobby. It was recovered by +Bishop Gardiner, but granted back again by Queen Elizabeth. +Sir Philip is believed to have first built a mansion at Hursley, +and his nephew sold the place to Sir Thomas Clarke, who was +apparently a hard lord of the manor. His tenants still had +to labour at his crops instead of paying rent, but provisions had +to be found them. About the year 1600, on the arrival of a +hogshead of porridge, unsavoury and full of worms, the reapers +struck, and their part was taken by Mr. Robert Coram, who then +owned Cranbury, so hotly that he and Mr. Pye, Sir Thomas +Clarke’s steward, rode at one another through the wheat +with drawn daggers. Lady Clarke yielded, and cooked two or +three bacon-hogs for the reapers.</p> +<p>The old road from Winchester to Southampton then went along +what we now call the Old Hollow, leading from Shawford Down to +Oakwood. Then it seems to have gone along towards the old +Church, its course being still marked by the long narrow meadows, +called the <!-- page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 11</span>Jar Mead and Hundred Acres, or, more +properly, Under an Acre. Then it led down to the ford at +Brambridge, for there was then no canal to be crossed. The +only great personage who was likely to have come along this road +in the early 17th century was King James the First’s wife, +Queen Anne of Denmark, who spent a winter at the old Castle of +Winchester, and was dreadfully dull there, though the ladies +tried to amuse her by all sorts of games, among which one was +called “Rise, Pig, and Go.”</p> +<p>James I gave us one of the best of Bishops, Lancelot Andrewes +by name, who wrote a beautiful book of devotions. He lived +on to the time of Charles I, and did much to get the ruins made +in the bad days round Winchester Cathedral cleared and set to +rights. Most likely he saw that the orders for putting the +altars back into their right places were carried out, and very +likely the chancel was then mended, but with no attention to +architecture, for the head of the east window was built up anyhow +with broken bits of tracery from a larger and handsomer +one. The heir of the Clarkes sold the property at Hursley +to Mr. Mayor, to whose only daughter Oliver Cromwell married his +son Richard.</p> +<p>What happened here in the Great Rebellion we do not +know. An iron ball was once dug up in the grounds at +Otterbourne House, which may have come from Oliver’s +Battery; but it is also said to be only the knob of an old pump +handle—</p> + +<blockquote><p> “When +from the guarded down<br /> +Fierce Cromwell’s rebel soldiery kept watch o’er +Wykeham’s town.<br /> +They spoiled the tombs of valiant men, warrior, and saint, and +sage;<br /> +But at the tomb of Wykeham good angels quenched their +rage.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Colonel Nathanael Fiennes prevented harm from being done to +the College or the monuments in the Cathedral; but there was some +talk of destroying that holy place, for I have seen a petition +from the citizens of Winchester that it might be spared. It +is said that some loyal person took out all the stained glass in +the great west window, hid it in a chest, and buried it; but when +better times came, it could not be restored to what it was +before, and was put in confusedly, as we now see it.</p> +<p><!-- page 12--><a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +12</span>Stoneham had a brave old clergyman, who kept possession +of his church and rectory all through the war, and went on with +the service till he died, no man daring to meddle with him. +But Otterbourne was sure to follow the fate of Hursley. The +King’s Head Inn at Hursley is thought to have been so +called in allusion to the death of King Charles I. A +strange compliment to the Cromwells.</p> +<p>Richard had a large family, most of whom died young, as may be +seen on their monument in Hursley Church. It was at this +time that the customs of the Manor were put on record in +writing. The son, Oliver, lived till 1705, and was +confounded in the country people’s minds with his +grandfather.</p> +<p>There is an odd, wild story, that Cromwell sunk all his +treasure in the great well at Merdon Castle, in Hursley Park, 300 +feet deep. It was further said, if it were drawn up again, +that no one must speak till it was safe, otherwise it would be +lost. A great chest was raised to the mouth of the well, +when one of the men said, “Here it comes!” The +rope broke, it fell back, and no one ever saw it more. Most +likely this is an old legend belonging to the Castle long before, +and only connected with Oliver Cromwell because he was an +historical person. Certain it is that when the well was +cleared out about 30 or 40 years ago nothing was found but two +curious old candlesticks, and a great number of pins, which had +been thrown down because they caused those curious reverberations +in the great depth. Another legend is that Merdon Well is +connected with the beautiful clear spring at Otterbourne called +Pole Hole or Pool Hole, so that when a couple of ducks were +thrown down the well, they came out at Pole Hole with all their +feathers scraped off.</p> +<p>It was in the time of the Commonwealth, in 1653, that our +first parish register begins. Some parishes have much older +ones, so, perhaps, ours may have been destroyed. The first +entry in this old parchment book is that Elizabeth, daughter of +Edward Cox, of Otterbourne, and Anne, his wife, was born +---. A large stain has made the rest of this entry +illegible. There are only three births in 1653, <!-- page +13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>and +seven in 1654, one of these William, son of Mr. William Downe, of +Otterbourne Farm, and Joane, his wife, is, however, marked with +two black lines beneath the entry, as are his sisters, Elizabeth +and Jane, 1656 and 1658, apparently to do honour to the principal +inhabitant.</p> +<p>It is to be observed that all the entries here are of births, +not of baptisms, departing from the general rule of Church +registers, and they are all in English; but in 1663 each child is +recorded as baptized, and the Latin language is used. This +looks much as if a regular clergyman, a scholar, too, had, after +the Restoration, become curate of the parish. He does not +sign his registers, so we do not know his name. In 1653 the +banns of William Downe and Jane Newman were published September +17th and the two Lord’s Days ensuing, but their wedding is +not entered, and the first marriage recorded is that of Matthew +Dummer and Jane Burt, in 1663. The first funeral was +Emelin, wife of Robert Purser, in 1653.</p> +<p>Also, there was plenty of brick-making, for King Charles II +had planned to build a grand palace at Winchester on the model of +the great French palace of Versailles, and it is said that Dell +copse was formed by the digging out of bricks for the +purpose. It was to reach all over the downs, with fountains +and water playing in them, and a great tower on Oliver’s +Battery, with a light to guide the ships in the Channel. +There is a story that Charles, who was a capital walker, +sometimes walked over from Southampton to look at his +buildings. One of the gentlemen who attended him let the +people at Twyford know who was going that way. So they all +turned out to look at him, which was what the King by no means +wished. So he avoided them, and punished his indiscreet +courtier by taking a run and crossing one of the broad streams +with a flying leap, then proceeding on to Winchester, leaving his +attendant to follow as best he might.</p> +<p>After all only one wing of the intended palace was +built. For a long time it was called the King’s +House, but now it is only known as the Barracks. The work +must have led to an increase in the population, <!-- page 14--><a +name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>for more +baptisms are recorded in the register, though not more than six +or seven in each year, all carefully set down in Latin, though +with no officiating minister named. There is an Augustine +Thomas, who seems to have had a large family, and who probably +was the owner of the ground on which the vicarage now stands, the +name of which used to be Thomas’s Bargain.</p> +<p>There must have been a great quickening of activity in +Otterbourne soon after the Restoration, for it was then that the +Itchen canal or barge river, as it used to be called, was dug, to +convey coals from Southampton, and, of course, this much improved +the irrigation of the water meadows. This canal was one of +the first made in England, and was very valuable for nearly two +hundred years, until the time of railways.</p> +<p>In 1690, a larger parchment register was provided, and every +two years it appears to have been shown up to the magistrates at +the Petty Sessions, and signed by two of them.</p> +<p>At this time there seem to have been some repairs of the +church. Certainly, a great square board painted with the +royal arms was then erected, for it bore the date 1698, and the +initials “W. M.” for William and Mary. There it +was, on a beam, above the chancel arch, and the lion and unicorn +on either side, the first with a huge tongue hanging out at the +corner of his mouth, looking very complacent, as though he were +displaying the royal arms, the unicorn slim and dapper with a +chain hanging from his neck.</p> +<p>Several of our old surnames appear about this time, Cox, +Comley, Collins, Goodchild, Woods, Wareham. John Newcombe, +Rector of Otterbourne, who afterwards became Bishop of Llandaff, +signs his register carefully, but drops the Latin, as various +names may be mentioned, Scientia, or Science Olden, Philadelphia +Comley, and Dennis Winter, who married William Westgate. +Anne and Abraham were the twin children of John and Anne Didimus, +in 1741.</p> +<p>The first church rate book only begins in 1776, but it is +curious as showing to whom the land then belonged. The +spelling is also odd, <!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 15</span>and as the handwriting is beautiful, +so there is no doubt that it really is an account of the Church +<i>Raiting</i>, nor that the “rait” was +“mead.” Walter Smythe, Esquire, of Brambridge, +appears, also John Colson John Comley, and Charles Vine. +Lincolns belonged to Mr. Kentish and Gun Plot to Thilman.</p> +<p>The expenditure begins thus:—April 9, 1776, “Pd. +Short for 6 dozen sparw heds,” and the sparw heds are +repeated all down the page, varied with what would shock the H. +H.—3<i>d.</i> for foxheads. Also “expenses ad +visitation” 9<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, and at the bottom of the +page, the parish is thus mentioned as creditor “out of +pockets, 5<i>s.</i> 1<i>d.</i>” In 1777 however, +though the vestry paid “Didums 1 badger’s head, 1 +polecat’s head; Hary Bell for 2 marten cats, and spares +innumerable, and the clarck warges, £1. 5<i>s.</i>, there +was £1. 3<i>s.</i> in hand.” The polecats and +marten cats were soon exterminated, but foxes, hedgehogs, and +sparrows continue to appear, though in improved spelling, till +April 24th, 1832, when this entry appears:—“At a +meeting called to elect new Churchwardens, present the Rev. R. +Shuckburgh, curate, and only one other person present, the +meeting is adjourned. Mr. Shuckburgh protests most strongly +against the disgraceful custom of appropriating money collected +for Church rates towards destroying vermin on the +farms.” And this put an end to the custom. +However, there were more rightful expenses. Before Easter +there is paid “for washan the surples” +4<i>s.</i> It would seem that the Holy Communion was +celebrated four times a year, and that the Elements were paid for +every time at 3<i>s.</i> 7<i>d.</i> In 1784, when there was +a great improvement in spelling, there were some repairs +done—“Paid for Communion cloth, 10 pence, and for +washing and marking it, 6p.” In 1786 there was a new +church bell, costing £5. 5<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i> Aaron +Chalk, whom some of the elder inhabitants may remember, a very +feeble old man walking with two sticks, was in that year one of +the foremost traders in sparrow heads. It gives a curious +sense of the lapse of time to think of those tottering limbs +active in bird catching.</p> +<p>May 2, in 1783, we find the entry “paid for the caraidge +of the old <!-- page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 16</span>bell and the new one downe from +London, 11<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i> May 22—Paid William +Branding bill for hanging the new bell, £1. +13<i>s.</i>” Altogether, at the end of the year, it +is recorded “the book in debt” £1. 11<i>s.</i>, +but “the disburstments,” as they are spelt, righted +themselves in 1784, when we find “paid for musick for the +use of the Church, £1. 1<i>s.</i> To George Neal for +whitewashing Church, £1. 1<i>s.</i>, George Neale, two +days’ work, 5<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i>, for work in the gallery, +19<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>, bill for tiles, 3<i>s.</i> +4<i>d.</i>”</p> +<p>The only connection Otterbourne has with any historical person +is not a pleasant one. The family of Smythe, Roman +Catholics, long held Brambridge, and they endowed a little Roman +Catholic Chapel at Highbridge. At one time, a number of +their tenants and servants were of the same communion, and there +is a note in the parish register by the curate to say that there +were several families at Allbrook and Highbridge whose children +he had not christened, though he believed they had been baptized +by the Roman Catholic priest. One of the daughters of the +Smythe family was the beautiful Mrs. Fitz-Herbert, whom the +Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV, was well known to have +privately married. He never openly avowed this, because by +the law made in the time of William III, a marriage with a Roman +Catholic disqualifies for the succession to the crown; besides +which, under George III, members of the royal family had been +prohibited from marrying without the King’s consent, and +such marriages were declared null and void. The story is +mentioned here because an idea has gone abroad that the wedding +took place in the chapel at Highbridge, but this is quite +untrue. The ceremony was performed at Brighton, and it is +curious that the story of it having happened here only began to +get afloat after the death of Mr. Newton, the last of the old +servants who had known Mrs. Fitz-Herbert. Walter Smythe, +her brother, was one of the <i>détenus</i> whom Napoleon I +kept prisoners, though only English travellers, on the rupture of +the Peace of Amiens. His brother, Charles, while taking +care of the estate, had all the lime trees in the avenue +pollarded, and sold the tops to make stocks for muskets.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p16b.jpg"> +<img alt="View near Hursley" src="images/p16s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 17--><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +17</span>In those days there was only a foot bridge across the +Itchen at Brambridge. Carts and carriages had to ford the +river, not straight across, but making a slight curve downwards; +this led to awkward accidents. There was a gentleman dining +with Mr. Walter Smythe, who was pressed to sleep at Brambridge, +but declined, saying that he liked to have all his little +comforts about him. When daylight came, the poor man was +found seated on the top of his chaise, the water flowing through +the windows below; for the post boy had taken a wrong turn, and, +being afraid to move, had been forced to remain in the river till +the morning. A far worse disaster befel the Newton family +on their way to a funeral. It is described by one of the +bearers: “When the cart turned over, the corpse was on the +foot bridge. It was a very wet day, and the wind was +blowing furiously at the time. It had a great effect on the +cart, as it was a narrow cart with a tilt on, and there was a +long wood sill at the side of the river. That dropping of +the sill caused the accident. I think there were five +females in the cart and the driver. The water was as much +as 4ft. deep and running very sharp, so myself and others went +into the water to fetch them out, and when we got to the cart +they were all on the top of the other, with their heads just out +of the water. They could not go on to church with the +corpse, and we had a very hard job to save the horse from being +drowned, as his head was but just out of the water.”</p> +<p>All through the time of the long war with France there was +here, as well as everywhere else around the coast, fear of a +landing of the French. The flat-bottomed boats to bring the +French over were actually ready at Boulogne, and the troops +mustered to come across in them. On our side, volunteers +were in training in case of need, and preparations were made for +sending off the women and children inland on the first news of +the enemy landing. Not very many years ago there were still +to be seen in a barn at Hursley the planks prepared to fit as +seats into the waggons that were to carry them away. And a +family living here are said to have kept everything packed up, +even the fireirons, and to have stirred up the fire with a stick +during a <!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 18</span>whole winter. However, by +God’s blessing and our fleets and armies, the danger was +kept from our doors.</p> +<p>With the activity that followed upon the peace came a great +deal of road-making. The present high road between +Winchester and Southampton was then made, and the way cut through +the hills—Otterbourne Hill and Compton Hill on either +side. This led to the main part of the inhabitants settling +in the village street, instead of round the old Church as +before. Another great road was made at the same +time—that which crosses Golden Common and leads ultimately +to Portsmouth. It used to be called Cobbett’s Road, +because William Cobbett, a clever, self-taught man, had much to +do with laying it out. Cobbett had a good many theories +which he tried to put into practice, some sensible, others +mistaken. The principal traces we see of him now are in the +trees that he planted, chiefly introduced from America. He +thought the robinia, or false acacia, would make good hedges, +because of its long thorns and power of throwing up suckers, and +many people planted them, but they proved too brittle to be of +much use, though some are still growing. He was a friend of +Mr. Harley, who then owned Otterbourne House, and planted many +curious trees there, of which two long remained—a hickory +nut and a large tree in the drive. There was also an oak +with enormous leaves, but it was planted so near the house that +it had to be moved, and died in consequence.</p> +<p>These roads were for the coaches. Young folks, who never +saw anything nearer approaching to a stage coach than the drags +some gentlemen keep, can hardly fancy what these stage coaches +were—tall vehicles, holding four inside passengers and at +least twelve outside and quantities of luggage. They were +drawn by four of the strongest and quickest horses that could be +procured, and these were changed about every five or six miles, +so as to keep up full speed. The coachman, generally a big, +burly man, with a face reddened by exposure to the weather, and +often by a glass of ale at every stage, sat on the box in a drab +coat, with many capes one over the other. The seat next to +him was the favourite one with the passengers, and gentlemen +would sometimes <!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 19</span>bribe coachmen to let them drive; +nay, some gentlemen actually took to the trade themselves. +There was also a guard, who in mail coaches took care of the post +bags, and dropped them at the places where they were intended +for. In the days when highwaymen infested the roads the +guard had carried pistols, and still the guard of the mail wore a +red coat, and blew a horn on entering any place to warn the +people to bring out their post bags and exchange them for +others.</p> +<p>One or two coaches kept their horses at the White Horse, so as +to be fresh for going up the hill, others at the Cricketers, +while others changed at Compton and the New Hut. Some of +the stables still remain, converted into cottages. The +horses were fine animals, beautifully kept; but the habit of +hanging about public-houses to attend to them was not good for +the ostlers and people concerned. About fifteen coaches +came through this place in the morning, and their fellows in the +evening, each proprietor keeping two coaches, starting from the +two opposite ends at the same time. There was the Mail, the +Telegraph, the Independent, the Red Rover, the Hirondelle, all +London coaches, besides the Oxford coach and some that only ran +between Winchester and Southampton. The driver and owner of +one, Mason’s coach, was only a few years ago living +here. When people intended to go on a journey, they booked +their places a day or two beforehand, but for short journeys or +going into Winchester they would watch for a vacant space in a +coach as it passed by.</p> +<p>It is odd to look back at an old article in a quarterly review +describing coach travelling as something so swift and complete +that it could not be surpassed in its perfection. Yet +accidents with the spirited horses and rapid driving were not +uncommon, and a fall from an overloaded coach was a dangerous +thing.</p> +<p>When the mail went by coach the sending of letters and parcels +could not but be expensive. Heavy goods travelled by +waggon, barge, or ship, parcels went by carriers or by coaches, +and nothing could be posted but what was quite light. So +postage was very expensive, and it is strange to look back on the +regulations connected with it. Our <!-- page 20--><a +name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>readers under +forty years old will hardly believe the rates that were paid for +postage, varying according to distance. There was a company +in London that carried letters from one part of that town to +another for twopence apiece, and this was the cheapest post in +England. A letter from London to Otterbourne cost +eightpence, and one from Winchester either threepence or +fourpence, one from Devonshire elevenpence, and this was paid not +by the sender, but by the receiver. It was reckoned +impolite to prepay a letter. Moreover, the letter had to be +on a single sheet. The sheet might be of any size that +could be had, but it must be only one. A small sheet +enclosed within another, or the lightest thing, such as a lock of +hair or a feather, made it a double letter, for which double +postage had to be given. The usual custom was to write on +quarto sheets twice the size of what is used now, and, after +filling three sides, to fold the fourth, leaving a space for the +direction and the seal, and then to write on the flaps and in the +space over “My dear ---,” sometimes crossing the +writing till the whole letter was chequer work. For if the +letter was to cost the receiver so much, it seemed fair to let +him get as much as possible. Letters were almost always +sealed, and it took neat and practised hands to fold and seal +them nicely, without awkward corners sticking out.</p> +<p>Newspapers, if folded so as to show the red Government stamp, +went for a penny, but nothing might be put into them, and not a +word beyond the address written on them. The reason of all +this was that the cost of carriage was then so great that it +could only be made to answer by those high rates, and by +preventing everything but real letters and newspapers from being +thus taken. As Government then, as now, was at the expense +of postage, its own correspondence went free, and therefore all +Members of Parliament had the privilege of sending letters +freely. They were allowed to post eleven a day, which might +contain as much as would weigh an ounce, without charge, if they +wrote the date at the top and their name in the right hand +corner. This was called franking, and plenty of letters by +no means on public business travelled in that way.</p> +<p><!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +21</span>There was no post office in Otterbourne till between +1836 and 1840; for, of course there were few letters written or +received, and thus it did not seem to many persons worth while +for village children to learn to write. If they did go into +service at a distance from home, their letters would cost more +than their friends could afford to pay. This was a sad +thing, and broke up and cut up families very much more than any +distance does now. It really is easier to keep up +intercourse with a person in America or even New Zealand now, +than it was then with one in Scotland, Northumberland, or +Cornwall; for travelling was so expensive that visits could +seldom be made, and servants could not go to their homes unless +they were within such a short distance as to be able to travel by +coach or by carrier’s cart, or even walking all the way, +getting a cast now and then by a cart.</p> +<p>People who did not travel by coaches, or who went where there +was no coach, hired post-chaises, close carriages something like +flies. Most inns, where the coaches kept their horses, +possessed a post-chaise, and were licensed to let out post horses +for hire. Most of the gentlefolks’ families kept a +close carriage called a chariot, and, if they did not keep horses +of their own, took a pair of post-horses, one of which was ridden +by a man, who, whatever might be his age, was always called a +post-boy. Some inns dressed their post-boys in light blue +jackets, some in yellow ones, according to their politics, but +the shape was always the same; corduroy tights, top boots, and +generally white (or rather drab-coloured) hats. It used to +be an amusement to watch whether the post-boy would be a blue or +a yellow one at each fresh stage. Hardly any one knows what +a post-boy was like now, far less an old-fashioned travelling +carriage or chariot and its boxes.</p> +<p>The travelling carriage was generally yellow. It had two +good seats inside, and a double one had a second seat, where two +persons sat backwards. The cushion behind lifted up and +disclosed a long narrow recess called the swordcase, because, +when there were highwaymen on the roads, people kept their +weapons there. There were <!-- page 22--><a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>sometimes +two, sometimes one seat outside, called the box and the +dickey—much the pleasantest places, for it was very easy to +feel sick and giddy inside. A curved splashboard went up +from the bottom of the chariot to a level with the window, and +within it fitted what was called the cap box, with a curved +bottom, so that when in a house it had to be set down in a frame +to hold it upright. A big flat box, called the imperial, in +which ladies put their dresses, was on the top of the carriage, +two more long, narrow ones, generally used for shoes and linen, +fitted under the seat, and another square one was hung below the +dickey at the back, and called the drop box. Such a +mischance has been known as, on an arrival, a servant coming in +with the remains of this black box between his arms, +saying—“Sir, should not this box have a bottom to +it?” The chariot thus carried plenty of goods, and +was a sort of family home on a journey. To go to Plymouth, +which now can be done in six or seven hours, then occupied two +long days, halting for the night to sleep at an inn.</p> +<h2>The Old Church</h2> +<p>Some of us can still remember the old Church and the old +Sunday habits prevailing before 1830. The Churchyard was +large and very pretty, though ill kept, surrounded with a very +open railing, and with the banks sloping towards the water +meadows clothed with fine elm trees—one with a large and +curious excrescence on the bark. There was a deep porch on +the south side of the Church, with seats on each side. +Then, on red tiles, one entered between two blocks of pews of old +brown unpainted oak (their doors are panels to the roof of the +boys’ school). In the space between them were two or +three low benches for the children. There were three arches +leading to the chancel, but that on the south side was closed by +the pulpit and reading desk, and that on the north by a square +pew belonging to Cranbury. Within the chancel on the north +side was a large pew lined with red, belonging <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>to Cranbury, +and on the south, first the clerk’s desk, then a narrow +seat of the clergyman’s, and then a large square pew. +Boys in the morning and men in the afternoon used to sit on the +benches placed outside these, and beyond was the rail shutting in +the Altar, which was covered with red cloth, and stood below a +large window, on each side of which were the Commandments in +yellow letters on a blue ground, and on the wall were painted the +two texts, “The Cup of Blessing, is it not the Communion of +the Blood of Christ?” and “The Bread which we break, +is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ?” The +vestry was built out to the north, and was entered from the +sanctuary.</p> +<p>Further space was provided by two galleries, one on the north +side, supported on iron poles, and entered from the outside by a +step ladder studded with large square-headed nails to prevent it +from being slippery. The other went across the west end, +and was entered by a dark staircase leading up behind the pews, +which further led to the little square weather-boarded tower +containing two beautifully toned bells. These were rung +from the outer gallery where the men sat. There was a part +boarded off for the singers. The Font was nearly under the +gallery. It was of white marble, and still lines our +present Font. Tradition says it was given by a former +clerk, perhaps Mr. Fidler, but there is no record of it. An +older and much ruder Font was hidden away under the gallery +stairs close to an old chest, where women sometimes found a seat, +against the west wall.</p> +<p>In those days, now more than half a century ago, when +Archdeacon Heathcote was Vicar, he or his Curate used to ride +over from Hursley on Sunday for the service at Otterbourne. +There was only one service, alternately in the morning and +afternoon, at half-past ten or at three, or in the winter at +half-past two. The time was not much fixed, for on a new +comer asking when the service would take place, the answer was +“at half-past two, sir, or at three, or else no time at +all,” by which was meant no exact hour or half-hour. +This uncertainty led to the bells never being rung till the +minister was seen turning the <!-- page 24--><a +name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>corner of +Kiln-lane, just where the large boulder stone used to be. +The congregation was, however, collecting, almost all the men in +white smocks with beautifully worked breasts and backs, the more +well-to-do in velveteen; the women in huge bonnets. The +elder ones wore black silk or satin bonnets, with high crowns and +big fronts, the younger ones, straw with ribbon crossed over, +always with a bonnet cap under. A red cloak was the regular +old women’s dress, or a black or blue one, and sometimes a +square shawl, folded so as to make a triangle, over a gown of +stuff in winter, print in summer. A blue printed cotton +with white or yellow sprays was the regular week day dress, and +the poorest wore it on Sundays. The little girls in the +aisle had the like big coarse straw bonnets, with a strip of +glazed calico hemmed and crossed over for strings, round tippets, +and straight print frocks down to their feet. The boys were +in small smocks, of either white or green canvas, with fustian or +corduroy jackets or trowsers below, never cloth. Gloves and +pocket handkerchiefs were hardly known among the children, hardly +an umbrella, far less parasols or muffs. Ladies had +pelisses for out-of-door wear, fitting close like ulsters, but +made of dark green or purple silk or merino, and white worked +dresses under them in summer.</p> +<p>Well, the congregation got into Church—three families by +the step ladder to one gallery, and the men into another, where +the front row squeezed their knees through the rails and leant on +the top bar, the rest of the world in the pews, and the children +on benches. The clerk was in his desk behind the reading +desk—good George Oxford, with his calm, good, gentle face, +and tall figure, sadly lame from rheumatism caught when working +in the brick kilns. His voice was always heard above the +others in the responses, but our congregation never had dropped +the habit of responding, and, though there was no chanting, the +Amens and some of the Versicles used to have a grand full musical +sound peculiar to that Church. People also all turned to +the east for the Creed, few knelt, but some of the elder men +stood during the prayers, and, though there was far too much +<i>sitting down</i> during the <!-- page 25--><a +name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>singing, +every body got up and stood, if “Hallelujah” +occurred, as it often did in anthems.</p> +<p>There were eight or ten singers, and they had a bassoon, a +flute, and a clarionet. They used to sing before the +Communion Service in the morning, after the Second Lesson in the +afternoon, and before each Sermon. Master Oxford had a good +voice, and was wanted in the choir, so as soon as the General +Thanksgiving began, he started off from his seat, and might be +heard going the length of the nave, climbing the stairs, and +crossing the outer gallery. Sometimes he took his long +stick with him, and gave a good stripe across the straw bonnet of +any particularly naughty child. In the gallery he +proclaimed—“Let us sing to the praise and glory of +God in the Psalm,” then giving the first line.</p> +<p>The Psalms were always from the New or Old Versions. A +slate with the number in chalk was also hung out—23 O.V., +112 N.V., as the case might be. About four verses of each +were sung, the last lines over and over again, some very oddly +divided. For instance—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Shall fix the place where we must dwell,<br +/> +The pride of Jacob, His delight,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>was sung thus:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“The pride of Ja—the pride of +Ja—the pride of Ja—” (at least three times +before the line was ended).</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But rough as these were, some of these Psalms were very dear +to us all, specially the old twenty-third:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“My Shepherd is the living Lord,<br /> + Nothing, therefore, I need,<br /> +In pastures fair, by pleasant streams<br /> + He setteth me to feed.</p> +<p>He shall convert and glad my soul,<br /> + And bring my soul in frame<br /> +To walk in paths of holiness,<br /> + For His most Holy Name.</p> +<p>I pass the gloomy vale of death,<br /> + From fear and danger free;<br /> +For there His guiding rod and staff<br /> + Defend and comfort me.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +26</span>Another much-loved one was the 121st:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“To Zion’s hill I lift my eyes,<br /> + From thence expecting aid,<br /> +From Zion’s hill and Zion’s God,<br /> + Who heaven and earth hath made.</p> +<p>Sheltered beneath the Almighty’s wings,<br /> + Thou shall securely rest,<br /> +Where neither sun nor moon shall thee<br /> + By day nor night molest.</p> +<p>Then thou, my soul, in safety rest,<br /> + Thy Guardian will not sleep,<br /> +His watchful care, that Israel guards,<br /> + Shall Israel’s monarch keep.</p> +<p>At home, abroad, in peace or war,<br /> + Thy God shall thee defend,<br /> +Conduct thee through life’s pilgrimage,<br /> + Safe to thy journey’s end.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Will the sight of these lines bring back to any one the old +tune, the old sounds, the old sights of the whitewashed Church, +and old John Green in the gallery, singing with his bass voice, +with all his might, his eyebrows moving as he sung? And +then the Commandments and Ante-Communion read not from the Altar, +but the desk; the surplice taken off in the desk instead of the +Vestry; Master Oxford’s announcements shouted out from his +place, generally after the Second Lesson—“I hereby +give notice that a Vestry Meeting will be held on Tuesday, at +twelve o’clock, to make a new rate for the relief of the +poo-oor.” “I hereby give notice that Evening +Service will be at half-past two as long as the winter days are +short.” Well, we should think these things odd now, +and we have much to be thankful for in the changes; but there +were holy and faithful ones then, and Master Oxford was one of +them.</p> +<p>In the days here described, from 1820 to 1827, few small +villages had anything but dame schools, and Otterbourne children, +such as had any schooling at all, were sent to Mrs. Yates’s +school on the hill, where she sat, the very picture of the +old-fashioned mistress, in her black silk bonnet, with the +children on benches before her, and her rod at hand.</p> +<p><!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +27</span>Several families, however, did not send the children to +school at all, and there were many who could not read, many more +who could not write, and there was very little religious +teaching, except that in the Sunday afternoons in Lent, the +catechism was said in Church by the best instructed children, but +without any explanation.</p> +<p>About the year 1819 Mrs. Bargus and her daughter came to live +at Otterbourne, and in 1822 Miss Bargus married William Crawley +Yonge, who had retired from the army, after serving in the +Peninsula and at Waterloo. Both Mr. and Mrs. Yonge had +clergymen for their fathers, and were used to think much of the +welfare of their neighbours. It was not, however, till 1823 +that Mrs. Yonge saw her way to beginning a little Sunday School +for girls, teaching it all by herself, in a room by what is now +Mr. J. Misselbrook’s house. While there was still +only one Service on Sundays, she kept the school on the vacant +half of the day, reading the Psalms and Lessons to the children, +who were mostly biggish girls. This was when Archdeacon +Heathcote was the Vicar of Hursley and Otterbourne, and the Rev. +Robert Shuckburgh was his Curate. Archdeacon and Mrs. +Heathcote, who were most kind and liberal, gave every help and +assisted in setting up the Clothing Club.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yonge’s first list of Easter prizes contains twenty +names of girls, and the years that have passed have left but few +of them here. A large Bible bound in plain brown leather +was the highest prize; Prayer Books, equally unornamented, New +Testaments, and Psalters, being books containing only the Psalms +and Matins and Evensong, were also given, and were then, perhaps, +more highly valued than the dainty little coloured books every +one now likes to have for Sunday. Then there were frocks, +coarse straw bonnets, and sometimes pocket handkerchiefs, for +these were not by any means such universal possessions as could +be wished, and only came out on Sunday. As to gloves, silk +handkerchiefs, parasols, muffs, or even umbrellas, the children +thought them as much out of their reach as a set of pearls or +diamonds, but what was worse, their outer clothing <!-- page +28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>was +very insufficent, seldom more than a thin cotton frock and +tippet, and the grey duffle cloaks, which were thought a great +possession, were both slight and scanty.</p> +<p>About 1826, Mrs. Yonge was looking at the bit of waste land +that had once served as a roadway to the field at the back of +Otterbourne House, when she said, “How I wish I had money +enough to build a school here.” “Well,” +said Mrs. Bargus, “You shall have what I can +give.” The amount was small, but with it Mr. Yonge +contrived to put up one room with two new small ones at the back, +built of mud rough cast, and with a brick floor, except for the +little bedroom being raised a step, and boarded.</p> +<p>The schoolroom was intended to hold all the children who did +not go to Mrs. Yates, both boys and girls, and it was sufficient, +for, in the first place, nobody from Fryern-hill came. Mrs. +Green had a separate little school there. Then the age for +going to school was supposed to be six. If anyone sent a +child younger, the fee was threepence instead of a penny. +The fee for learning writing and arithmetic was threepence, for +there was a general opinion that they were of little real use, +and that writing letters would waste time (as it sometimes +certainly does). Besides this, the eldest daughter of a +family was always minding the baby, and never went to school; and +boys were put to do what their mothers called “keeping a +few birds” when very small indeed, while other families +were too rough to care about education so that the numbers were +seldom over thirty.</p> +<p>There were no such people as trained mistresses then. +The National Society had a school for masters, but they were +expensive and could only be employed in large towns; so all that +could be looked for was a kind, motherly, good person who could +read and do needlework well. And the first mistress was +Mrs. Creswick, a pleasant-looking person with a pale face and +dark eyes, who had been a servant at Archdeacon +Heathcote’s, and had since had great troubles. She +did teach the Catechism, reading, and work when the children were +tolerably good and obeyed her, but boys were a great deal too +much <!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +29</span>for her, and she had frail health, and such a bad leg +that she never could walk down the lane to the old Church. +So, after Sunday School, the children used to straggle down to +Church without anyone to look after them, and sit on the benches +in the aisle and do pretty much what they pleased, except when +admonished by Master Oxford’s stick.</p> +<p>Mr. Shuckburgh had by this time come to reside in the parish, +in the house which is now the post-office, and there was at last +a double Service on the Sunday.</p> +<p>The next thing was to consider what was to be done about the +boys, who could not be made to mind Mrs. Creswick. A row of +the biggest sat at the back of the school, with their heels to +the wall, and by constant kicking had almost knocked a hole +through the mud wall; so the Vicar, who was now the +Archdeacon’s son, the Rev. Gilbert Wall Heathcote, gave +permission for the putting up another mud and rough cast school +house near the old Church, for the boys, in an empty part of the +Churchyard to the north-east, where no one had ever been +buried.</p> +<p>However, there Master Oxford was installed as schoolmaster, +coming all the way down from his house on the hill (a +pretty-timbered cottage, now pulled down). He and his boys +had a long way to walk to their school, but he taught them all he +knew and set them a good example. The boys were all +supposed to go to him at six years old, and most were proud of +the promotion. One little fellow was known to go to bed an +hour or two earlier that he might be six years old the +sooner! But some dreaded the good order enforced by the +stick. There was one boy in particular, who had outgrown +the girls’ school, and was very troublesome there. He +would not go to the boys’, and his mother would not make +him, saying she feared he would fall into the water. +“Well,” said Mrs. Bargus, who was a most bright, +kindly old lady of eighty, “I’ll make him +go.” So she took a large piece of yellow glazed +calico intended for furniture lining, walked up to school, and +held it up to the little boy. She said she heard that he +would only go to the girls’ school, and, since everybody +went there in <!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 30</span>petticoats, she had brought some +stuff to make him a petticoat too! The young man got up and +walked straight off to the boys’ school.</p> +<p>Here are some verses, written by Mrs. Yonge in 1838, on one of +the sights that met her eye in the old Churchyard:—</p> +<blockquote><p>While on the ear the solemn note<br /> +Of prayer and praises heavenward float,<br /> +A butterfly with brilliant wings<br /> +A lesson full of meaning brings,<br /> + A sermon to the +eye.</p> +<p>There on an infant’s grave it stands,<br /> +For it hath burst the shroud’s dull bands,<br /> +Its vile worm’s body there is left,<br /> +Of gross earth’s habits now bereft<br /> + It soars into +the sky.</p> +<p>Thus when the grave her dead shall give<br /> +The little form below shall live,<br /> +Clothed in a robe of dazzling white<br /> +Shall spring aloft on wings of light,<br /> + To realms above +shall fly!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Changes were setting in all this time. The +rick-burnings, in which so many foolish persons indulged, was +going on in 1831 in many parts of Hampshire. They were +caused partly by dislike to the threshing machines that were +beginning to be used, and partly by the notion that such +disturbances would lead to the passing of the Reform Bill, which +ignorant men believed would give every poor man a fat pig in his +stye. There was no rick-burning here, though some of the +villagers joined the bands of men who wandered about the country +demanding money and arms at the large houses. But, happily, +none of them were actually engaged in any violence, and none of +them swelled the calendar of the Special Assize that took place +at Winchester for the trial of the rioters.</p> +<p>One poor maid-servant in the parish, from the North of +Hampshire, had, however, two brothers, who were intelligent men +of some education, and who, having been ringleaders, were both +sentenced to death. The sentence was, however, commuted to +transportation for life. At Sydney, being of a very +different class from the ordinary <!-- page 31--><a +name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>convict, they +prospered greatly, and their letters were very interesting. +They were wonderful feats of penmanship, for postage from +Australia was ruinously expensive, and they filled sheets of +paper with writing that could hardly be read without a +microscope. If we had those letters now they would be +curious records of the early days of the Colony, but all now +recollected is the account of a little kangaroo jumping into a +hunter’s open shirt, thinking it was his mother’s +pouch.</p> +<p>The Reform Bill, after all, when passed made no present +difference in Otterbourne life—nothing like the difference +that a measure a few years after effected, namely, the Poor-law +Amendment Bill. Not many people here remember the days of +the old Poor-law, when whatever a pauper family wanted was +supplied from the rates, and thus an idle man often lived more at +his ease on other people’s money than an industrious man on +his own earnings. It was held that if wages were small they +might be helped out of the rates, and thus the ratepayers were +often ruined. In the midst of the street stood the old +Poorhouse. It had no governor nor anyone to see that order +was kept or work done there, and everybody that was homeless, or +lazy, or disreputable, drifted in there. They went in and +out as they pleased, and had a weekly allowance of money. +Now and then there was a great row among them. One room was +inhabited by an old man named Strong, who was considered a wonder +because he ate adders cut up like eels and stewed with a bit of +bacon. Every now and then a message would come in that old +Strong had got a couple of nice adders and wanted a bit of bacon +to cook with them. Then there was a large family whose +father never worked for any one long together, and lived in the +Workhouse, with a wife and six or seven children, supported by +the parish. These people were pursuaded to go to +Manchester, where there was sure to be work in the factories for +all their many girls. The men in receipt of parish pay were +supposed to have work found for them on the roads, but there was +not much of this to employ them, and as they were paid all the +same whether they worked or not, some were said to hammer the +stones as if they were <!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 32</span>afraid of hurting them, or to make +the wheeling a couple of barrows of chalk their whole day’s +work.</p> +<p>A good deal depended on the vestry management of each parish, +and there was less of flagrant idleness supported by the rates +here than at many places. There was also a well-built and +arranged Workhouse at Hursley, and the Poor law Commissioners +consented to make one small Union of Hursley, Otterbourne, +Farley, and Baddesley, instead of throwing them into a large +one.</p> +<p>The discontinuance of out-door relief to help out the wages +was a great shock at first, but, when the ratepayers were no +longer weighed down, they could give more work and better wages, +and the labourers thus profited in the end, and likewise began to +learn more independence. Still the times were hard +then. Few families could get on unless the mother as well +as the father did field work, and thus she had no time to attend +thoroughly to making home comfortable, mending the clothes, or +taking care of the little ones. The eldest girl was kept at +home dragging about with the baby, and often grew rough as well +as ignorant, and the cottage was often very little cared +for. The notion of what was comfortable and suitable was +very different then.</p> +<p>The country began to be intersected by railways, and the +South-Western line was marked out to Southampton. The +course was dug out from Shawford and Compton downs, and the +embankment made along our valley. It was curious to see the +white line creeping on, as carts filled with chalk ran from the +diggings to the end, tipped over their contents, and returned +again. When the foundations were dug for the arch spanning +the lane the holes filled with water as fast as they were made, +and nothing could be done till the two long ditches had been dug +to carry off the water to Allbrook. In the course of making +them in the light peaty earth, some bones of animals and (I +believe) stags’ horns were found, but unluckily, were +thrown away, instead of being shown to anyone who would have made +out from them much of the history of the formation of the boggy +earth that forms the water meadows.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p32b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Old Church, Otterbourne" src="images/p32s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +33</span>It is amusing to remember the kind of dread that was +felt at first of railway travelling. It was thought that +the engines would blow up, and, as an old coachman is reported to +have said, “When a coach is overturned, there you are; but +when an engine blows up, where are you?” He certainly +was so far right that a coach accident was fatal to fewer persons +than a railway accident generally is.</p> +<p>The railway passed so near the old Church that the noise of +the trains would be inconvenient on Sundays. At least, so +thought those with inexperienced ears, though many a Church has +since been built much nearer to the line. However, this +fixed the purpose that had already been forming, of endeavouring +to build a new Church. The first idea had been of trying to +raise £300 to enlarge the old Church, but the distance from +the greater part of the parish was so inconvenient, and the +railroad so near, that the building of a new Church was finally +decided on. There really was not room for the men and boys +at the same time on the backless forms they occupied between the +pews in the chancel. Moreover, if a person was found +sitting in a place to which another held that he or she had a +right, the owner never thought of looking for another place +elsewhere, and the one who was turned out went away displeased, +and declared that it was impossible to come to church for fear of +“being upset.” It is strange and sad that +people are so prone to forget what our Master told us about +“taking the highest room,” even in His own House.</p> +<p>But besides the want of accommodation, the old Church was at +an inconvenient distance from the parish. No doubt there +had once been more houses near, but when the cottage inhabited by +old Aaron Chalk was pulled down, nothing remained near but +Otterbourne Farm and the Moat House. Every one living +elsewhere had to walk half a mile, some much more, and though +Kiln Lane was then much better shaded with fine trees than it is +now, it was hard work on a hot or wet Sunday to go twice. +Some of us may recollect one constant churchgoer, John Rogers, +who was so lame as to require two sticks to walk with, and had to +set out an hour beforehand, yet who seldom missed.</p> +<p><!-- page 34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +34</span>Just at this time the Reverend John Keble became Vicar +of Hursley, and Otterbourne, and forwarded the plan of church +building with all his might.</p> +<p>Few new churches had been built at that time, so that there +was everything to be learnt, while subscriptions were being +collected from every quarter. Magdalen College, at Oxford, +gave the site as well as a handsome subscription, and every +endeavour was made to render the new building truly church +like. It was during the building that Dr. Rowth, the +President of Magdalen College, coming to hold his court at the +Moat House, had the model of the church brought out to him and +took great interest in it. He is worth remembering, for he +was one of the wisest and most learned men in Oxford, and he +lived to be nearly a hundred years old. Church building was +a much more difficult thing then than it is now, when there are +many architects trained in the principles of church building, and +materials of all kinds are readily provided.</p> +<p>The cross form was at once fixed on as most suitable; and the +little bell turret was copied from one at a place called +Corston. Mr. Owen Carter, an architect at Winchester, drew +the plans, with the constant watching and direction of Mr. Yonge, +who attended to every detail. The white stone, so fit for +carving decorations, which had been used in the Cathedral, is +imported from Caen, in Normandy. None had been brought over +for many years, till a correspondence was opened with the people +at the quarries, and blocks bought for the reredos and +font. Now it is constantly used.</p> +<p>The panels of the pulpit, with the carvings of the Blessed +Virgin, and the four Latin fathers, SS. Ambrose, Augustine, +Jerome, and Gregory the Great, were found in a shop for +antiquities in London. The shape was adapted to a sounding +board, which had been made for the Cathedral, but was rejected +there. The altar-rail also was found in a shop. It +must previously have been in a church, as it has the sacramental +corn and grapes. It is thought to be old Flemish work, and +represents a prince on one side with a crown laid down, as <!-- +page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +35</span>he kneels in devotion, and some ladies on the opposite +side. The crown is an Emperor’s, and there is the +collar of the Golden Fleece round his neck, so that it is +probably meant for either the Emperor Maximilian or his grandson, +Charles V. One of the gentlemen kneeling behind the Emperor +has a beautiful face of adoration.</p> +<p>The building of the Church took about two years, the first +stone being laid at the north-east corner. It was begun on +the 16th of May, 1837, and it was ready for consecration on the +30th of July, 1839. The building had been prosperous, the +only accident being the crushing of a thumb when the pulpit was +set in its place.</p> +<p>The new boys’ school was built at the same time, the +archway of the south door of the old Church being used for the +doorway, so as to preserve the beautiful and peculiar decoration, +and the roof was lined with the doors and backs of the old +oak-pewing. In the flints collected for the building of +this and of the wall round the churchyard there was a water +wagtail’s nest in which a young cuckoo was reared, having, +of course, turned out the rightful nestling. Probably it +flew safely, for the last time it was seen its foster parents +were luring it out with green caterpillars held a little way from +the nest.</p> +<p>The expense of the building of the boys’ school and of a +new room for the girls was defrayed chiefly by a bazaar held at +Winchester. There were at that time no Education Acts nor +Government requirements, and the buildings would be deemed +entirely unfit at this time even for the numbers who then used +them, and who did not amount to more than between thirty and +forty boys and fifty or sixty girls and infants, together about a +third of the present numbers at school in Otterbourne and +Allbrook. Miss Tucker was then the mistress; Master Oxford +still the master.</p> +<p>The Church was consecrated on the 30th of July, 1839, by +Bishop Sumner, who preached a sermon on the text, “No man +careth for my soul,” warning us that we could not plead +such an excuse for ourselves, if we neglected to walk in the +right way.</p> +<p>One of the earliest funerals in the churchyard was that of +good old <!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 36</span>Oxford, old, as he was called, +because he was crippled by rheumatism, but he was only +fifty-two. He lies buried near the south gate of the +churchyard under a large slate recording his name.</p> +<p>He was followed in his office by Mr. William Stainer, who had +hitherto been known as a baker, living in the house which is now +Mr. James Godwin’s. His bread was excellent, and he +was also noted for what were called Otterbourne buns, the art of +making which seems to have gone with him. They were small +fair-complexioned buns, which stuck together in parties of three, +and when soaked, expanded to twice or three times their former +size. He used to send them once or twice a week to +Winchester. But though baking was his profession, he did +much besides. He was a real old-fashioned herbalist, and +had a curious book on the virtues of plants, and he made +decoctions of many kinds, which he administered to those in want +of medicine. Before the Poor Law provided Union doctors, +medical advice, except at the hospital, was almost out of reach +of the poor. Mr. and Mrs. Yonge, like almost all other +beneficent gentlefolks in villages, kept a medicine chest and +book, and doctored such cases as they could venture on, and Mr. +Stainer was in great favour as practitioner, as many of our elder +people can remember. He was exceedingly charitable and +kind, and ready to give his help so far as he could. He was +a great lover of flowers, and had contrived a sort of little +greenhouse over the great oven at the back of his house, and +there he used to bring up lovely geraniums and other flowers, +which he sometimes sold. He was a deeply religious and +devout man, and during Master Oxford’s illness took his +place in Church, which was more important when there was no choir +and the singers sat in the gallery. He was very happy in +this office, moving about on felt shoes that he might make no +noise, and most reverently keeping the Church clean and watching +over it in every way. He also continued in the post of +schoolmaster, which at first he had only taken temporarily, +giving up part of his business to his nephew. But he still +sat up at night baking, and he also had other troubles: there was +insanity in his family, and he was much harassed.</p> +<p><!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +37</span>His kindness and simplicity were sometimes abused. +He never had the heart to refuse to lend money, or to deny bread +on credit to hopeless debtors; and altogether debts, distress, +baking all night, and school keeping all day, were too much for +him. The first hint of an examination of his school +completed the mischief, and he died insane. It is a sad +story, but many of us will remember with affectionate regard the +good, kind, quaint, and most excellent little man. By that +time our schoolmistress was Mrs. Durndell, the policeman’s +wife, a severe woman, but she certainly made the girls do +thoroughly whatever she taught, especially repetition and +needlework.</p> +<p>The examiner on religious subjects, Mr. Allen, afterwards an +Archdeacon, reported that the girls had an unusual knowledge of +the text of Scripture, but that he did not think them equally +intelligent as to the meaning.</p> +<p>Daily Service had been commenced when the new Church was +opened, and the children of the schools attended it. There +was also a much larger congregation of old men than have ever +come in later years. At one time there were nine constantly +there. One of these, named Passingham, who used to ring the +bell for matins and evensong, was said to have been the strongest +man in the parish, and to have carried two sacks of corn over the +common on the top of the hill in his youth. He was still a +hearty old man at eighty-six, when after ringing the bell one +morning as usual, he dropped down on the hill in a fit and died +in a few seconds.</p> +<p>There was not much change for a good many years. In +1846, the Parsonage House was built and given to the living by +Mr. Keble. The stained glass of the south window of the +Church was given by the Reverend John Yonge, of Puslinch, Rector +of Newton Ferrers, in Devonshire, in memory of his youngest son, +Edmund Charles, who died at Otterbourne House in 1847. +Thirteen years previously, in 1834, the eldest son, James Yonge, +had likewise died at Otterbourne House. Both the brothers +lie buried here, one in the old churchyard, one in the new. +They are commemorated in their own church at Newton <!-- page +38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>by a +tablet with the inscription—“What I do thou knowest +not now, but thou shall know hereafter.”</p> +<p>In 1834 their father gave what made, as it were the second +foundation of the Lending Library, for there were about +four-and-twenty very serious books, given in Archdeacon +Heathcote’s time, kept in the vestry at the old +Church. They looked as if they had been read but only by +the elder people who liked a grave book, and there was nothing +there meant for the young people. So there were a good many +new books bought, and weekly given out at the Penny Club, with +more or less vigour, for the next thirty years or so.</p> +<p>The next public matter that greatly affected this place was +the Crimean War. It was a large proportion of our young men +who were more or less concerned in it. Captain Denzill +Chamberlayne in the Cavalry, Lieut. Julian B. Yonge, John +Hawkins, Joseph Knight, James and William Mason, and it was in +the midst of the hurry and confusion of the departure that the +death of Mr. W. C. Yonge took place, February 26th, 1854. +Three of those above mentioned lived to return home. +Captain Chamberlayne shared in the famous charge of the Light +Brigade, at Balaclava, when</p> +<blockquote><p>Into the jaws of death<br /> +Rode the six hundred:<br /> +Cannon to right of them,<br /> +Cannon to left of them,<br /> +Volleyed and thundered.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>His horse, Pimento, was killed under him, but he escaped +without a wound, and on his return home was drawn up to the house +by the people, and had a reception which made such an impression +on the children that when one was asked in school what a hero +was, she answered, “Captain Chamberlayne.”</p> +<p>John Hawkins, Joseph Knight, and William Mason died in the +Crimea. A tablet to commemorate them was built into the +wall of the churchyard, with the text—“It is good for +a man that he bear the yoke in his youth,” for the +discipline of the army had been very good for these youths, and, +therefore, this verse was chosen for them by Mr. Keble.</p> +<p><!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +39</span>The next event that concerned the parish much was the +death of the great and holy man who had been our rector for +thirty years. Mr. Keble died at Bournemouth on the 29th of +March, 1866. His manners and language were always so +simple, and his humility so great, that many of those who came in +contact with him never realized how great a man he was, not being +able to perceive that the very deepest thoughts might be clothed +in the plainest language. Some felt, in the words of the +poem,—</p> +<blockquote><p>“I came and saw, and having seen,<br /> + Weak heart! I drew offence<br /> +From thy prompt smile, thy humble mien,<br /> + Thy lowly diligence.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But none who really knew him could fail to be impressed with +the sense of his power, his wisdom, his love, and, above all, his +holiness; and his <i>Christian Year</i> will always be a fund of +consolation, full of suggestions of good and devotional thoughts +and deeds. Mrs. Keble, who was already very ill, followed +him to her rest on the 11th of May. It may be worth +remembering that the last time she wrote her name was a signature +to a petition against licensing marriage with a deceased +wife’s sister.</p> +<p>Sir William Heathcote then appointed the Reverend James G. +Young as Vicar of Hursley and Otterbourne. A fresh tide of +change began to set in. As times altered and population +increased, and as old things and people passed away, there were +various changes in the face of the village. The Government +requirements made it necessary to erect a new Girl’s +School, and land was permanently secured for the purpose, and +this was done chiefly by subscription among the inhabitants, +affording a room large enough for parish meetings and lectures, +as well as for its direct purpose. The subscription was as +a testimonial to the Rev. William Bigg-Wither, who had been +thirty years curate of the parish, and under whom many of the +changes for the better were worked out. The building was +provided with a tower, in case there should ever be a clock given +to the parish.</p> +<p>The clock was given in a manner worthy of remembrance. +Mr. <!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +40</span>William Pink, as a thatcher, and his two sisters in +service, had saved enough to provide for their old age, and to +leave a considerable overplus, out of which the last survivor, +Mrs. Elizabeth Pink, when passing away at a good old age, +bequeathed enough to provide the parish with the clock whose +voice has already become one of our most familiar sounds.</p> +<p>Allbrook was by this time growing into a large hamlet, and a +school chapel was then built, chiefly by Mr. Wheeler. We +must not forget that we had for five years the great and +excellent Samuel Wilberforce for our Bishop, and that he twice +held confirmations in our parish. No one can forget the +shock of his sudden call. One moment he was calling his +companion’s attention to the notes of a late singing +nightingale; the next, his horse had stumbled and he was +gone. It was remarkable that shortly before he had, after +going over the hospital, spoken with dread of what he called the +“humiliation of a lingering illness”—exactly +what he was spared.</p> +<p>Bishop Harold Browne came from Ely to take the See of +Winchester. He reconsecrated our church when the chancel +was enlarged and the new aisle added. He carried on +vigorously work only begun under Bishop Wilberforce. Under +him Diocesan Synods, the Girls’ Friendly Society, and the +Examination of Senior Scholars in Religious Knowledge have all +shown his diligent oversight as Shepherd of the flock.</p> +<p>In the year 1875 Sir William Heathcote succeeded in bringing +about an arrangement by which Otterbourne could be separated from +Hursley and have a Vicar of its own, the difference of income +being made up to the Vicar of Hursley. This was done by the +aid of a munificent lady, Mrs. Gibbs, the widow of one of the +great merchant princes, whose wealth was always treated as a +trust from God. She became the patron of the living, and +the advowson remains in her family.</p> +<p>The first Vicar was the Reverend Walter Francis Elgie, who had +already been six years curate, and had won the love and honour of +all <!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +41</span>his flock. Deeply did they all mourn him when it +was God’s will to take him from them on the 25th of +February, 1881, in the 43rd year of his age, after ten years of +zealous work.</p> +<p>It was felt as remarkable that a young pupil teacher in +consumption, whom he had sent to the Home at Bournemouth, was +taken on the same day, and buried here the day after, and that +the schoolmaster, Walter Fisher, a man of gentle and saintly +nature, followed him six weeks after.</p> +<blockquote><p>We left them in the Church’s shade,<br /> + Our standard-bearer true,<br /> +And near at hand the gentle maid<br /> + Who well his guidance knew.</p> +<p>He fainted in the noon of life,<br /> + Nor knew his victory won;<br /> +She was fresh girded for the strife,<br /> + Her battle scarce begun.</p> +<p>Long had we known Death’s angel hand<br /> + The maiden’s brow had seal’d;<br /> +He fell, like chief of warrior band,<br /> + Struck down on battle-field.</p> +<p>So in God’s acre here they meet<br /> + As they have met above,<br /> +Tasting beneath their Saviour’s feet<br /> + The treasures of His love.</p> +<p>For what they learnt and taught of here<br /> + Is present with them there;<br /> +May we speed on in faith and fear,<br /> + Then heavenly rest to share.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>With the coming of our present Vicar, the Rev. H. W. Brock, +our Otterbourne story ends, as the times are no longer <i>old +times</i>. The water works for the supply of Southampton +are our last novelty, by which such of us benefit, as either +themselves or their landlords pay a small contribution. +They have given us some red buildings at one end and on the Hill +a queer little round tower containing the staircase leading to +the underground reservoir, a wonderful construction of circles of +brick pillars and arches, as those remember who visited it <!-- +page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +42</span>before the water was let in. And, verily, we may +be thankful that our record has so few events in it, no terrible +disasters, but that there has been peace and health and comfort, +more than falls to the lot of many a parish. Truly we may +thankfully say, “The lot is fallen unto me in a fair +ground, yea, I have a goodly heritage.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p42.jpg"> +<img alt="Birds on fence" src="images/p42.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +43</span>Old Remembrances.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p43b.jpg"> +<img alt="Bridges over river" src="images/p43s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>I remember, I remember,<br /> + Old times at Otterbourne,<br /> +Before the building of the Church,<br /> + And when smock frocks were worn!</p> +<p>I remember, I remember,<br /> + When railroads there were none,<br /> +When by stage coach at early dawn<br /> + The journey was begun.</p> +<p>And through the turnpike roads till eve<br /> + Trotted the horses four,<br /> +With inside passengers and out<br /> + They carried near a score.</p> +<p>“Red Rover” and the “Telegraph,”<br /> + We knew them all by name,<br /> +And Mason’s and the Oxford coach,<br /> + Full thirty of them came.</p> +<p>The coachman wore his many capes,<br /> + The guard his bugle blew;<br /> +The horses were a gallant sight,<br /> + Dashing upon our view.</p> +<p>I remember, I remember,<br /> + The posting days of old;<br /> +The yellow chariot lined with blue<br /> + And lace of colour gold.</p> +<p>The post-boys’ jackets blue or buff,<br /> + The inns upon the road;<br /> +The hills up which we used to walk<br /> + To lighten thus the load.</p> +<p><!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +44</span>The rattling up before the inn,<br /> + The horses led away,<br /> +The post-boy as he touched his hat<br /> + And came to ask his pay.</p> +<p>The perch aloft upon the box,<br /> + Delightful for the view;<br /> +The turnpike gates whose keepers stood<br /> + Demanding each his due.</p> +<p>I remember, I remember,<br /> + When ships were beauteous things,<br /> +The floating castles of the deep<br /> + Borne upon snow-white wings;</p> +<p>Ere iron-clads and turret ships,<br /> + Ugly as evil dream,<br /> +Became the hideous progeny<br /> + Of iron and of steam.</p> +<p>You crossed the Itchen ferry<br /> + All in an open boat,<br /> +Now, on a panting hissing bridge<br /> + You scarcely seem afloat.</p> +<p>Southampton docks were sheets of mud,<br /> + Grim colliers at the quay.<br /> +No tramway, and no slender pier<br /> + To stretch into the sea.</p> +<p>I remember, I remember,<br /> + Long years ere Rowland Hill,<br /> +When letters covered quarto sheets<br /> + Writ with a grey goose quill;</p> +<p>Both hard to fold and hard to read,<br /> + Crossed to the scarlet seal;<br /> +Hardest of all to pay for ere<br /> + Their news they might reveal.</p> +<p>No stamp with royal head was there,<br /> + But eightpence was the sum<br /> +For every letter, all alike,<br /> + That did from London come!</p> +<p>I remember, I remember,<br /> + The mowing of the hay;<br /> +Scythes sweeping through the heavy grass<br /> + At breaking of the day.</p> +<p><!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +45</span>The haymakers in merry ranks<br /> + Tossing the swaths so sweet,<br /> +The haycocks tanning olive-brown<br /> + In glowing summer heat.</p> +<p>The reapers ’mid the ruddy wheat,<br /> + The thumping of the flail,<br /> +The winnowing within the barn<br /> + By whirling round a sail.</p> +<p>Long ere the whirr, and buz, and rush<br /> + Became a harvest sound,<br /> +Or monsters trailed their tails of spikes,<br /> + Or ploughed the fallow ground.</p> +<p>Our sparks flew from the flint and steel,<br /> + No lucifers were known,<br /> +Snuffers with tallow candles came<br /> + To prune the wick o’ergrown.</p> +<p>Hands did the work of engines then,<br /> + But now some new machine<br /> +Must hatch the eggs, and sew the seams,<br /> + And make the cakes, I ween.</p> +<p>I remember, I remember,<br /> + The homely village school,<br /> +The dame with spelling book and rod,<br /> + The sceptre of her rule.</p> +<p>A black silk bonnet on her head,<br /> + Buff kerchief on her neck,<br /> +With spectacles upon her nose,<br /> + And apron of blue check.</p> +<p>Ah, then were no inspection days,<br /> + No standards then were known,<br /> +Children could freely make dirt pies,<br /> + And learning let alone!</p> +<p>Those Sundays I remember too,<br /> + When Service there was one;<br /> +For living in the parish then<br /> + Of clergy there were none.</p> +<p>And oh, I can recall to mind,<br /> + The Church and every pew;<br /> +William and Mary’s royal arms<br /> + Hung up in fullest view.</p> +<p><!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +46</span>The lion smiling, with his tongue<br /> + Like a pug dog’s hung out;<br /> +The unicorn with twisted horn<br /> + Brooding upon his rout.</p> +<p>Exalted in the gallery high<br /> + The tuneful village choir,<br /> +With flute, bassoon, and clarionet,<br /> + Their notes rose high and higher.</p> +<p>They shewed the number of the Psalm<br /> + In white upon a slate,<br /> +And many a time the last lines sung<br /> + Of Brady and of Tate.</p> +<p>While far below upon the floor<br /> + Along the narrow aisle,<br /> +The children on then benches sat<br /> + Arranged in single file</p> +<p>And there the clerk would stump along<br /> + And strike with echoing blow<br /> +Each idle guilty little head<br /> + That chattered loud or low.</p> +<p>Ah! I remember many things,<br /> + Old middle-aged, and new;<br /> +Is the new better than the old,<br /> + More bright, more wise, more true?</p> +<p>The old must ever pass away,<br /> + The new must still come in;<br /> +When these new things are old to you<br /> + Be they unstained by sin.</p> +<p>So will their memory be sweet,<br /> + A treasury of bliss<br /> +To be borne with us in the days<br /> + When we their presence miss.</p> +<p>Trifles connected with the love<br /> + Of many a vanished friend<br /> +Will thrill the heart and wake the sense,<br /> + For memory has no end!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p46.jpg"> +<img alt="Flowers" src="images/p46.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIMES AT OTTERBOURNE***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 24651-h.htm or 24651-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/5/24651 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/24651-h/images/p0b.jpg b/24651-h/images/p0b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..909bee0 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p0b.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p0s.jpg b/24651-h/images/p0s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0eca57d --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p0s.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p16b.jpg b/24651-h/images/p16b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..626dfcd --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p16b.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p16s.jpg b/24651-h/images/p16s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..243989e --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p16s.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p1b.jpg b/24651-h/images/p1b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..be5ee09 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p1b.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p1s.jpg b/24651-h/images/p1s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7b1ed4 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p1s.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p32b.jpg b/24651-h/images/p32b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1676964 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p32b.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p32s.jpg b/24651-h/images/p32s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c8ec85 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p32s.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p42.jpg b/24651-h/images/p42.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f34c524 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p42.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p43b.jpg b/24651-h/images/p43b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26d0d5b --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p43b.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p43s.jpg b/24651-h/images/p43s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ead284 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p43s.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p46.jpg b/24651-h/images/p46.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aeb2f78 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p46.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p6b.jpg b/24651-h/images/p6b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..677e569 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p6b.jpg diff --git a/24651-h/images/p6s.jpg b/24651-h/images/p6s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4697142 --- /dev/null +++ b/24651-h/images/p6s.jpg diff --git a/24651.txt b/24651.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a77bf1c --- /dev/null +++ b/24651.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2057 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Old Times at Otterbourne, by Charlotte M. +Yonge + + +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: Old Times at Otterbourne + + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + + + +Release Date: February 19, 2008 [eBook #24651] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIMES AT OTTERBOURNE*** + + +Transcribed from the 1891 Warren and Son edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + +{The Keble Cross--Otterbourne Churchyard: p0.jpg} + +{Picture from title page: p1.jpg} + + + + + +Old Times +at Otterbourne. + + +BY +CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. + +[SECOND EDITION.] + +Winchester: +WARREN AND SON, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, HIGH STREET. + +London: +SIMPKIN AND CO., LIMITED, STATIONERS' HALL COURT. +1891 + + + + +Old Times at Otterbourne. + + +Not many of us remember Otterbourne before the Railroad, the Church, or +the Penny Post. It may be pleasant to some of us to try to catch a few +recollections before all those who can tell us anything about those times +are quite gone. + +To begin with the first that is known about it, or rather that is +guessed. A part of a Roman road has been traced in Otterbourne Park, and +near it was found a piece of a quern, one of the old stones of a hand +mill, such as was used in ancient times for grinding corn; so that the +place must have been inhabited at least seventeen hundred years ago. In +the last century a medallion bearing the head of a Roman Emperor was +found here, sixteen feet beneath the surface. It seems to be one of the +medallions that were placed below the Eagle on the Roman Standards, and +it is still in the possession of the family of Fitt, of Westley. + +After the Roman and British times were over, this part of the country +belonged to Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons, of which Winchester +was the capital. Lying so near the chief town, which was the Bishop's +throne, this place was likely soon to be made into a parish, when +Archbishop Theodore divided England in dioceses and parishes, just twelve +hundred years ago, for he died 690. The name no doubt means the village +of the Otters, and even now these creatures are sometimes seen in the +Itchen, so that no doubt there were once many more of them. The shapes +and sizes of most of our parishes were fixed by those of the estates of +the Lords who first built the Church for themselves and their households, +with the churls and serfs on their manor. The first Lord of Otterbourne +must have had a very long narrow property, to judge by the form of the +parish, which is at least three miles long, and nowhere a mile in +breadth. Most likely he wanted to secure as much of the river and meadow +land as he could, with some high open heathy ground on the hill as common +land where the cattle could graze, and some wood to supply timber and +fuel. Probably all the slopes of the hills on each side of the valley of +the Otter were covered with wood. The top of the gravelly hill to the +southward was all heather and furze, as indeed it is still, and this +reached all the way to Southampton and the Forest. The whole district +was called Itene or Itchen, like the river. The name meant in the old +English language, the Giant's Forest and the Giant's Wood. + +The hill to the north was, as it still remains, chalk down. The village +lay near the river and the stream that runs into it, upon the bed of clay +between the chalk and the gravel. Most likely the Moathouse was then in +existence, though a very different building from what it is at present, +and its moat very deep and full of water, serving as a real defence. +There is nothing left but broad hedge rows of the woods to the +north-east, but one of these is called Dane Lane, and is said to be the +road by which the Danes made their way to Winchester, being then a +woodland path. It is said that whenever the yellow cow wheat grows +freely the land has never been cultivated. + +There was a hamlet at Boyatt, for both it and Otterbourne are mentioned +in Domesday Book. This is the great census that William the Conqueror +caused to be taken 1083 of all his kingdom. From it we learn that +Otterbourne had a Church which belonged to Roger de Montgomery, a great +Norman baron, whose father had been a friend of William I. + +Well for the parish that it lay at a distance from the Giant's Wood, +where the King turned out all the inhabitants for the sake of his "high +deer," making it the New Forest. He and his sons could ride through down +and heath all the way to their hunting. We all know how William Rufus +was brought back from his last hunt, lying dead in the charcoal burner +Purkis's cart, in which he was carried to his grave in Winchester +Cathedral. Part of the road between Hursley and Otterbourne, near +Silkstede, is called King's Lane, because it is said to have been the way +by which this strange hearse travelled. + +Silkstede is a farm now--it was most likely a grange, or outlying house +belonging to some monastery--and there is a remnant of the gardens and +some fine trees, and a hollow called China Dell, where snowdrops and +double daffodils grow. But this is in Hursley parish, as is also Merdon +Castle. + +The green mounds and deep trenches, and the fragments of ruinous wall, +have a story reaching far back into the ages. + +There is little doubt, from their outline, that once there was an +entrenched camp of the Romans on this ground, but nothing is known +thereof. Merantune, as our Saxon ancestors called it, first is heard of +when in 755 Cynewolf, King of Wessex, was murdered there by his kinsman +Cyneheard, who was in his turn killed by the Thanes of the victim. With +this savage story it first appears, but no more is known of its fate +except that it became the property of the Bishops of Winchester, some say +by the grant of Cynegyls, the first Christian King of Wessex, others by a +later gift. It was then a manor, to which Hurstleigh, the woodland, was +only an appendage; and the curious old manorial rights and customs +plainly go back to these ancient prae-Norman times. To go through all +the thirty customs would be impossible, but it is worth noting that the +tenure of the lands descended by right to the youngest son in a family +instead of the eldest. Such "cradle fiefs" exist in other parts of +England, and in Switzerland, on the principle that the elder ones go out +into the world while their father is vigorous, but the youngest is the +stay of his old age. The rents were at first paid in kind or in labour, +with a heriot, namely, the most valuable animal in stock on a death, but +these became latterly commuted for quit rent and fines. The trees were +carefully guarded. Only one good timber tree on each holding in the life- +time of a tenant might be cut by the Lord of the Manor, and the tenants +themselves might only cut old rotten trees! But this is as much as you +will wish to hear of these old customs, which prove that the Norman +feudal system was kept out of this Episcopal manor. It was not even +mentioned in Domesday Book, near as it was to Winchester. There it lay, +peacefully on its island of chalk down, shut in by the well-preserved +trees, till Stephen's brother, Bishop Henry de Blois, of Winchester, +bethought him of turning the old Roman Camp into a fortified castle. The +three Norman kings had wisely hindered the building of castles, but these +sprung up like mushrooms under the feeble rule of Stephen. + +The tenants must have toiled hard, judging by the massiveness of the +small remnant, all built of the only material at hand, chalk to make +mortar, in which flints are imbedded. + +This fragment still standing used to be considered as part of the keep, +but of late years better knowledge of the architecture of castles has led +to the belief that it was part of the northern gateway tower. I borrow +the description of the building from one written immediately after the +comments of a gentleman who had studied the subject. + +Henry de Blois, King Stephen's brother, Bishop of Winchester, probably +wished for a stronghold near at hand, during his brother's wars with the +Empress Maud. He would have begun by having the nearly circular +embankment thrown up with a parapet along the top, and in the ditch thus +formed a stockade of sharp pointed stakes. Within the court, the well, +300 feet deep, was dug, and round it would have been the buildings needed +by the Bishop, his household and guards, much crowded together. The +entrance would have been a drawbridge, across the great ditch, which on +this side was not less than 60 feet wide and perhaps 25 deep, and through +a great gateway between two high square towers which must have stood +where now there is a slope leading down from the inner court, into the +southern one. This slope is probably formed by the ruins of the gateway +and tower being pitched into the ditch. + +The Castle was then very small, and did not command the country except +towards the south. The next work therefore would be to throw out an +embankment to the south, with a ditch outside. The great gap whence +Hursley House is seen, did not then exist, but there was an unbroken +semicircle of rampart and ditch, which would protect a large number of +men. In case of an enemy forcing this place, the defenders could retreat +into the Castle by the drawbridge. + +The entrance was on the eastern side, and in order to protect this and +the back (or northern side) of the Castle, an embankment was thrown up +outside the first moat, and with an outer moat of its own. Then, as, in +case of this being carried by the enemy the defenders would be cut off +from the main southern gateway, a square tower was built on this outer +embankment exactly opposite to the ruin which yet remains, and only +divided from it by the great ditch. On either side of the tower, cutting +the embankment across therefore at right angles, was a little ditch +spanned by a drawbridge, which, if the defenders found it necessary to +retire to the tower, could at any time be raised. The foundations of the +tower and the position of the ditch can still be distinctly traced. + +Supposing farther that it became impossible to hold the tower, the +besieged could retreat into the main body of the Castle by another +drawbridge across the great ditch. This would lead them through the arch +which can still be seen in the ruin, though it is partially blocked up. +The room on the east side of this passage was probably a guard room. + +These are all the remains. The embankments to the south and west command +a great extent of country, and on the north and northwest, we trace the +precautions by the great depth of the ditch, and steepness of the +earthworks, though now overgrown with trees. All this must have been +done between the years 1138 and 1154, and great part of the defences were +thrown down in the lifetime of the founder. Merdon was not destined to +shine in sieges, in spite of its strength. Henry II came in, and forbad +the multiplication of castles and Merdon seems to have been dismantled as +quickly as it had been built. + +The Bishops of Winchester however still seem to have resided there from +time to time, though it gradually fell into decay, and was ruinous by the +end of the Plantagenet period. + +After the younger Oliver's death, his sisters endeavoured to obtain the +Hursley property to which their father had succeeded as his son's heir. +He was past eighty and the judge allowed him to wear his hat at the trial +in court, an act of consideration commended by Queen Anne. + +After his death, in 1708, the estate was sold to the Heathcote family. +The old house, whose foundations can be traced on the lawn, and which was +approached by the two avenues of walnut trees still standing, was then +pulled down, and the present one erected. + +{Doorway of Old Church: p6.jpg} + +Most likely the oldest thing in Otterbourne is the arch that forms the +doorway of the Boys' School, and which came from the door of the Old +Church. By the carving on that arch, and the form of the little +clustered columns that support it, we can tell that it must have been put +up about the time of King Richard I or King John, somewhere about the +year 1200. There was certainly a church before this date, but most +likely this was the first time that much pains had been taken about its +beauty, and carved stone had been brought from a distance. It was a good +spot that was chosen, lying a little above the meadows, and not far from +the moated Manor House. The east wall of the nave is still standing, but +it now forms the west wall of the small remnant that is still covered in. +It still has three arches in it, to lead to the old chancel, and above +those arches there were some paintings. They came to light when the Old +Church was pulled down. First, a great deal of plaster and whitewash +came off. Then appeared part of the Commandments in Old English black +letter, and below that, again, were some paintings, traced out in red +upon the wall. They have been defaced so much that all that could be +found out was that there was a quatrefoil shape within a square. The +corners were filled up apparently with the emblems of the Four Cherubim, +though only the Winged Ox showed plainly. There was a sitting figure in +the centre, with the hand raised, and it was thought to be a very rude +representation of our Blessed Lord in Judgment. In another compartment +was an outline of a man, and another in a hairy garment, so that this +last may have been intended for the Baptism of our Blessed Lord. +Unfortunately, being on the outside wall, there was no means of +protecting these curious paintings, and, sad to say, one evening, I +myself saw a party of rough boys standing in a row throwing stones at +them. There being a pathway through the churchyard, it was not possible +to keep them out, and thus these curious remains have been destroyed. + +We may think of the people who resorted to the little Old Church as +wearing long gowns both men and women, on Sunday, spun, woven, and dyed +blue at home, most likely with woad, a plant like mignonette which still +grows in the lanes. The gentry were in gayer colours, but most likely +none lived nearer than Winchester, and it was only when they plodded into +market that the people would see the long-hanging sleeves, the pointed +hoods, and the queer long-toed shoes of the young gentlemen, or the +towers that the ladies put on their heads. + +The name of Otterbourne does not come forward in history, but, as it lies +so near Winchester, it must have had some share in what happened in the +Cathedral city. The next thing we know about it is that Bishop Edyngton +joined it to Hursley. William de Edyngton was Bishop of Winchester in +the middle part of the reign of Edward III, from 1357 to 1366. Bishop de +Pontissara founded a College at Winchester called St. Elizabeth's, and to +assist in providing for the expenses, he decreed that the greater tithes +of Hursley, those of the corn fields, should be paid to the Dean and +Chapter, and that the rest of the tithe should go to the Vicar. Then, +lest the Vicar should be too poor, Otterbourne was to be joined with +Hursley, and held by the same parish priest, and this arrangement lasted +for five hundred years. It was made in times when there was little heed +taken to the real good of country places. The arrangement was confirmed +by his successor, Bishop Edyngton, who lies buried in the nave of +Winchester Cathedral, not far from where lies the much greater man who +succeeded him. William of Wykeham went on with the work Edyngton had +begun, and built the pillars of the Cathedral nave as we now see them. He +also founded the two Colleges of St. Mary, one at Winchester for 70 boys, +one at Oxford to receive the scholars as they grew older, meaning that +they should be trained up to become priests. It seems that the old name +of the field where the college stands was Otterbourne meadow, and that it +was bought of a Master Dummer. Bishop Wykeham's College at Oxford is +still called New College, though there are now many much newer. One +small estate at Otterbourne was given by him to help to endow Winchester +College, to which it still belongs. + +Good men had come to think that founding colleges was the very best thing +they could do for the benefit of the Church, and William of Waynflete, +who was made Bishop of Winchester in 1447, founded another college at +Oxford in honour of St. Mary Magdalen. To this College he gave large +estates for its maintenance, and in especial a very large portion of our +long, narrow parish of Otterbourne. Ever since his time, two of the +Fellows of Magdalen, if not the President himself, have come with the +Steward, on a progress through the estates every year to hold their Court +and give audit to all who hold lands of them Till quite recently the +Court was always held at the Manor House, the old Moat House, which must +once have been the principal house in the parish, though now it is so +much gone to decay. Old Dr. Plank, the President of Magdalen, used to +come thither in Farmer Colson's time. What used to be the principal room +has a short staircase leading to it, and in the wainscot over the fire- +place is a curious old picture, painted, I fancy, between 1600 and 1700, +showing a fight between turbaned men and European soldiers, most likely +Turks and Austrians. It is a pity that it cannot tell its history. The +moat goes all round the house, garden, and farmyard, and no doubt used to +have a drawbridge. Forty or fifty years ago, it was clear and had fish +in it, but the bridge fell in and choked the stream, and since that it +has become full of reeds and a mere swamp. It must have been a really +useful protection in the evil times of the Wars of the Roses. + +Most likely the Commandments were painted over the old fresco on the east +wall of the nave of the old Church either in the time of Edward VI, or +Elizabeth, for if they had been later, the letters would not have been +Old English. The foreigners who meddled so much with our Church in the +latter years of Edward VI obtained that the Holy Communion should not be +celebrated in the chancels, but that the Holy Table should be spread in +the body of the Church, and many Chancels were thus disused and became +ruinous, as ours most certainly did at some time or other. St. +Elizabeth's College was broken up and the place where it stood given to +the college of St. Mary. It is still called Elizabeth Meadow. The +presentation to the Cure of our two parishes went with the estate of +Hursley. + +There was a very odd scene somewhere between Winchester and Southampton +in the year 1554. Queen Mary Tudor was waiting at Winchester for her +bridegroom, Philip of Spain. He landed at Southampton on the morning of +the 20th of July, and set out in a black velvet dress, red cloak, and +black velvet hat, with a splendid train of gentlemen to ride to +Winchester. It was a very wet day, and the Queen sent a gentleman with a +ring from her, to beg him to come no farther in the rain. But the +gentleman knew no Spanish, and the King no English. So Philip thought +some warning of treachery was meant, and halted in great doubt and +difficulty till the messenger recollected his French, and said in that +tongue, that the Queen was only afraid of his Grace's getting wet. So on +went Philip, and the High Sheriff of Hampshire rode before him with a +long white wand in his hand, and his hat off, the rain running in streams +off his bare head. They went so slowly as not to reach Winchester till +six or seven o'clock in the evening, so that the people of Otterbourne, +Compton, and Twyford must have had a good view of the Spanish Prince who +was so unwelcome to them all. + +Thomas Sternhold, who together with Hopkins put the Psalms into metre for +singing, lived in the outskirts of Hursley. + +When the plunder of the Monasteries was exhausted, the Tudor Sovereigns, +or perhaps their favourites, took themselves to exacting gifts and grants +from the Bishops, and thus Poynet who was intended in the stead of +Gardiner gave Merdon to Edward VI, who presented it to Sir Philip Hobby. +It was recovered by Bishop Gardiner, but granted back again by Queen +Elizabeth. Sir Philip is believed to have first built a mansion at +Hursley, and his nephew sold the place to Sir Thomas Clarke, who was +apparently a hard lord of the manor. His tenants still had to labour at +his crops instead of paying rent, but provisions had to be found them. +About the year 1600, on the arrival of a hogshead of porridge, unsavoury +and full of worms, the reapers struck, and their part was taken by Mr. +Robert Coram, who then owned Cranbury, so hotly that he and Mr. Pye, Sir +Thomas Clarke's steward, rode at one another through the wheat with drawn +daggers. Lady Clarke yielded, and cooked two or three bacon-hogs for the +reapers. + +The old road from Winchester to Southampton then went along what we now +call the Old Hollow, leading from Shawford Down to Oakwood. Then it +seems to have gone along towards the old Church, its course being still +marked by the long narrow meadows, called the Jar Mead and Hundred Acres, +or, more properly, Under an Acre. Then it led down to the ford at +Brambridge, for there was then no canal to be crossed. The only great +personage who was likely to have come along this road in the early 17th +century was King James the First's wife, Queen Anne of Denmark, who spent +a winter at the old Castle of Winchester, and was dreadfully dull there, +though the ladies tried to amuse her by all sorts of games, among which +one was called "Rise, Pig, and Go." + +James I gave us one of the best of Bishops, Lancelot Andrewes by name, +who wrote a beautiful book of devotions. He lived on to the time of +Charles I, and did much to get the ruins made in the bad days round +Winchester Cathedral cleared and set to rights. Most likely he saw that +the orders for putting the altars back into their right places were +carried out, and very likely the chancel was then mended, but with no +attention to architecture, for the head of the east window was built up +anyhow with broken bits of tracery from a larger and handsomer one. The +heir of the Clarkes sold the property at Hursley to Mr. Mayor, to whose +only daughter Oliver Cromwell married his son Richard. + +What happened here in the Great Rebellion we do not know. An iron ball +was once dug up in the grounds at Otterbourne House, which may have come +from Oliver's Battery; but it is also said to be only the knob of an old +pump handle-- + + "When from the guarded down + Fierce Cromwell's rebel soldiery kept watch o'er Wykeham's town. + They spoiled the tombs of valiant men, warrior, and saint, and sage; + But at the tomb of Wykeham good angels quenched their rage." + +Colonel Nathanael Fiennes prevented harm from being done to the College +or the monuments in the Cathedral; but there was some talk of destroying +that holy place, for I have seen a petition from the citizens of +Winchester that it might be spared. It is said that some loyal person +took out all the stained glass in the great west window, hid it in a +chest, and buried it; but when better times came, it could not be +restored to what it was before, and was put in confusedly, as we now see +it. + +Stoneham had a brave old clergyman, who kept possession of his church and +rectory all through the war, and went on with the service till he died, +no man daring to meddle with him. But Otterbourne was sure to follow the +fate of Hursley. The King's Head Inn at Hursley is thought to have been +so called in allusion to the death of King Charles I. A strange +compliment to the Cromwells. + +Richard had a large family, most of whom died young, as may be seen on +their monument in Hursley Church. It was at this time that the customs +of the Manor were put on record in writing. The son, Oliver, lived till +1705, and was confounded in the country people's minds with his +grandfather. + +There is an odd, wild story, that Cromwell sunk all his treasure in the +great well at Merdon Castle, in Hursley Park, 300 feet deep. It was +further said, if it were drawn up again, that no one must speak till it +was safe, otherwise it would be lost. A great chest was raised to the +mouth of the well, when one of the men said, "Here it comes!" The rope +broke, it fell back, and no one ever saw it more. Most likely this is an +old legend belonging to the Castle long before, and only connected with +Oliver Cromwell because he was an historical person. Certain it is that +when the well was cleared out about 30 or 40 years ago nothing was found +but two curious old candlesticks, and a great number of pins, which had +been thrown down because they caused those curious reverberations in the +great depth. Another legend is that Merdon Well is connected with the +beautiful clear spring at Otterbourne called Pole Hole or Pool Hole, so +that when a couple of ducks were thrown down the well, they came out at +Pole Hole with all their feathers scraped off. + +It was in the time of the Commonwealth, in 1653, that our first parish +register begins. Some parishes have much older ones, so, perhaps, ours +may have been destroyed. The first entry in this old parchment book is +that Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Cox, of Otterbourne, and Anne, his +wife, was born ---. A large stain has made the rest of this entry +illegible. There are only three births in 1653, and seven in 1654, one +of these William, son of Mr. William Downe, of Otterbourne Farm, and +Joane, his wife, is, however, marked with two black lines beneath the +entry, as are his sisters, Elizabeth and Jane, 1656 and 1658, apparently +to do honour to the principal inhabitant. + +It is to be observed that all the entries here are of births, not of +baptisms, departing from the general rule of Church registers, and they +are all in English; but in 1663 each child is recorded as baptized, and +the Latin language is used. This looks much as if a regular clergyman, a +scholar, too, had, after the Restoration, become curate of the parish. He +does not sign his registers, so we do not know his name. In 1653 the +banns of William Downe and Jane Newman were published September 17th and +the two Lord's Days ensuing, but their wedding is not entered, and the +first marriage recorded is that of Matthew Dummer and Jane Burt, in 1663. +The first funeral was Emelin, wife of Robert Purser, in 1653. + +Also, there was plenty of brick-making, for King Charles II had planned +to build a grand palace at Winchester on the model of the great French +palace of Versailles, and it is said that Dell copse was formed by the +digging out of bricks for the purpose. It was to reach all over the +downs, with fountains and water playing in them, and a great tower on +Oliver's Battery, with a light to guide the ships in the Channel. There +is a story that Charles, who was a capital walker, sometimes walked over +from Southampton to look at his buildings. One of the gentlemen who +attended him let the people at Twyford know who was going that way. So +they all turned out to look at him, which was what the King by no means +wished. So he avoided them, and punished his indiscreet courtier by +taking a run and crossing one of the broad streams with a flying leap, +then proceeding on to Winchester, leaving his attendant to follow as best +he might. + +After all only one wing of the intended palace was built. For a long +time it was called the King's House, but now it is only known as the +Barracks. The work must have led to an increase in the population, for +more baptisms are recorded in the register, though not more than six or +seven in each year, all carefully set down in Latin, though with no +officiating minister named. There is an Augustine Thomas, who seems to +have had a large family, and who probably was the owner of the ground on +which the vicarage now stands, the name of which used to be Thomas's +Bargain. + +There must have been a great quickening of activity in Otterbourne soon +after the Restoration, for it was then that the Itchen canal or barge +river, as it used to be called, was dug, to convey coals from +Southampton, and, of course, this much improved the irrigation of the +water meadows. This canal was one of the first made in England, and was +very valuable for nearly two hundred years, until the time of railways. + +In 1690, a larger parchment register was provided, and every two years it +appears to have been shown up to the magistrates at the Petty Sessions, +and signed by two of them. + +At this time there seem to have been some repairs of the church. +Certainly, a great square board painted with the royal arms was then +erected, for it bore the date 1698, and the initials "W. M." for William +and Mary. There it was, on a beam, above the chancel arch, and the lion +and unicorn on either side, the first with a huge tongue hanging out at +the corner of his mouth, looking very complacent, as though he were +displaying the royal arms, the unicorn slim and dapper with a chain +hanging from his neck. + +Several of our old surnames appear about this time, Cox, Comley, Collins, +Goodchild, Woods, Wareham. John Newcombe, Rector of Otterbourne, who +afterwards became Bishop of Llandaff, signs his register carefully, but +drops the Latin, as various names may be mentioned, Scientia, or Science +Olden, Philadelphia Comley, and Dennis Winter, who married William +Westgate. Anne and Abraham were the twin children of John and Anne +Didimus, in 1741. + +The first church rate book only begins in 1776, but it is curious as +showing to whom the land then belonged. The spelling is also odd, and as +the handwriting is beautiful, so there is no doubt that it really is an +account of the Church _Raiting_, nor that the "rait" was "mead." Walter +Smythe, Esquire, of Brambridge, appears, also John Colson John Comley, +and Charles Vine. Lincolns belonged to Mr. Kentish and Gun Plot to +Thilman. + +The expenditure begins thus:--April 9, 1776, "Pd. Short for 6 dozen sparw +heds," and the sparw heds are repeated all down the page, varied with +what would shock the H. H.--3_d._ for foxheads. Also "expenses ad +visitation" 9_s._ 6_d._, and at the bottom of the page, the parish is +thus mentioned as creditor "out of pockets, 5_s._ 1_d._" In 1777 +however, though the vestry paid "Didums 1 badger's head, 1 polecat's +head; Hary Bell for 2 marten cats, and spares innumerable, and the clarck +warges, 1 pounds 5_s._, there was 1 pounds 3_s._ in hand." The polecats +and marten cats were soon exterminated, but foxes, hedgehogs, and +sparrows continue to appear, though in improved spelling, till April +24th, 1832, when this entry appears:--"At a meeting called to elect new +Churchwardens, present the Rev. R. Shuckburgh, curate, and only one other +person present, the meeting is adjourned. Mr. Shuckburgh protests most +strongly against the disgraceful custom of appropriating money collected +for Church rates towards destroying vermin on the farms." And this put +an end to the custom. However, there were more rightful expenses. Before +Easter there is paid "for washan the surples" 4_s._ It would seem that +the Holy Communion was celebrated four times a year, and that the +Elements were paid for every time at 3_s._ 7_d._ In 1784, when there was +a great improvement in spelling, there were some repairs done--"Paid for +Communion cloth, 10 pence, and for washing and marking it, 6p." In 1786 +there was a new church bell, costing 5 pounds 5_s._ 10_d._ Aaron Chalk, +whom some of the elder inhabitants may remember, a very feeble old man +walking with two sticks, was in that year one of the foremost traders in +sparrow heads. It gives a curious sense of the lapse of time to think of +those tottering limbs active in bird catching. + +May 2, in 1783, we find the entry "paid for the caraidge of the old bell +and the new one downe from London, 11_s._ 10_d._ May 22--Paid William +Branding bill for hanging the new bell, 1 pounds 13_s._" Altogether, at +the end of the year, it is recorded "the book in debt" 1 pounds 11_s._, +but "the disburstments," as they are spelt, righted themselves in 1784, +when we find "paid for musick for the use of the Church, 1 pounds 1_s._ +To George Neal for whitewashing Church, 1 pounds 1_s._, George Neale, two +days' work, 5_s._ 3_d._, for work in the gallery, 19_s._ 4_d._, bill for +tiles, 3_s._ 4_d._" + +The only connection Otterbourne has with any historical person is not a +pleasant one. The family of Smythe, Roman Catholics, long held +Brambridge, and they endowed a little Roman Catholic Chapel at +Highbridge. At one time, a number of their tenants and servants were of +the same communion, and there is a note in the parish register by the +curate to say that there were several families at Allbrook and Highbridge +whose children he had not christened, though he believed they had been +baptized by the Roman Catholic priest. One of the daughters of the +Smythe family was the beautiful Mrs. Fitz-Herbert, whom the Prince of +Wales, afterwards George IV, was well known to have privately married. He +never openly avowed this, because by the law made in the time of William +III, a marriage with a Roman Catholic disqualifies for the succession to +the crown; besides which, under George III, members of the royal family +had been prohibited from marrying without the King's consent, and such +marriages were declared null and void. The story is mentioned here +because an idea has gone abroad that the wedding took place in the chapel +at Highbridge, but this is quite untrue. The ceremony was performed at +Brighton, and it is curious that the story of it having happened here +only began to get afloat after the death of Mr. Newton, the last of the +old servants who had known Mrs. Fitz-Herbert. Walter Smythe, her +brother, was one of the _detenus_ whom Napoleon I kept prisoners, though +only English travellers, on the rupture of the Peace of Amiens. His +brother, Charles, while taking care of the estate, had all the lime trees +in the avenue pollarded, and sold the tops to make stocks for muskets. + +{View near Hursley: p16.jpg} + +In those days there was only a foot bridge across the Itchen at +Brambridge. Carts and carriages had to ford the river, not straight +across, but making a slight curve downwards; this led to awkward +accidents. There was a gentleman dining with Mr. Walter Smythe, who was +pressed to sleep at Brambridge, but declined, saying that he liked to +have all his little comforts about him. When daylight came, the poor man +was found seated on the top of his chaise, the water flowing through the +windows below; for the post boy had taken a wrong turn, and, being afraid +to move, had been forced to remain in the river till the morning. A far +worse disaster befel the Newton family on their way to a funeral. It is +described by one of the bearers: "When the cart turned over, the corpse +was on the foot bridge. It was a very wet day, and the wind was blowing +furiously at the time. It had a great effect on the cart, as it was a +narrow cart with a tilt on, and there was a long wood sill at the side of +the river. That dropping of the sill caused the accident. I think there +were five females in the cart and the driver. The water was as much as +4ft. deep and running very sharp, so myself and others went into the +water to fetch them out, and when we got to the cart they were all on the +top of the other, with their heads just out of the water. They could not +go on to church with the corpse, and we had a very hard job to save the +horse from being drowned, as his head was but just out of the water." + +All through the time of the long war with France there was here, as well +as everywhere else around the coast, fear of a landing of the French. The +flat-bottomed boats to bring the French over were actually ready at +Boulogne, and the troops mustered to come across in them. On our side, +volunteers were in training in case of need, and preparations were made +for sending off the women and children inland on the first news of the +enemy landing. Not very many years ago there were still to be seen in a +barn at Hursley the planks prepared to fit as seats into the waggons that +were to carry them away. And a family living here are said to have kept +everything packed up, even the fireirons, and to have stirred up the fire +with a stick during a whole winter. However, by God's blessing and our +fleets and armies, the danger was kept from our doors. + +With the activity that followed upon the peace came a great deal of road- +making. The present high road between Winchester and Southampton was +then made, and the way cut through the hills--Otterbourne Hill and +Compton Hill on either side. This led to the main part of the +inhabitants settling in the village street, instead of round the old +Church as before. Another great road was made at the same time--that +which crosses Golden Common and leads ultimately to Portsmouth. It used +to be called Cobbett's Road, because William Cobbett, a clever, +self-taught man, had much to do with laying it out. Cobbett had a good +many theories which he tried to put into practice, some sensible, others +mistaken. The principal traces we see of him now are in the trees that +he planted, chiefly introduced from America. He thought the robinia, or +false acacia, would make good hedges, because of its long thorns and +power of throwing up suckers, and many people planted them, but they +proved too brittle to be of much use, though some are still growing. He +was a friend of Mr. Harley, who then owned Otterbourne House, and planted +many curious trees there, of which two long remained--a hickory nut and a +large tree in the drive. There was also an oak with enormous leaves, but +it was planted so near the house that it had to be moved, and died in +consequence. + +These roads were for the coaches. Young folks, who never saw anything +nearer approaching to a stage coach than the drags some gentlemen keep, +can hardly fancy what these stage coaches were--tall vehicles, holding +four inside passengers and at least twelve outside and quantities of +luggage. They were drawn by four of the strongest and quickest horses +that could be procured, and these were changed about every five or six +miles, so as to keep up full speed. The coachman, generally a big, burly +man, with a face reddened by exposure to the weather, and often by a +glass of ale at every stage, sat on the box in a drab coat, with many +capes one over the other. The seat next to him was the favourite one +with the passengers, and gentlemen would sometimes bribe coachmen to let +them drive; nay, some gentlemen actually took to the trade themselves. +There was also a guard, who in mail coaches took care of the post bags, +and dropped them at the places where they were intended for. In the days +when highwaymen infested the roads the guard had carried pistols, and +still the guard of the mail wore a red coat, and blew a horn on entering +any place to warn the people to bring out their post bags and exchange +them for others. + +One or two coaches kept their horses at the White Horse, so as to be +fresh for going up the hill, others at the Cricketers, while others +changed at Compton and the New Hut. Some of the stables still remain, +converted into cottages. The horses were fine animals, beautifully kept; +but the habit of hanging about public-houses to attend to them was not +good for the ostlers and people concerned. About fifteen coaches came +through this place in the morning, and their fellows in the evening, each +proprietor keeping two coaches, starting from the two opposite ends at +the same time. There was the Mail, the Telegraph, the Independent, the +Red Rover, the Hirondelle, all London coaches, besides the Oxford coach +and some that only ran between Winchester and Southampton. The driver +and owner of one, Mason's coach, was only a few years ago living here. +When people intended to go on a journey, they booked their places a day +or two beforehand, but for short journeys or going into Winchester they +would watch for a vacant space in a coach as it passed by. + +It is odd to look back at an old article in a quarterly review describing +coach travelling as something so swift and complete that it could not be +surpassed in its perfection. Yet accidents with the spirited horses and +rapid driving were not uncommon, and a fall from an overloaded coach was +a dangerous thing. + +When the mail went by coach the sending of letters and parcels could not +but be expensive. Heavy goods travelled by waggon, barge, or ship, +parcels went by carriers or by coaches, and nothing could be posted but +what was quite light. So postage was very expensive, and it is strange +to look back on the regulations connected with it. Our readers under +forty years old will hardly believe the rates that were paid for postage, +varying according to distance. There was a company in London that +carried letters from one part of that town to another for twopence +apiece, and this was the cheapest post in England. A letter from London +to Otterbourne cost eightpence, and one from Winchester either threepence +or fourpence, one from Devonshire elevenpence, and this was paid not by +the sender, but by the receiver. It was reckoned impolite to prepay a +letter. Moreover, the letter had to be on a single sheet. The sheet +might be of any size that could be had, but it must be only one. A small +sheet enclosed within another, or the lightest thing, such as a lock of +hair or a feather, made it a double letter, for which double postage had +to be given. The usual custom was to write on quarto sheets twice the +size of what is used now, and, after filling three sides, to fold the +fourth, leaving a space for the direction and the seal, and then to write +on the flaps and in the space over "My dear ---," sometimes crossing the +writing till the whole letter was chequer work. For if the letter was to +cost the receiver so much, it seemed fair to let him get as much as +possible. Letters were almost always sealed, and it took neat and +practised hands to fold and seal them nicely, without awkward corners +sticking out. + +Newspapers, if folded so as to show the red Government stamp, went for a +penny, but nothing might be put into them, and not a word beyond the +address written on them. The reason of all this was that the cost of +carriage was then so great that it could only be made to answer by those +high rates, and by preventing everything but real letters and newspapers +from being thus taken. As Government then, as now, was at the expense of +postage, its own correspondence went free, and therefore all Members of +Parliament had the privilege of sending letters freely. They were +allowed to post eleven a day, which might contain as much as would weigh +an ounce, without charge, if they wrote the date at the top and their +name in the right hand corner. This was called franking, and plenty of +letters by no means on public business travelled in that way. + +There was no post office in Otterbourne till between 1836 and 1840; for, +of course there were few letters written or received, and thus it did not +seem to many persons worth while for village children to learn to write. +If they did go into service at a distance from home, their letters would +cost more than their friends could afford to pay. This was a sad thing, +and broke up and cut up families very much more than any distance does +now. It really is easier to keep up intercourse with a person in America +or even New Zealand now, than it was then with one in Scotland, +Northumberland, or Cornwall; for travelling was so expensive that visits +could seldom be made, and servants could not go to their homes unless +they were within such a short distance as to be able to travel by coach +or by carrier's cart, or even walking all the way, getting a cast now and +then by a cart. + +People who did not travel by coaches, or who went where there was no +coach, hired post-chaises, close carriages something like flies. Most +inns, where the coaches kept their horses, possessed a post-chaise, and +were licensed to let out post horses for hire. Most of the gentlefolks' +families kept a close carriage called a chariot, and, if they did not +keep horses of their own, took a pair of post-horses, one of which was +ridden by a man, who, whatever might be his age, was always called a post- +boy. Some inns dressed their post-boys in light blue jackets, some in +yellow ones, according to their politics, but the shape was always the +same; corduroy tights, top boots, and generally white (or rather drab- +coloured) hats. It used to be an amusement to watch whether the post-boy +would be a blue or a yellow one at each fresh stage. Hardly any one +knows what a post-boy was like now, far less an old-fashioned travelling +carriage or chariot and its boxes. + +The travelling carriage was generally yellow. It had two good seats +inside, and a double one had a second seat, where two persons sat +backwards. The cushion behind lifted up and disclosed a long narrow +recess called the swordcase, because, when there were highwaymen on the +roads, people kept their weapons there. There were sometimes two, +sometimes one seat outside, called the box and the dickey--much the +pleasantest places, for it was very easy to feel sick and giddy inside. A +curved splashboard went up from the bottom of the chariot to a level with +the window, and within it fitted what was called the cap box, with a +curved bottom, so that when in a house it had to be set down in a frame +to hold it upright. A big flat box, called the imperial, in which ladies +put their dresses, was on the top of the carriage, two more long, narrow +ones, generally used for shoes and linen, fitted under the seat, and +another square one was hung below the dickey at the back, and called the +drop box. Such a mischance has been known as, on an arrival, a servant +coming in with the remains of this black box between his arms, +saying--"Sir, should not this box have a bottom to it?" The chariot thus +carried plenty of goods, and was a sort of family home on a journey. To +go to Plymouth, which now can be done in six or seven hours, then +occupied two long days, halting for the night to sleep at an inn. + + + + +The Old Church + + +Some of us can still remember the old Church and the old Sunday habits +prevailing before 1830. The Churchyard was large and very pretty, though +ill kept, surrounded with a very open railing, and with the banks sloping +towards the water meadows clothed with fine elm trees--one with a large +and curious excrescence on the bark. There was a deep porch on the south +side of the Church, with seats on each side. Then, on red tiles, one +entered between two blocks of pews of old brown unpainted oak (their +doors are panels to the roof of the boys' school). In the space between +them were two or three low benches for the children. There were three +arches leading to the chancel, but that on the south side was closed by +the pulpit and reading desk, and that on the north by a square pew +belonging to Cranbury. Within the chancel on the north side was a large +pew lined with red, belonging to Cranbury, and on the south, first the +clerk's desk, then a narrow seat of the clergyman's, and then a large +square pew. Boys in the morning and men in the afternoon used to sit on +the benches placed outside these, and beyond was the rail shutting in the +Altar, which was covered with red cloth, and stood below a large window, +on each side of which were the Commandments in yellow letters on a blue +ground, and on the wall were painted the two texts, "The Cup of Blessing, +is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ?" and "The Bread which we +break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ?" The vestry was +built out to the north, and was entered from the sanctuary. + +Further space was provided by two galleries, one on the north side, +supported on iron poles, and entered from the outside by a step ladder +studded with large square-headed nails to prevent it from being slippery. +The other went across the west end, and was entered by a dark staircase +leading up behind the pews, which further led to the little square +weather-boarded tower containing two beautifully toned bells. These were +rung from the outer gallery where the men sat. There was a part boarded +off for the singers. The Font was nearly under the gallery. It was of +white marble, and still lines our present Font. Tradition says it was +given by a former clerk, perhaps Mr. Fidler, but there is no record of +it. An older and much ruder Font was hidden away under the gallery +stairs close to an old chest, where women sometimes found a seat, against +the west wall. + +In those days, now more than half a century ago, when Archdeacon +Heathcote was Vicar, he or his Curate used to ride over from Hursley on +Sunday for the service at Otterbourne. There was only one service, +alternately in the morning and afternoon, at half-past ten or at three, +or in the winter at half-past two. The time was not much fixed, for on a +new comer asking when the service would take place, the answer was "at +half-past two, sir, or at three, or else no time at all," by which was +meant no exact hour or half-hour. This uncertainty led to the bells +never being rung till the minister was seen turning the corner of Kiln- +lane, just where the large boulder stone used to be. The congregation +was, however, collecting, almost all the men in white smocks with +beautifully worked breasts and backs, the more well-to-do in velveteen; +the women in huge bonnets. The elder ones wore black silk or satin +bonnets, with high crowns and big fronts, the younger ones, straw with +ribbon crossed over, always with a bonnet cap under. A red cloak was the +regular old women's dress, or a black or blue one, and sometimes a square +shawl, folded so as to make a triangle, over a gown of stuff in winter, +print in summer. A blue printed cotton with white or yellow sprays was +the regular week day dress, and the poorest wore it on Sundays. The +little girls in the aisle had the like big coarse straw bonnets, with a +strip of glazed calico hemmed and crossed over for strings, round +tippets, and straight print frocks down to their feet. The boys were in +small smocks, of either white or green canvas, with fustian or corduroy +jackets or trowsers below, never cloth. Gloves and pocket handkerchiefs +were hardly known among the children, hardly an umbrella, far less +parasols or muffs. Ladies had pelisses for out-of-door wear, fitting +close like ulsters, but made of dark green or purple silk or merino, and +white worked dresses under them in summer. + +Well, the congregation got into Church--three families by the step ladder +to one gallery, and the men into another, where the front row squeezed +their knees through the rails and leant on the top bar, the rest of the +world in the pews, and the children on benches. The clerk was in his +desk behind the reading desk--good George Oxford, with his calm, good, +gentle face, and tall figure, sadly lame from rheumatism caught when +working in the brick kilns. His voice was always heard above the others +in the responses, but our congregation never had dropped the habit of +responding, and, though there was no chanting, the Amens and some of the +Versicles used to have a grand full musical sound peculiar to that +Church. People also all turned to the east for the Creed, few knelt, but +some of the elder men stood during the prayers, and, though there was far +too much _sitting down_ during the singing, every body got up and stood, +if "Hallelujah" occurred, as it often did in anthems. + +There were eight or ten singers, and they had a bassoon, a flute, and a +clarionet. They used to sing before the Communion Service in the +morning, after the Second Lesson in the afternoon, and before each +Sermon. Master Oxford had a good voice, and was wanted in the choir, so +as soon as the General Thanksgiving began, he started off from his seat, +and might be heard going the length of the nave, climbing the stairs, and +crossing the outer gallery. Sometimes he took his long stick with him, +and gave a good stripe across the straw bonnet of any particularly +naughty child. In the gallery he proclaimed--"Let us sing to the praise +and glory of God in the Psalm," then giving the first line. + +The Psalms were always from the New or Old Versions. A slate with the +number in chalk was also hung out--23 O.V., 112 N.V., as the case might +be. About four verses of each were sung, the last lines over and over +again, some very oddly divided. For instance-- + + "Shall fix the place where we must dwell, + The pride of Jacob, His delight," + +was sung thus:-- + + "The pride of Ja--the pride of Ja--the pride of Ja--" (at least three + times before the line was ended). + +But rough as these were, some of these Psalms were very dear to us all, +specially the old twenty-third:-- + + "My Shepherd is the living Lord, + Nothing, therefore, I need, + In pastures fair, by pleasant streams + He setteth me to feed. + + He shall convert and glad my soul, + And bring my soul in frame + To walk in paths of holiness, + For His most Holy Name. + + I pass the gloomy vale of death, + From fear and danger free; + For there His guiding rod and staff + Defend and comfort me." + +Another much-loved one was the 121st:-- + + "To Zion's hill I lift my eyes, + From thence expecting aid, + From Zion's hill and Zion's God, + Who heaven and earth hath made. + + Sheltered beneath the Almighty's wings, + Thou shall securely rest, + Where neither sun nor moon shall thee + By day nor night molest. + + Then thou, my soul, in safety rest, + Thy Guardian will not sleep, + His watchful care, that Israel guards, + Shall Israel's monarch keep. + + At home, abroad, in peace or war, + Thy God shall thee defend, + Conduct thee through life's pilgrimage, + Safe to thy journey's end." + +Will the sight of these lines bring back to any one the old tune, the old +sounds, the old sights of the whitewashed Church, and old John Green in +the gallery, singing with his bass voice, with all his might, his +eyebrows moving as he sung? And then the Commandments and Ante-Communion +read not from the Altar, but the desk; the surplice taken off in the desk +instead of the Vestry; Master Oxford's announcements shouted out from his +place, generally after the Second Lesson--"I hereby give notice that a +Vestry Meeting will be held on Tuesday, at twelve o'clock, to make a new +rate for the relief of the poo-oor." "I hereby give notice that Evening +Service will be at half-past two as long as the winter days are short." +Well, we should think these things odd now, and we have much to be +thankful for in the changes; but there were holy and faithful ones then, +and Master Oxford was one of them. + +In the days here described, from 1820 to 1827, few small villages had +anything but dame schools, and Otterbourne children, such as had any +schooling at all, were sent to Mrs. Yates's school on the hill, where she +sat, the very picture of the old-fashioned mistress, in her black silk +bonnet, with the children on benches before her, and her rod at hand. + +Several families, however, did not send the children to school at all, +and there were many who could not read, many more who could not write, +and there was very little religious teaching, except that in the Sunday +afternoons in Lent, the catechism was said in Church by the best +instructed children, but without any explanation. + +About the year 1819 Mrs. Bargus and her daughter came to live at +Otterbourne, and in 1822 Miss Bargus married William Crawley Yonge, who +had retired from the army, after serving in the Peninsula and at +Waterloo. Both Mr. and Mrs. Yonge had clergymen for their fathers, and +were used to think much of the welfare of their neighbours. It was not, +however, till 1823 that Mrs. Yonge saw her way to beginning a little +Sunday School for girls, teaching it all by herself, in a room by what is +now Mr. J. Misselbrook's house. While there was still only one Service +on Sundays, she kept the school on the vacant half of the day, reading +the Psalms and Lessons to the children, who were mostly biggish girls. +This was when Archdeacon Heathcote was the Vicar of Hursley and +Otterbourne, and the Rev. Robert Shuckburgh was his Curate. Archdeacon +and Mrs. Heathcote, who were most kind and liberal, gave every help and +assisted in setting up the Clothing Club. + +Mrs. Yonge's first list of Easter prizes contains twenty names of girls, +and the years that have passed have left but few of them here. A large +Bible bound in plain brown leather was the highest prize; Prayer Books, +equally unornamented, New Testaments, and Psalters, being books +containing only the Psalms and Matins and Evensong, were also given, and +were then, perhaps, more highly valued than the dainty little coloured +books every one now likes to have for Sunday. Then there were frocks, +coarse straw bonnets, and sometimes pocket handkerchiefs, for these were +not by any means such universal possessions as could be wished, and only +came out on Sunday. As to gloves, silk handkerchiefs, parasols, muffs, +or even umbrellas, the children thought them as much out of their reach +as a set of pearls or diamonds, but what was worse, their outer clothing +was very insufficent, seldom more than a thin cotton frock and tippet, +and the grey duffle cloaks, which were thought a great possession, were +both slight and scanty. + +About 1826, Mrs. Yonge was looking at the bit of waste land that had once +served as a roadway to the field at the back of Otterbourne House, when +she said, "How I wish I had money enough to build a school here." "Well," +said Mrs. Bargus, "You shall have what I can give." The amount was +small, but with it Mr. Yonge contrived to put up one room with two new +small ones at the back, built of mud rough cast, and with a brick floor, +except for the little bedroom being raised a step, and boarded. + +The schoolroom was intended to hold all the children who did not go to +Mrs. Yates, both boys and girls, and it was sufficient, for, in the first +place, nobody from Fryern-hill came. Mrs. Green had a separate little +school there. Then the age for going to school was supposed to be six. +If anyone sent a child younger, the fee was threepence instead of a +penny. The fee for learning writing and arithmetic was threepence, for +there was a general opinion that they were of little real use, and that +writing letters would waste time (as it sometimes certainly does). +Besides this, the eldest daughter of a family was always minding the +baby, and never went to school; and boys were put to do what their +mothers called "keeping a few birds" when very small indeed, while other +families were too rough to care about education so that the numbers were +seldom over thirty. + +There were no such people as trained mistresses then. The National +Society had a school for masters, but they were expensive and could only +be employed in large towns; so all that could be looked for was a kind, +motherly, good person who could read and do needlework well. And the +first mistress was Mrs. Creswick, a pleasant-looking person with a pale +face and dark eyes, who had been a servant at Archdeacon Heathcote's, and +had since had great troubles. She did teach the Catechism, reading, and +work when the children were tolerably good and obeyed her, but boys were +a great deal too much for her, and she had frail health, and such a bad +leg that she never could walk down the lane to the old Church. So, after +Sunday School, the children used to straggle down to Church without +anyone to look after them, and sit on the benches in the aisle and do +pretty much what they pleased, except when admonished by Master Oxford's +stick. + +Mr. Shuckburgh had by this time come to reside in the parish, in the +house which is now the post-office, and there was at last a double +Service on the Sunday. + +The next thing was to consider what was to be done about the boys, who +could not be made to mind Mrs. Creswick. A row of the biggest sat at the +back of the school, with their heels to the wall, and by constant kicking +had almost knocked a hole through the mud wall; so the Vicar, who was now +the Archdeacon's son, the Rev. Gilbert Wall Heathcote, gave permission +for the putting up another mud and rough cast school house near the old +Church, for the boys, in an empty part of the Churchyard to the north- +east, where no one had ever been buried. + +However, there Master Oxford was installed as schoolmaster, coming all +the way down from his house on the hill (a pretty-timbered cottage, now +pulled down). He and his boys had a long way to walk to their school, +but he taught them all he knew and set them a good example. The boys +were all supposed to go to him at six years old, and most were proud of +the promotion. One little fellow was known to go to bed an hour or two +earlier that he might be six years old the sooner! But some dreaded the +good order enforced by the stick. There was one boy in particular, who +had outgrown the girls' school, and was very troublesome there. He would +not go to the boys', and his mother would not make him, saying she feared +he would fall into the water. "Well," said Mrs. Bargus, who was a most +bright, kindly old lady of eighty, "I'll make him go." So she took a +large piece of yellow glazed calico intended for furniture lining, walked +up to school, and held it up to the little boy. She said she heard that +he would only go to the girls' school, and, since everybody went there in +petticoats, she had brought some stuff to make him a petticoat too! The +young man got up and walked straight off to the boys' school. + +Here are some verses, written by Mrs. Yonge in 1838, on one of the sights +that met her eye in the old Churchyard:-- + + While on the ear the solemn note + Of prayer and praises heavenward float, + A butterfly with brilliant wings + A lesson full of meaning brings, + A sermon to the eye. + + There on an infant's grave it stands, + For it hath burst the shroud's dull bands, + Its vile worm's body there is left, + Of gross earth's habits now bereft + It soars into the sky. + + Thus when the grave her dead shall give + The little form below shall live, + Clothed in a robe of dazzling white + Shall spring aloft on wings of light, + To realms above shall fly! + +Changes were setting in all this time. The rick-burnings, in which so +many foolish persons indulged, was going on in 1831 in many parts of +Hampshire. They were caused partly by dislike to the threshing machines +that were beginning to be used, and partly by the notion that such +disturbances would lead to the passing of the Reform Bill, which ignorant +men believed would give every poor man a fat pig in his stye. There was +no rick-burning here, though some of the villagers joined the bands of +men who wandered about the country demanding money and arms at the large +houses. But, happily, none of them were actually engaged in any +violence, and none of them swelled the calendar of the Special Assize +that took place at Winchester for the trial of the rioters. + +One poor maid-servant in the parish, from the North of Hampshire, had, +however, two brothers, who were intelligent men of some education, and +who, having been ringleaders, were both sentenced to death. The sentence +was, however, commuted to transportation for life. At Sydney, being of a +very different class from the ordinary convict, they prospered greatly, +and their letters were very interesting. They were wonderful feats of +penmanship, for postage from Australia was ruinously expensive, and they +filled sheets of paper with writing that could hardly be read without a +microscope. If we had those letters now they would be curious records of +the early days of the Colony, but all now recollected is the account of a +little kangaroo jumping into a hunter's open shirt, thinking it was his +mother's pouch. + +The Reform Bill, after all, when passed made no present difference in +Otterbourne life--nothing like the difference that a measure a few years +after effected, namely, the Poor-law Amendment Bill. Not many people +here remember the days of the old Poor-law, when whatever a pauper family +wanted was supplied from the rates, and thus an idle man often lived more +at his ease on other people's money than an industrious man on his own +earnings. It was held that if wages were small they might be helped out +of the rates, and thus the ratepayers were often ruined. In the midst of +the street stood the old Poorhouse. It had no governor nor anyone to see +that order was kept or work done there, and everybody that was homeless, +or lazy, or disreputable, drifted in there. They went in and out as they +pleased, and had a weekly allowance of money. Now and then there was a +great row among them. One room was inhabited by an old man named Strong, +who was considered a wonder because he ate adders cut up like eels and +stewed with a bit of bacon. Every now and then a message would come in +that old Strong had got a couple of nice adders and wanted a bit of bacon +to cook with them. Then there was a large family whose father never +worked for any one long together, and lived in the Workhouse, with a wife +and six or seven children, supported by the parish. These people were +pursuaded to go to Manchester, where there was sure to be work in the +factories for all their many girls. The men in receipt of parish pay +were supposed to have work found for them on the roads, but there was not +much of this to employ them, and as they were paid all the same whether +they worked or not, some were said to hammer the stones as if they were +afraid of hurting them, or to make the wheeling a couple of barrows of +chalk their whole day's work. + +A good deal depended on the vestry management of each parish, and there +was less of flagrant idleness supported by the rates here than at many +places. There was also a well-built and arranged Workhouse at Hursley, +and the Poor law Commissioners consented to make one small Union of +Hursley, Otterbourne, Farley, and Baddesley, instead of throwing them +into a large one. + +The discontinuance of out-door relief to help out the wages was a great +shock at first, but, when the ratepayers were no longer weighed down, +they could give more work and better wages, and the labourers thus +profited in the end, and likewise began to learn more independence. Still +the times were hard then. Few families could get on unless the mother as +well as the father did field work, and thus she had no time to attend +thoroughly to making home comfortable, mending the clothes, or taking +care of the little ones. The eldest girl was kept at home dragging about +with the baby, and often grew rough as well as ignorant, and the cottage +was often very little cared for. The notion of what was comfortable and +suitable was very different then. + +The country began to be intersected by railways, and the South-Western +line was marked out to Southampton. The course was dug out from Shawford +and Compton downs, and the embankment made along our valley. It was +curious to see the white line creeping on, as carts filled with chalk ran +from the diggings to the end, tipped over their contents, and returned +again. When the foundations were dug for the arch spanning the lane the +holes filled with water as fast as they were made, and nothing could be +done till the two long ditches had been dug to carry off the water to +Allbrook. In the course of making them in the light peaty earth, some +bones of animals and (I believe) stags' horns were found, but unluckily, +were thrown away, instead of being shown to anyone who would have made +out from them much of the history of the formation of the boggy earth +that forms the water meadows. + +{The Old Church, Otterbourne: p32.jpg} + +It is amusing to remember the kind of dread that was felt at first of +railway travelling. It was thought that the engines would blow up, and, +as an old coachman is reported to have said, "When a coach is overturned, +there you are; but when an engine blows up, where are you?" He certainly +was so far right that a coach accident was fatal to fewer persons than a +railway accident generally is. + +The railway passed so near the old Church that the noise of the trains +would be inconvenient on Sundays. At least, so thought those with +inexperienced ears, though many a Church has since been built much nearer +to the line. However, this fixed the purpose that had already been +forming, of endeavouring to build a new Church. The first idea had been +of trying to raise 300 pounds to enlarge the old Church, but the distance +from the greater part of the parish was so inconvenient, and the railroad +so near, that the building of a new Church was finally decided on. There +really was not room for the men and boys at the same time on the backless +forms they occupied between the pews in the chancel. Moreover, if a +person was found sitting in a place to which another held that he or she +had a right, the owner never thought of looking for another place +elsewhere, and the one who was turned out went away displeased, and +declared that it was impossible to come to church for fear of "being +upset." It is strange and sad that people are so prone to forget what +our Master told us about "taking the highest room," even in His own +House. + +But besides the want of accommodation, the old Church was at an +inconvenient distance from the parish. No doubt there had once been more +houses near, but when the cottage inhabited by old Aaron Chalk was pulled +down, nothing remained near but Otterbourne Farm and the Moat House. +Every one living elsewhere had to walk half a mile, some much more, and +though Kiln Lane was then much better shaded with fine trees than it is +now, it was hard work on a hot or wet Sunday to go twice. Some of us may +recollect one constant churchgoer, John Rogers, who was so lame as to +require two sticks to walk with, and had to set out an hour beforehand, +yet who seldom missed. + +Just at this time the Reverend John Keble became Vicar of Hursley, and +Otterbourne, and forwarded the plan of church building with all his +might. + +Few new churches had been built at that time, so that there was +everything to be learnt, while subscriptions were being collected from +every quarter. Magdalen College, at Oxford, gave the site as well as a +handsome subscription, and every endeavour was made to render the new +building truly church like. It was during the building that Dr. Rowth, +the President of Magdalen College, coming to hold his court at the Moat +House, had the model of the church brought out to him and took great +interest in it. He is worth remembering, for he was one of the wisest +and most learned men in Oxford, and he lived to be nearly a hundred years +old. Church building was a much more difficult thing then than it is +now, when there are many architects trained in the principles of church +building, and materials of all kinds are readily provided. + +The cross form was at once fixed on as most suitable; and the little bell +turret was copied from one at a place called Corston. Mr. Owen Carter, +an architect at Winchester, drew the plans, with the constant watching +and direction of Mr. Yonge, who attended to every detail. The white +stone, so fit for carving decorations, which had been used in the +Cathedral, is imported from Caen, in Normandy. None had been brought +over for many years, till a correspondence was opened with the people at +the quarries, and blocks bought for the reredos and font. Now it is +constantly used. + +The panels of the pulpit, with the carvings of the Blessed Virgin, and +the four Latin fathers, SS. Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the +Great, were found in a shop for antiquities in London. The shape was +adapted to a sounding board, which had been made for the Cathedral, but +was rejected there. The altar-rail also was found in a shop. It must +previously have been in a church, as it has the sacramental corn and +grapes. It is thought to be old Flemish work, and represents a prince on +one side with a crown laid down, as he kneels in devotion, and some +ladies on the opposite side. The crown is an Emperor's, and there is the +collar of the Golden Fleece round his neck, so that it is probably meant +for either the Emperor Maximilian or his grandson, Charles V. One of the +gentlemen kneeling behind the Emperor has a beautiful face of adoration. + +The building of the Church took about two years, the first stone being +laid at the north-east corner. It was begun on the 16th of May, 1837, +and it was ready for consecration on the 30th of July, 1839. The +building had been prosperous, the only accident being the crushing of a +thumb when the pulpit was set in its place. + +The new boys' school was built at the same time, the archway of the south +door of the old Church being used for the doorway, so as to preserve the +beautiful and peculiar decoration, and the roof was lined with the doors +and backs of the old oak-pewing. In the flints collected for the +building of this and of the wall round the churchyard there was a water +wagtail's nest in which a young cuckoo was reared, having, of course, +turned out the rightful nestling. Probably it flew safely, for the last +time it was seen its foster parents were luring it out with green +caterpillars held a little way from the nest. + +The expense of the building of the boys' school and of a new room for the +girls was defrayed chiefly by a bazaar held at Winchester. There were at +that time no Education Acts nor Government requirements, and the +buildings would be deemed entirely unfit at this time even for the +numbers who then used them, and who did not amount to more than between +thirty and forty boys and fifty or sixty girls and infants, together +about a third of the present numbers at school in Otterbourne and +Allbrook. Miss Tucker was then the mistress; Master Oxford still the +master. + +The Church was consecrated on the 30th of July, 1839, by Bishop Sumner, +who preached a sermon on the text, "No man careth for my soul," warning +us that we could not plead such an excuse for ourselves, if we neglected +to walk in the right way. + +One of the earliest funerals in the churchyard was that of good old +Oxford, old, as he was called, because he was crippled by rheumatism, but +he was only fifty-two. He lies buried near the south gate of the +churchyard under a large slate recording his name. + +He was followed in his office by Mr. William Stainer, who had hitherto +been known as a baker, living in the house which is now Mr. James +Godwin's. His bread was excellent, and he was also noted for what were +called Otterbourne buns, the art of making which seems to have gone with +him. They were small fair-complexioned buns, which stuck together in +parties of three, and when soaked, expanded to twice or three times their +former size. He used to send them once or twice a week to Winchester. +But though baking was his profession, he did much besides. He was a real +old-fashioned herbalist, and had a curious book on the virtues of plants, +and he made decoctions of many kinds, which he administered to those in +want of medicine. Before the Poor Law provided Union doctors, medical +advice, except at the hospital, was almost out of reach of the poor. Mr. +and Mrs. Yonge, like almost all other beneficent gentlefolks in villages, +kept a medicine chest and book, and doctored such cases as they could +venture on, and Mr. Stainer was in great favour as practitioner, as many +of our elder people can remember. He was exceedingly charitable and +kind, and ready to give his help so far as he could. He was a great +lover of flowers, and had contrived a sort of little greenhouse over the +great oven at the back of his house, and there he used to bring up lovely +geraniums and other flowers, which he sometimes sold. He was a deeply +religious and devout man, and during Master Oxford's illness took his +place in Church, which was more important when there was no choir and the +singers sat in the gallery. He was very happy in this office, moving +about on felt shoes that he might make no noise, and most reverently +keeping the Church clean and watching over it in every way. He also +continued in the post of schoolmaster, which at first he had only taken +temporarily, giving up part of his business to his nephew. But he still +sat up at night baking, and he also had other troubles: there was +insanity in his family, and he was much harassed. + +His kindness and simplicity were sometimes abused. He never had the +heart to refuse to lend money, or to deny bread on credit to hopeless +debtors; and altogether debts, distress, baking all night, and school +keeping all day, were too much for him. The first hint of an examination +of his school completed the mischief, and he died insane. It is a sad +story, but many of us will remember with affectionate regard the good, +kind, quaint, and most excellent little man. By that time our +schoolmistress was Mrs. Durndell, the policeman's wife, a severe woman, +but she certainly made the girls do thoroughly whatever she taught, +especially repetition and needlework. + +The examiner on religious subjects, Mr. Allen, afterwards an Archdeacon, +reported that the girls had an unusual knowledge of the text of +Scripture, but that he did not think them equally intelligent as to the +meaning. + +Daily Service had been commenced when the new Church was opened, and the +children of the schools attended it. There was also a much larger +congregation of old men than have ever come in later years. At one time +there were nine constantly there. One of these, named Passingham, who +used to ring the bell for matins and evensong, was said to have been the +strongest man in the parish, and to have carried two sacks of corn over +the common on the top of the hill in his youth. He was still a hearty +old man at eighty-six, when after ringing the bell one morning as usual, +he dropped down on the hill in a fit and died in a few seconds. + +There was not much change for a good many years. In 1846, the Parsonage +House was built and given to the living by Mr. Keble. The stained glass +of the south window of the Church was given by the Reverend John Yonge, +of Puslinch, Rector of Newton Ferrers, in Devonshire, in memory of his +youngest son, Edmund Charles, who died at Otterbourne House in 1847. +Thirteen years previously, in 1834, the eldest son, James Yonge, had +likewise died at Otterbourne House. Both the brothers lie buried here, +one in the old churchyard, one in the new. They are commemorated in +their own church at Newton by a tablet with the inscription--"What I do +thou knowest not now, but thou shall know hereafter." + +In 1834 their father gave what made, as it were the second foundation of +the Lending Library, for there were about four-and-twenty very serious +books, given in Archdeacon Heathcote's time, kept in the vestry at the +old Church. They looked as if they had been read but only by the elder +people who liked a grave book, and there was nothing there meant for the +young people. So there were a good many new books bought, and weekly +given out at the Penny Club, with more or less vigour, for the next +thirty years or so. + +The next public matter that greatly affected this place was the Crimean +War. It was a large proportion of our young men who were more or less +concerned in it. Captain Denzill Chamberlayne in the Cavalry, Lieut. +Julian B. Yonge, John Hawkins, Joseph Knight, James and William Mason, +and it was in the midst of the hurry and confusion of the departure that +the death of Mr. W. C. Yonge took place, February 26th, 1854. Three of +those above mentioned lived to return home. Captain Chamberlayne shared +in the famous charge of the Light Brigade, at Balaclava, when + + Into the jaws of death + Rode the six hundred: + Cannon to right of them, + Cannon to left of them, + Volleyed and thundered. + +His horse, Pimento, was killed under him, but he escaped without a wound, +and on his return home was drawn up to the house by the people, and had a +reception which made such an impression on the children that when one was +asked in school what a hero was, she answered, "Captain Chamberlayne." + +John Hawkins, Joseph Knight, and William Mason died in the Crimea. A +tablet to commemorate them was built into the wall of the churchyard, +with the text--"It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth," +for the discipline of the army had been very good for these youths, and, +therefore, this verse was chosen for them by Mr. Keble. + +The next event that concerned the parish much was the death of the great +and holy man who had been our rector for thirty years. Mr. Keble died at +Bournemouth on the 29th of March, 1866. His manners and language were +always so simple, and his humility so great, that many of those who came +in contact with him never realized how great a man he was, not being able +to perceive that the very deepest thoughts might be clothed in the +plainest language. Some felt, in the words of the poem,-- + + "I came and saw, and having seen, + Weak heart! I drew offence + From thy prompt smile, thy humble mien, + Thy lowly diligence." + +But none who really knew him could fail to be impressed with the sense of +his power, his wisdom, his love, and, above all, his holiness; and his +_Christian Year_ will always be a fund of consolation, full of +suggestions of good and devotional thoughts and deeds. Mrs. Keble, who +was already very ill, followed him to her rest on the 11th of May. It +may be worth remembering that the last time she wrote her name was a +signature to a petition against licensing marriage with a deceased wife's +sister. + +Sir William Heathcote then appointed the Reverend James G. Young as Vicar +of Hursley and Otterbourne. A fresh tide of change began to set in. As +times altered and population increased, and as old things and people +passed away, there were various changes in the face of the village. The +Government requirements made it necessary to erect a new Girl's School, +and land was permanently secured for the purpose, and this was done +chiefly by subscription among the inhabitants, affording a room large +enough for parish meetings and lectures, as well as for its direct +purpose. The subscription was as a testimonial to the Rev. William Bigg- +Wither, who had been thirty years curate of the parish, and under whom +many of the changes for the better were worked out. The building was +provided with a tower, in case there should ever be a clock given to the +parish. + +The clock was given in a manner worthy of remembrance. Mr. William Pink, +as a thatcher, and his two sisters in service, had saved enough to +provide for their old age, and to leave a considerable overplus, out of +which the last survivor, Mrs. Elizabeth Pink, when passing away at a good +old age, bequeathed enough to provide the parish with the clock whose +voice has already become one of our most familiar sounds. + +Allbrook was by this time growing into a large hamlet, and a school +chapel was then built, chiefly by Mr. Wheeler. We must not forget that +we had for five years the great and excellent Samuel Wilberforce for our +Bishop, and that he twice held confirmations in our parish. No one can +forget the shock of his sudden call. One moment he was calling his +companion's attention to the notes of a late singing nightingale; the +next, his horse had stumbled and he was gone. It was remarkable that +shortly before he had, after going over the hospital, spoken with dread +of what he called the "humiliation of a lingering illness"--exactly what +he was spared. + +Bishop Harold Browne came from Ely to take the See of Winchester. He +reconsecrated our church when the chancel was enlarged and the new aisle +added. He carried on vigorously work only begun under Bishop +Wilberforce. Under him Diocesan Synods, the Girls' Friendly Society, and +the Examination of Senior Scholars in Religious Knowledge have all shown +his diligent oversight as Shepherd of the flock. + +In the year 1875 Sir William Heathcote succeeded in bringing about an +arrangement by which Otterbourne could be separated from Hursley and have +a Vicar of its own, the difference of income being made up to the Vicar +of Hursley. This was done by the aid of a munificent lady, Mrs. Gibbs, +the widow of one of the great merchant princes, whose wealth was always +treated as a trust from God. She became the patron of the living, and +the advowson remains in her family. + +The first Vicar was the Reverend Walter Francis Elgie, who had already +been six years curate, and had won the love and honour of all his flock. +Deeply did they all mourn him when it was God's will to take him from +them on the 25th of February, 1881, in the 43rd year of his age, after +ten years of zealous work. + +It was felt as remarkable that a young pupil teacher in consumption, whom +he had sent to the Home at Bournemouth, was taken on the same day, and +buried here the day after, and that the schoolmaster, Walter Fisher, a +man of gentle and saintly nature, followed him six weeks after. + + We left them in the Church's shade, + Our standard-bearer true, + And near at hand the gentle maid + Who well his guidance knew. + + He fainted in the noon of life, + Nor knew his victory won; + She was fresh girded for the strife, + Her battle scarce begun. + + Long had we known Death's angel hand + The maiden's brow had seal'd; + He fell, like chief of warrior band, + Struck down on battle-field. + + So in God's acre here they meet + As they have met above, + Tasting beneath their Saviour's feet + The treasures of His love. + + For what they learnt and taught of here + Is present with them there; + May we speed on in faith and fear, + Then heavenly rest to share. + +With the coming of our present Vicar, the Rev. H. W. Brock, our +Otterbourne story ends, as the times are no longer _old times_. The +water works for the supply of Southampton are our last novelty, by which +such of us benefit, as either themselves or their landlords pay a small +contribution. They have given us some red buildings at one end and on +the Hill a queer little round tower containing the staircase leading to +the underground reservoir, a wonderful construction of circles of brick +pillars and arches, as those remember who visited it before the water was +let in. And, verily, we may be thankful that our record has so few +events in it, no terrible disasters, but that there has been peace and +health and comfort, more than falls to the lot of many a parish. Truly +we may thankfully say, "The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground, yea, +I have a goodly heritage." + +{Birds on fence: p42.jpg} + + + + +Old Remembrances. + + +{Bridges over river: p43.jpg} + +I remember, I remember, + Old times at Otterbourne, +Before the building of the Church, + And when smock frocks were worn! + +I remember, I remember, + When railroads there were none, +When by stage coach at early dawn + The journey was begun. + +And through the turnpike roads till eve + Trotted the horses four, +With inside passengers and out + They carried near a score. + +"Red Rover" and the "Telegraph," + We knew them all by name, +And Mason's and the Oxford coach, + Full thirty of them came. + +The coachman wore his many capes, + The guard his bugle blew; +The horses were a gallant sight, + Dashing upon our view. + +I remember, I remember, + The posting days of old; +The yellow chariot lined with blue + And lace of colour gold. + +The post-boys' jackets blue or buff, + The inns upon the road; +The hills up which we used to walk + To lighten thus the load. + +The rattling up before the inn, + The horses led away, +The post-boy as he touched his hat + And came to ask his pay. + +The perch aloft upon the box, + Delightful for the view; +The turnpike gates whose keepers stood + Demanding each his due. + +I remember, I remember, + When ships were beauteous things, +The floating castles of the deep + Borne upon snow-white wings; + +Ere iron-clads and turret ships, + Ugly as evil dream, +Became the hideous progeny + Of iron and of steam. + +You crossed the Itchen ferry + All in an open boat, +Now, on a panting hissing bridge + You scarcely seem afloat. + +Southampton docks were sheets of mud, + Grim colliers at the quay. +No tramway, and no slender pier + To stretch into the sea. + +I remember, I remember, + Long years ere Rowland Hill, +When letters covered quarto sheets + Writ with a grey goose quill; + +Both hard to fold and hard to read, + Crossed to the scarlet seal; +Hardest of all to pay for ere + Their news they might reveal. + +No stamp with royal head was there, + But eightpence was the sum +For every letter, all alike, + That did from London come! + +I remember, I remember, + The mowing of the hay; +Scythes sweeping through the heavy grass + At breaking of the day. + +The haymakers in merry ranks + Tossing the swaths so sweet, +The haycocks tanning olive-brown + In glowing summer heat. + +The reapers 'mid the ruddy wheat, + The thumping of the flail, +The winnowing within the barn + By whirling round a sail. + +Long ere the whirr, and buz, and rush + Became a harvest sound, +Or monsters trailed their tails of spikes, + Or ploughed the fallow ground. + +Our sparks flew from the flint and steel, + No lucifers were known, +Snuffers with tallow candles came + To prune the wick o'ergrown. + +Hands did the work of engines then, + But now some new machine +Must hatch the eggs, and sew the seams, + And make the cakes, I ween. + +I remember, I remember, + The homely village school, +The dame with spelling book and rod, + The sceptre of her rule. + +A black silk bonnet on her head, + Buff kerchief on her neck, +With spectacles upon her nose, + And apron of blue check. + +Ah, then were no inspection days, + No standards then were known, +Children could freely make dirt pies, + And learning let alone! + +Those Sundays I remember too, + When Service there was one; +For living in the parish then + Of clergy there were none. + +And oh, I can recall to mind, + The Church and every pew; +William and Mary's royal arms + Hung up in fullest view. + +The lion smiling, with his tongue + Like a pug dog's hung out; +The unicorn with twisted horn + Brooding upon his rout. + +Exalted in the gallery high + The tuneful village choir, +With flute, bassoon, and clarionet, + Their notes rose high and higher. + +They shewed the number of the Psalm + In white upon a slate, +And many a time the last lines sung + Of Brady and of Tate. + +While far below upon the floor + Along the narrow aisle, +The children on then benches sat + Arranged in single file + +And there the clerk would stump along + And strike with echoing blow +Each idle guilty little head + That chattered loud or low. + +Ah! I remember many things, + Old middle-aged, and new; +Is the new better than the old, + More bright, more wise, more true? + +The old must ever pass away, + The new must still come in; +When these new things are old to you + Be they unstained by sin. + +So will their memory be sweet, + A treasury of bliss +To be borne with us in the days + When we their presence miss. + +Trifles connected with the love + Of many a vanished friend +Will thrill the heart and wake the sense, + For memory has no end! + +{Flowers: p46.jpg} + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIMES AT OTTERBOURNE*** + + +******* This file should be named 24651.txt or 24651.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/5/24651 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/24651.zip b/24651.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e5f31d --- /dev/null +++ b/24651.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f227ada --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #24651 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24651) |
