1, raised the pulpit of
the church, and erected a new reading-desk and seat for the clerk, and
it was "hereby ordered that the thanks of this vestry be paid in the
most respectful manner to Mr. Knightley for this fresh mark of his
regard." Surely that is precisely what would have been the attitude of
Mr. Elton's parishioners to Emma's husband. If Miss Austen read the
parish literature, she may also have set eyes on a poem entitled,
"Norbury Park," which was written by a minor bard of the neighbourhood
named Woodhouse. But that is insisting too much; though, to be sure,
from the quality of his verse, Mr. Woodhouse, author of "Norbury Park,"
may well be imagined to have had, like Emma's father, a nice taste in
gruel.

[Illustration: _The Mole at Slyfield Place._]

CHAPTER XXVII

STOKE D'ABERNON

Slyfields.--A Great Bowl of Silver.--The Heir.--The Danger of Parish
Relief.--Stoke D'Abernon Church.--A Knightly Memorial.--Stolen
Woad.--Sire Richard le Petit.--Long Sermons.--The Earliest
Honeymoon.--Cobham.--A Hermit for L700.--Matthew Arnold at Pain's
Hill.

The Mole wanders west away from Leatherhead by Randall's Farm and
Randall's Park, and perhaps Miss Austen used to imagine Emma and Mrs.
Weston walking along the rather dull road that runs up the valley by the
side of the stream. North of the road, about a mile from the town,
stands an old Roman camp, now buried in a small wood, with notice-boards
loudly forbidding access. Another mile to the west--but you must walk
two to get there--is one of the most charming of old Surrey
manor-houses, now a farmhouse, but still known by its name of Slyfields.

The Slyfields were essentially a Surrey family. They lived and worked as
gentlemen and yeomen and parsons among small Surrey villages, Send and
Great Bookham and Byfleet and Pirford and Ripley and the Clandons; one
of them, Edmond, was Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in the time of
Elizabeth. He was the greatest of the Slyfields, and left behind him
sixteen sons and daughters, four Surrey manors, and a will as careful
and studious as himself. Some of the items are quaint reading:--

To his son Walter, "my black velvett dublett and paire of hose of
wrought velvet, my best night gowne, my best hatt, fower of my best
shirtes and my best riding Cloake."

To his son William, "my coate of Tuftaffatie and a shorte cloke of
rashe, laide with parchment lace."

To his son-in-law,