It was
an irregular building of some magnitude, and seemed to be of the
architecture of different periods. One wing was, evidently very ancient,
with heavy stone-shafted bow windows jutting out and overrun with ivy,
from among the foliage of which the small diamond-shaped panes of glass
glittered with the moonbeams. The rest of the house was in the French
taste of Charles the Second's time, having been repaired and altered,
as my friend told me, by one of his ancestors, who returned with that
monarch at the Restoration. The grounds about the house were laid out
in the old formal manner of artificial flower-beds, clipped shrubberies,
raised terraces, and heavy stone balustrades, ornamented with urns, a
leaden statue or two, and a jet of water. The old gentleman, I was
told, was extremely careful to preserve this obsolete finery in all its
original state. He admired this fashion in gardening; it had an air
of magnificence, was courtly and noble, and befitting good old family
style. The boasted imitation of nature in modern gardening had sprung
up with modern republican notions, but did not suit a monarchical
government; it smacked of the levelling system. I could not help smiling
at this introduction of politics into gardening, though I expressed some
apprehension that I should find the old gentleman rather intolerant
in his creed. Frank assured me, however, that it was almost the only
instance in which he had ever heard his father meddle with politics; and
he believed that he had got this notion from a member of Parliament who
once passed a few weeks with him. The Squire was glad of any argument
to defend his clipped yew-trees and formal terraces, which had been
occasionally attacked by modern landscape gardeners.

As we approached the house, we heard the sound of music, and now and
then a burst of laughter from one end of the building. This, Bracebridge
said, must proceed from the servants' hall, where a great deal of
revelry was permitted, and even encouraged, by the Squire throughout the
twelve days of Christmas, provided everything was done comformably to
ancient usage. Here were kept up the old games of hoodman blind,
shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, bob apple and
snapdragon: the Yule log and Christmas candle were regularly burnt, and
the mistletoe, with its white berries, hung up to the imminent peril of
all the pretty housemaids.*

*[1] See Note A.

So intent were the servants upon th