timber behind it, and
in front a gentle slope of fine green turf, on which the deer seem to
delight in grouping themselves at the most picturesque points. Miss
Kendrick is said to have been beautiful and accomplished, and it is
certain that she was an eccentric young person, who turned a deaf
ear to the suits of many wooers, for, as the ballad quoted by your
contributor says--

Many noble persons courted
This young lady, 'tis reported;
But their labor was in vain:
They could not her love obtain.

This metrical version of the story is, I fear, lost except the
fragments which I shall quote; at least I have sought for it in vain
in all likely quarters since reading Lady Blanche's article.

So Miss Kendrick lived a lonely and stately life in Calcott Park.

Now, at this time there was a young gentleman of the name of Benjamin
Child, a barrister of the Temple, belonging to the western circuit, of
which Reading is the first assize-town. He came of a family which had
seen better days, but his ancestors had suffered in the civil war, and
he had no fortune but his good looks. His practice was as slender as
his means, but nevertheless he managed to ride the western circuit
after the judges of assize. The arrival of the judges in a county-town
in those days was a signal for hospitalities and festivities in which
the circuit barristers were welcome guests, and one spring assizes
Benjamin Child found himself at a wedding and ball, where no doubt he
carried himself as a young gentleman of good birth and town breeding
should.

Next morning he received at his lodgings a written challenge,
which alleged that he had grievously injured the writer at the
entertainments on the previous day, and appointed a meeting in Calcott
Park on the following morning to settle the affair in mortal combat.
In those days no gentleman could refuse such an invitation,
and accordingly Child appeared at the appointed time and place,
accompanied by another young barrister as his second. The rendezvous
was at a spot near the present lodge, and the young men on arriving
found the lawn occupied by two women in masks, while a carriage
was drawn up under some trees hard by. They were naturally in some
embarrassment, from which they were scarcely relieved when the ladies
advanced to meet them, and Child learned that one of them was his
challenger, the mortal offence being that he had won her heart at the
Reading ball, and that she had come there to de