he distance to the county-town, and that only at
assize-and session-time, or to attend an election. Once a week
he commonly dined at the next market-town with the attorneys and
justices. This man went to church regularly, read the weekly journal,
settled the parochial disputes between the parish officers at the vestry,
and afterward adjourned to the neighboring ale-house, where he
usually got drunk for the good of his country. He never played at cards
but at Christmas, when a family pack was produced from the mantelpiece.
He was commonly followed by a couple of greyhounds and a pointer,
and announced his arrival at a friend's house by cracking his whip or
giving the view-halloo. His drink was generally ale, except on Christmas,
the Fifth of November or some other gala-day, when he would make
a bowl of strong brandy punch, garnished with a toast and nutmeg.
A journey to London was by one of these men reckoned as great an
undertaking as is at present a voyage to the East Indies, and
undertaken with scarcely less precaution and preparation. The mansion
of one of these squires was of plaster striped with timber, not unaptly
called calimanco-work, or of red brick; large casemented bow-windows,
a porch with seats in it, and over it a study, the eaves of the house well
inhabited by swallows, and the court set round with hollyhocks. The
hall was furnished with flitches of bacon, and the mantelpiece with guns
and fishing-rods of different dimensions, accompanied by the broadsword,
partisan and dagger borne by his ancestors in the Civil Wars. The
vacant spaces were occupied by stags' horns. Against the wall was
posted King Charles's _Golden Rules_, Vincent Wing's _Almanack_
and a portrait of the duke of Marlborough: in his window lay Baker's
_Chronicle_, Fox's _Book of Martyrs_, Glanvil on _Apparitions_,
Quincey's _Dispensatory_, the _Complete Justice_ and a _Book of
Farriery_. In the corner, by the fireside, stood a large wooden
two-armed chair with a cushion; and within the chimney-corner were
a couple of seats. Here, at Christmas, he entertained his tenants
assembled round a glowing fire made of the roots of trees and other
great logs, and told and heard the traditionary tales of the village
respecting ghosts and witches till fear made them afraid to move.
In the mean time the jorum of ale was in continual circulation.
The best parlor, which was never opened but on particular occasions,
was furnished with Turk-worked chairs, an