r sex an unusual
severity of decorum. I was left awkwardly enough stationed in the centre
of the court of the old hall, mounted on one horse, and holding another
in my hand.

The building afforded little to interest a stranger, had I been disposed
to consider it attentively; the sides of the quadrangle were of various
architecture, and with their stone-shafted latticed windows, projecting
turrets, and massive architraves, resembled the inside of a convent, or
of one of the older and less splendid colleges of Oxford. I called for a
domestic, but was for some time totally unattended to; which was the more
provoking, as I could perceive I was the object of curiosity to several
servants, both male and female, from different parts of the building, who
popped out their heads and withdrew them, like rabbits in a warren,
before I could make a direct appeal to the attention of any individual.
The return of the huntsmen and hounds relieved me from my embarrassment,
and with some difficulty I got one clown to relieve me of the charge of
the horses, and another stupid boor to guide me to the presence of Sir
Hildebrand. This service he performed with much such grace and
good-will, as a peasant who is compelled to act as guide to a hostile
patrol; and in the same manner I was obliged to guard against his
deserting me in the labyrinth of low vaulted passages which conducted to
"Stun Hall," as he called it, where I was to be introduced to the
gracious presence of my uncle.

We did, however, at length reach a long vaulted room, floored with stone,
where a range of oaken tables, of a weight and size too massive ever to
be moved {105} aside, were already covered for dinner. This venerable
apartment, which had witnessed the feasts of several generations of the
Osbaldistone family, bore also evidence of their success in field-sports.
Huge antlers of deer, which might have been trophies of the hunting of
Chevy Chace, were ranged around the walls, interspersed with the stuffed
skins of badgers, otters, martens, and other animals of the chase.
Amidst some remnants of old armour, which had, perhaps, served against
the Scotch, hung the more valued weapons of silvan war, cross-bows, guns
of various device and construction, nets, fishing-rods, otter-spears,
hunting-poles, with many other singular devices and engines for taking or
killing game. A few old pictures, dimmed with smoke, and stained with
March beer, hung on the walls, representing