Part 5 (2/2)
Nowadays the world is perpetually on the move, but in the old days people who possessed a country house passed nine months out of the twelve under its sacred roof--sacred because it was inseparably connected with e and early association; with e and children, and pure enjoyoodwill In a word, the country house was Home, and for those elt in it the interests of life were very round and the cricket-ground, the kennel, the stable, and the garden I re some Yorkshi+re dah midsummer pomps” of its beauty But all they said was, in the pensive tone of unwilling exiles, ”How beautifully the sunon the South Walk at horeat centre of domestic affection All the family had been christened in it The eldest sister had been married in it Generations of ancestry mouldered under the chancel-floor Christmas decorations were an occasion of h in favour in Tractarian ho not to see Proofs of their own dexterity; But quite contented that 'I' should Forgotten be in brotherhood”
Of course, whether Tractarian or Evangelical, religious people regarded church-going as a spiritual privilege; and everyone, religious or not, recognized it as a civil duty ”When a gentleman is _sur ses terres_,”
said Major Pendennis, ”he ive an example to the country people; and, if I could turn a tune, I even think I should sing The Duke of St
David's, whos in the country, and let me tell you it has a doosed fine effect from the Family Pew”
Before the passion for ”restoration” had set in, and ere yet Sir Gilbert Scott had transland, the Family Peas indeed the ark and sanctuary of the territorial system--and a very comfortable ark too It had a private entrance, a round table, a good assortment of armchairs, a fire-place, and a wood-basket And I well relove of unusual size which was kept in the wood-basket for the greater convenience ofdivine service ”You may restore the church as much as you like,” said the lay-rector of our parish, to an innovating Incu touched If I had to sit in an open seat, I should never get a wink of sleep again”
A country hoht up in it The sons played cricket and went bat-fowling with the village boys, and not seldo expedition to the paternal preserves However popular or successful or happy a Public-school boy ht be at Eton or Harrow, he counted the days till he could return to his pony and his gun, his ferrets and rat-trap and fishi+ng-rod In after years, amid all the toil and worry of active life, he looked back lovingly to the corner of the cover where he shot his first pheasant, or the precise spot in the middle of the Vale where he first saw a fox killed, and underwent the disgusting Baptis more continuously at home, entered even more inti rides led thee Green; their afternoon drives were often steered by the claiht as soon as they could toddle never to enter a door without knocking, never to sit doithout being asked, and never to call at ; played with the babies, taught the boys in Sunday School, carried savoury messes to the old and iht flowers for the coffin
Maanized relief in hard winters and times of epidemic, and found places for the hobbledehoys of both sexes The pony-boy and the scullery-e Very likely the young-ladies'-irl whom the doctor had pronounced too delicate for factory or far his eyes out of his head at the Eton and Harrow ood catch, ”It was overnor as 'scouted'
that 'E's nimble, ain't he?” And I well rehamshi+re as called ”Old Bucks,” because he had never slept out of his native county, and very rarely out of his native village, and had spent his whole life in the service of one family
Of course, when so much of the impressionable part of life was lived arew up, between the fa which, in spite of our national unsentimentality, had a chivalrous and almost feudal tone The interest of the poor in the life and doings of ”The Falish peasant is too entleman to be a flatterer, and compliments were often bestowed in very unexpected for's no worse than it alere,” was a plough that an uncle of mine was in full possession of his faculties
”We call 'i,” was another's description of a pony which had belonged to my father ”Ah, I know you're but a poor creature at the best!” was the recognized way of co and romantic delicacy
But these eccentricities were enuine and lasting regard ”I've lived under four dukes and four 'ousekeepers, and I'e!” was the exclanity had been offended by sohter of the house married and went into a far country, she was sure to find sorant from her old home elcomed her with effusion, and was full of enquiries about his Lordshi+p and her Ladyshi+p, and Miss Pinkerton the governess, and whether Mr Wheeler was still coache Whether the sons got commissions, or took ranches, or became curates in slu face was sure to ee froo birds-nesting with you”; or, ”You remember my old dad, my lord? He used to shoe your black pony” When the eldest son ca this step was hailed with genuine enthusiasru if he went in for small economies, or altered old practices, or was a ”hard man” on the Bench or at the Board of Guardians; but, if he went on in the good-natured old ways, the traditional loyalty was unabated Lord Shaftesbury wrote thus about the birth of his eldest son's eldest son:--”My little village is all agog with the birth of a son and heir in the very midst of them, the first, it is believed, since 1600, when the first Lord Shaftesbury was born
The christening yesterday was an ovation Every cottage had flags and flowers We had three triu 'He is one of us' 'He is a fellow-villager' 'We have now got a lord of our own' This is really gratifying I did not think that there remained so much of the old respect and affection between peasant and proprietor, landlord and tenant”
In the present day, if a season of financial pressure sets in, people shut up their country houses, let their shooting, cut the duties and sie frohts of London In London life has no duties Little is expected of one, and nothing required
But in old days, when people wished to economize, it was London that they deserted They sold the ”Family Mansion” in Portland Place or Eaton Square; and, if they revisited the glimpses of the social moon, they took a furnished house for six weeks in the summer; the rest of the year they spent in the country This plan was aThere was no rent to pay, and only very small rates, for everyone knows that country houses are shaes did not require re-painting every season, and no new clothes anted As the ladies in _Cranford_ said--”What can it matter ear here, where everyone knoe are?” The products of the Park, the Hoarden kept the fa at Beaudesert with the falesey waxed enthusiastic over the e of an old friendshi+p, asked how much it cost him ”Cost ! I don't buy it It's my own,” and he was beyond uest proved that ”his own” cost hireat house, conducted on strictly economical lines, it was said that the very nuarden-stuff, and that their enfeebled constitutions and disimen
People were always hospitable in the country; but rural entertaining was not a very costly business The ”three square meals and a snack,” which represent the e development of the systerown fros, which Macaulay tells us were deemed sufficient at Holland House, to an affair of covered dishes Luncheon-parties were soiven--terrible ceremonies which lasted from two to four; but the ordinary luncheon of the family was a snack fro; and five o'clock tea had only lately been invented To remember, as I just can, the Foundress[20] of that divine refresh known Stephenson or Jenner
Dinner was substantial enough in all conscience, and the wine nearly as heavy as the food I-days! Yet so we did, till about half-way through dinner, and then, on great occasions, a dark-coloured rill of chalasses At the epoch of cheese, port made its appearance in company with home-brewed beer; and, as soon as the ladies and the schoolboys departed, the men applied themselves, with much seriousness of purpose, to the consumption of claret which was really vinous
Grace was said before and after dinner There was a famous squire in Hertfordshi+re whose love of his dinner was constantly at ith his pietistic traditions He always had his glass of sherry poured out before he sat down to dinner, so that he enerous eagerness, he upset the glass just as he dropped into his seat at the end of grace, and the formula ran on to an unexpected conclusion, thus: ”For e are going to receive, the Lord ruities which attended grace before dinner were disturbing, still more so were the solemnities of the close Grace after dinner always happened at the eneral conversation For an hour and a half people had been stuffing as if their lives depended on it--”one feeding like forty” Out of the abundance of theat once, and very loud Perhaps the venue was laid in a fox-hunting country, and then the air was full of such voices as these: ”Were you out with the Squire to-day?” ”Any sport?” ”Yes, we'd rather a nice gallop” ”Plenty of the animal about, I hope?” ”Well, I don't know I believe that new keeper at Boreham Wood is a vulpicide I don't half like his looks” ”What an infernal villain! A randmother” ”sh!+ sh!+”
”What's the matter?”
”_For e have received_,” &c
”Do you know you've been talking at the top of your voice all the ti on?”
”Not really? I'm awfully sorry But our host ”
”I can't irace after dessert I know I'm much more thankful for strawberry ice than for saddle of mutton”
And so on and so forth On the whole, I aeneracy, but I note it as a social change which I have seen