An Old Lincolnshire Family 



strictly kept until the morning, persuaded his Dame to let him 

 have his joke, and to absent herself from the evening meal, 

 whilst he played his part as host, and (as was often the custom 

 in those days) did the entertaining at supper himself. Then 

 the racy stories he would tell, and how he would draw the 

 stranger out all the time, chuckling all the while when he 

 thought what an awakening it would be on the following morn- 

 ing, and his visitor's confusion when he found out the trick that 

 had been played upon him. 



The story goes that Mr. Richardson brought out a bottle of 

 his famous port, famous even in those days when port wine 

 was the wine of the time, and men vied with each other in 

 obtaining and keeping in their cellars the very best. One can 

 see, too, when morning dawned, the unfortunate stranger coming 

 down to breakfast, and instead of an inn repast, finding the 

 stately figure of Dame Richardson, seated behind the historic 

 Urn won for her by Conqueror and now smoking away for all 

 it was worth. We can picture his confusion — his apologies. 



Whatever passed, it is tolerably certain, that with such a 

 hospitable couple, the stranger would soon find that he had 

 only exchanged his experiences of Limber House from the 

 thought of it as an inn to the joy of it as a country house, 

 where he ever would be a welcome guest. And from all I 

 have heard he and his host and hostess remained the best of 

 friends to the end of their lives. 



There is an old and trite saying : " Be careful to entertain 

 strangers, for by so doing, men have entertained angels un- 

 awares." And such, by all accounts, seems to have been the 

 case in this instance. 



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