THE RESIDENTS 97 



effigy of Ranulph de Oakenhurst, whose maternal 

 ancestor was one of the numerous brothers-in-law of 

 the mighty Conqueror ; whose banner streamed against 

 the Saracens in the crusade of Richard Cceur de Lion, 

 and who is said, by the most authentic county histories, 

 to have had excellent reason for expatriating himself in 

 his high-handed proceedings with his vassals and his 

 serfs. Although it is honourable, lying in the sacred 

 fane, yet, speaking for ourselves, we would rather 

 repose in the peaceful " God's acre " that slopes gently 

 to the southward, towards the limpid brook that 

 bubbles at the bottom. If phantoms charmed away 

 expectation by admiration of the lovely scenes they had 

 failed to appreciate when in the flesh, nowhere could 

 they find a more entrancing waiting-place. Yews that 

 were set in the soil many a century ago, have flourished 

 in the dust of innumerable generations. Some of the 

 mighty trunks are tumbling to pieces in decay, being 

 rent with the weight of their ponderous boughs. 

 They are studded, like the timbers of a dungeon-door, 

 with the clamps and fragments of rustful iron bands 

 that have burst and since been replaced by others. 

 The melancholy blackness of these venerable trees is 

 relieved by the brighter foliage of the thorns, which 

 are clothed in the freshness of spring with a bloom of 

 variegated blossoms ; and it is the pretty fashion of the 

 place to deck the grave with the flowers which grow so 

 freely in the cottage gardens, so that on an Easter 

 Sunday and some other high days, the moss-grown 

 tombstones of the forgotten forefathers of the village 



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