EdgehilL 119 



We lunched off deal tables and drank home-brewed 

 ale in the tap-room of the Holcroft Inn, a queer old 

 place, but we had a jolly time amid every kind of thing 

 that carried us back to the England of past centuries. 

 Beyond Holcroft we came suddenly upon the grandest 

 and most extensive view by far that had yet rejoiced us. 

 We were rolling along absorbed in deep admiration of 

 the fertile land that spread out before us on both sides 

 of the road, and extolling the never-ceasing peacefulness 

 and quiet charm of England, when, on passing through 

 a cut, a wide and varied panorama lay stretched at our 

 feet. A dozen picturesque villages and hamlets were in 

 sight, and by the aid of our field-glass a dozen more 

 were brought within range. The spires of the churches, 

 the poplars, the hedgerows, the woods, the gently undu- 

 lating land apparently giving forth its luxuriant harvest 

 with such ease and pleasure, all these made up such a 

 picture as we could not leave. We ordered the coach to 

 go on and wait at the foot of the hill until we had feasted 

 ourselves with the view. We lay upon the face of the 

 hill and gazed on Arcadia smiling below. Very soon 

 some of the neighboring residents came, for one is never 

 long without human company in crowded England ; and 

 we found that we were indeed upon sacred ground. 

 This was Edgehill ! As sturdy republicans we lingered 

 long upon the spot, gazing on the scene of that bloody 

 fight between king and people which, however, was 

 almost without immediate result — for it was a drawn 



