THE FARM-HOUSE. 25 



building. The front door is six feet wide, 

 seven feet high, and nearly three inches thick. 

 It is studded with eight hundred and nine iron 

 knobs ; it has an iron grating, about six inches 

 square, through which to parley with strangers 

 after night-fall ; and it swings on hinges, reach- 

 ing the whole width of the door. The sides of 

 the porch have twisted spiral balusters, through 

 which to look, without going from under shelter. 

 It must not be imagined that the front of this 

 ancient dwelling, pretty and remarkable as it is, 

 can be seen completely from the road leading 

 nearest to it. The farming buildings, as is 

 common in some parts of England, stand nearly 

 before it. The long barn and cow-sheds, if 

 they did not stand on rather lower ground, 

 would hide the house altogether. The frontis- 

 piece gives as good a view as can be taken, and 

 is from a spot at a short distance from the bridge. 

 C 



