THE BUTLEIGH REVEL 



out their self-imposed task, and the keenly 

 appreciative way in which they grasped and 

 acted upon what was expected of them. With 

 scarcely an exception, every man, woman, and 

 child in the little community bore a part, and, 

 while the performance was in progress, in the 

 Court grounds, even Goldsmith's village was not 

 more deserted. It is something to feel that even 

 now rural England can be " Merrie " on occasion. 

 I cannot forbear giving an illustration of the 

 realistic way in which the Butleigh Revel was 

 carried out. One of the principal characters was 

 sustained by the Squire himself Mr. R. Neville 

 Grenvile, of Butleigh Court who, while one of 

 the most versatile and cultivated of men, has a 

 perfect mastery of the Somerset dialect, " as she 

 is spoke " by those indigenous to the soil. The 

 part he had to play afforded full scope for a 

 display of this gift of the vernacular to the un- 

 bounded pleasure of the audience. Travelling 

 home by rail after delighting in this, I got into 

 conversation with a lady who had also been at 

 the Revel. She had enjoyed it very much, but 

 " Oh," she said, in a tone of the deepest regret, 

 " what a sad thing it is that the Squire of the 

 place should be so uncultivated and illiterate ; 

 why he speaks no better than an ordinary 

 labourer." She could hardly credit it when I 

 told her that he was an Old Etonian and a Cam- 

 bridge M.A., and that in ordinary life I knew of 

 no one whose pronunciation was more refined or 

 more beyond criticism. But it was a wonderful 

 tribute to his ability to " hold the mirror up to 

 nature." 



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