CHANGING RESIDENCES 409 



of these were the bad character given to Thoby Priory by the 

 Helmes on the score of damp and unhealthiness, which they 

 assured us was their sole reason for quitting a place which they 

 much liked in other respects, and had lived in for ten years. 

 The comfort and excellence in every sense of the Manor House 

 where we were residing, the difficulty of finding a suitable 

 tenant, the distance of the removal, with its attendant incon- 

 veniences, damages and expenses ; having lived just long- 

 enough in Surrey to have made some agreeable neighbours 

 and acquaintances, and having hunted there long enough to 

 know something of the country and become acquainted with 

 a good natured set of men in the subscribers to the staghounds ; 

 the enjoyment derived by the ladies from our proximity to the 

 Crystal Palace and the attractions of its beautiful site and 

 gardens, its band and the increasing interest in the contents 

 of its vast structure. 



So much were we puzzled as to the propriety of running the 

 manifold risks and certain expenses of taking Thoby Priory, 

 that we paid many a visit to Headley Grove, and were almost 

 tempted to overlook the drawbacks of a poor house consisting 

 of a nest of little rooms provokingly placed where no view could 

 be obtained, for the sake of the picturesque and beautiful 

 neighbourhood and the quietude of the place ; and were only 

 deterred from taking it by a consideration of the distance we 

 should be removed from our relations, which would prevent 

 frequent intercourse, while at Thoby, we should have them for 

 neighbours, and this consideration ultimately decided us to 

 select the latter place. 



The second feature, in the opening of the Crystal Palace, 

 caused us to have our house full of friends during the summer, 

 that they might have the opportunity of seeing it comfortably, 

 before we quitted the neighbourhood. 



The third event painfully affects the whole country, and its 

 details are so shocking as scarcely to permit one to attend 

 willingly to any private affairs however pressing or important. 

 One feels that our gallant countrymen and allies are over- 

 mastered by sheer numbers and brute force, and one reproaches 

 oneself for being at home and enjoying usual comforts, when 

 we ought to be in the Crimea helping our gallant fellows and 

 sharing their dangers and privations. 



Bagging a Subscriber. 



January 3rd, 1855. I was not a little amused at the soft 

 and insinuating approach of the Hon. Sec. of the Plssex Hunt. 



