THE " BERKSHIRE LADY " 141 



his wife, travelling in their own coach, lost their way, 

 entirely through the badness of the roads. 



In spite of these modern advantages, the road is 

 quite suburban and uninteresting until Calcot Green 

 is passed, in two miles and a half. But it is here, 

 amid the pleasant, though tame, scenery that Calcot 

 Park, the home of the famous " Berkshire Lady," 

 may be souoht. 



The " Berkshire Lady " was the daughter of Sir 

 William Kendrick, of Calcot, who flourished in the 

 reign of Queen Anne. Upon the death of her father, 

 she became sole heiress to the estate and an income 

 of some five thousand pounds per annum. Rich, 

 beautiful, and endowed with a vivacious manner, it 

 is not surprising that she was courted by all the 

 vinous, red-faced young squires in the neighbourhood ; 

 but she refused these offers until, according to an old 

 ballad — 



" Being at a noble weddino- 

 In the famous town of Reading, 

 A young gentleman she saw 

 Who belonged to the law." 



We may shrewdly suspect that she not only "saw" 

 him, but that they indulged in a desperate flirtation 

 in the conservatory, or what may have answered to 

 a conservatory in those times. 



The " Berkshire Lady " was evidently a New 

 Woman, born very much in advance of her proper 

 era. For what did she do ? Why, she fell in love 

 with that " young gentleman " straight away, and 

 so furiously that nothing would suffice her but to 



