WILLEY. 75 



modern neiglibour, tlie present mansion of tlie 

 Foresters. 



Sir Walter Scott, in his description of Cumnor 

 Place, speaks of woods closely adjacent, full of large 

 trees, and in particular of ancient and mighty oaks, 

 which stretched their giant arms over the high wall 

 surrounding the demesne, thus giving it a secluded 

 and monastic appearance. He describes its formal 

 walks and avenues as in part choked up with grass, 

 and interrupted by billets, and piles of brushwood, 

 and he tells us of the old-fashioned gateway in the 

 outer wall, and of the door formed of two huge oaken 

 leaves, thickly studded with nails — like the gate of 

 an old town. This picture of the approaches to 

 the old mansion where Anthony Foster lived was no 

 doubt a more faithful representation than the one he 

 gave of the character of the man himself. At any 

 rate, it is one which would in many respects apply 

 to old Willey Hall and its surroundings at the 

 time to which the great novelist refers. Everything 

 was old and old-fashioned, even as its owners 

 prided themselves it should be, and as grey as 

 time and an uninterrupted growth of lichens in a 

 congenial atmosphere could make it. Hollies, yews, 

 and junipers were to be seen in the grounds, and 



